Job Interview Success Whats Love Got to Do with It

Job Interview Success Whats Love Got to Do with It ShareShare Enthusiasm makes the world go round. Enthusiasm will find a way. You cant buy enthusiasm. Theres a lot of truth there, right? Maybe enthusiasm is related to love.I dont know, Im not a philosopher, Im a career coach. What I do know is this: If two candidates are about equally qualified and equally skilled in interviewing, but one of them conveys more enthusiasmmore passion, to use the term currently in voguethe one with enthusiasm will get the job. As an interview coach Ive done hundreds of mock interviews in which the job seeker never once says anything about enjoying their work, loving their occupation, or being excited about anything. Most of these job seekers, I knew, felt passionate about their work; they just werent bringing it into their interviewing. Is it possible your interviews are lacking this key ingredient for success? Maybe you feel that an interview is a formal situation (true, in many ways) so you shouldnt show emotion (falseat least when it comes to the emotion of enthusiasm). Maybe you simply have a somewhat dry and factual style of communicating. Am I suggesting that you do a 180-degree turn and start gushing exclamation points? No! A little goes a long way. Just make sure that, at least a few times in every interview, you let your enthusiasm show. When to show enthusiasm in a job interview: When you mean it.Fake enthusiasm is worse than none. When you answer the question Why are you interested in this role?If you feel zero enthusiasm for it, either dig deeper or dont bother interviewing. When you answer the tell me about yourself question.What do you love about your work? Let that come across. When you tell a story. What was exciting or fun about the achievement? When talking about your skills. I enjoy using Python because When you talk about your industry,trends, and so on. How to communicate enthusiasm: Use enthusiastic language. For example: One thing I love about my work/this industry is or What was exciting/fascinating/great about that project was or The remarkable/cool/amazing thing about that trend is Make sure you smile now and then! Not constantly, but fairly often. Where appropriate, go the extra mile.Research the company more deeply than the other candidates will. Talk to company insiders if you can. Maybe try out the companys product and then write a brief summary of what you learned and how thats relevant to the role. Or considerbringing in a portfolio or 30/60/90 day plan. (But no gifts or gimmicks, please!) Above all, be authentic. There is no contradiction between being authentic and showing enthusiasm. Nail both of those things and youve gone a long way toward getting the job. Theres at least one other way love is not irrelevant in a job interview, and its this. The interviewer is a human being. Sometimes we forget that and start seeing him or her as the Great Almighty Judge and Holder of All Power, instead of as a person like oneself who has fears, hopes, humor and love, and who probably likes puppies and pizza and believes in the Golden Rule just as much as we do. Think about that in advance. Imagine the interviewer becoming your friend eventually. You may find you begin to have a more comfortable feeling toward this person, a feeling of likinganother relative of love? A little genuine warmth is enough to make the interview go much better. You dont want to be a heartless brain at your interview. Find your real, authentic warmth and enthusiasm, and bring it along. Job Interview Success Whats Love Got to Do with It ShareShare Enthusiasm makes the world go round. Enthusiasm will find a way. You cant buy enthusiasm. Theres a lot of truth there, right? Maybe enthusiasm is related to love.I dont know, Im not a philosopher, Im a career coach. What I do know is this: If two candidates are about equally qualified and equally skilled in interviewing, but one of them conveys more enthusiasmmore passion, to use the term currently in voguethe one with enthusiasm will get the job. As an interview coach Ive done hundreds of mock interviews in which the job seeker never once says anything about enjoying their work, loving their occupation, or being excited about anything. Most of these job seekers, I knew, felt passionate about their work; they just werent bringing it into their interviewing. Is it possible your interviews are lacking this key ingredient for success? Maybe you feel that an interview is a formal situation (true, in many ways) so you shouldnt show emotion (falseat least when it comes to the emotion of enthusiasm). Maybe you simply have a somewhat dry and factual style of communicating. Am I suggesting that you do a 180-degree turn and start gushing exclamation points? No! A little goes a long way. Just make sure that, at least a few times in every interview, you let your enthusiasm show. When to show enthusiasm in a job interview: When you mean it.Fake enthusiasm is worse than none. When you answer the question Why are you interested in this role?If you feel zero enthusiasm for it, either dig deeper or dont bother interviewing. When you answer the tell me about yourself question.What do you love about your work? Let that come across. When you tell a story. What was exciting or fun about the achievement? When talking about your skills. I enjoy using Python because When you talk about your industry,trends, and so on. How to communicate enthusiasm: Use enthusiastic language. For example: One thing I love about my work/this industry is or What was exciting/fascinating/great about that project was or The remarkable/cool/amazing thing about that trend is Make sure you smile now and then! Not constantly, but fairly often. Where appropriate, go the extra mile.Research the company more deeply than the other candidates will. Talk to company insiders if you can. Maybe try out the companys product and then write a brief summary of what you learned and how thats relevant to the role. Or considerbringing in a portfolio or 30/60/90 day plan. (But no gifts or gimmicks, please!) Above all, be authentic. There is no contradiction between being authentic and showing enthusiasm. Nail both of those things and youve gone a long way toward getting the job. Theres at least one other way love is not irrelevant in a job interview, and its this. The interviewer is a human being. Sometimes we forget that and start seeing him or her as the Great Almighty Judge and Holder of All Power, instead of as a person like oneself who has fears, hopes, humor and love, and who probably likes puppies and pizza and believes in the Golden Rule just as much as we do. Think about that in advance. Imagine the interviewer becoming your friend eventually. You may find you begin to have a more comfortable feeling toward this person, a feeling of likinganother relative of love? A little genuine warmth is enough to make the interview go much better. You dont want to be a heartless brain at your interview. Find your real, authentic warmth and enthusiasm, and bring it along.