Nuggets — and we’re not talking about the chicken kind of nuggets you get at McDonald’s.
On today’s agenda, we’re talking about nuggets that help through your next job interview – or possibly even get you that next job interview. These nuggets are all around you – if you bother to look.
Let’s start with a question: What is one of the best, time-proven methods of making a connection with a job interviewer or hiring manager? Make it personal. Don’t you remember how people are always telling you that people hire people?
And if those people have a connection with you or if they recognize that you have taken the time and/or interest to single out something about them, you can establish a personal bond with that person which, in most cases, carries over throughout the interview or hiring process.
It’s the nuggets that we alluded to earlier that can help you establish that connection and get you on the fast track to your next job.
And what do these nuggets consist of? It could be anything. As you peruse the LinkedIn profile of the person with whom you’re going to be interviewing, what do you find? It could be that that individual went to the same school that you did. It could be that that individual supports the same charity that you do. It could be anything.
If you then casually mention that nugget – “I see that you went to XYZ School. I graduated from there in [year].” – you’ve broken the ice; you’ve taken the edge off. Now you have something in common.
You can use the same technique when you enter someone’s office. Comment on a photograph on the interviewer’s desk. Or a diploma or certificate hanging on the wall. Maybe you notice that your interviewer drinks tea instead of coffee. When you see anything at all that will enable you to establish a connection, use it.
Use it to create a personal bond with you and the interviewer.