Other Applications for Sales Principles – Part 4 – In a Job Interview

With job interviews, you have to sell yourself to a potential employer and, of course, sales principles can be applied here as well.

First, you have to be well prepared before going into the interview. You have to know your client; in this case, it’s your potential employer. Find out all about the business and discover clues as to what moves the client. For some, it’s a very detail-oriented person. For some others, it’s an outgoing person, or well-organized, or punctual, or etc. There is one thing in particular that your “customer” is focusing on and you can find it through their language, in person or online. That thing is a need and, by knowing the need, you can underscore that need which really helps with the sale.

When discovering a potential employer’s needs, you may find that the company is not the right fit. Perhaps they wanted a certain type of characteristic that you don’t have or the work environment is something that you could not thrive in. Regardless of reason, you may find that it just won’t work out and you may have to step away from the sale. It is disappointing, but the respect you would get for doing so would be enormous. Imagine saying to a potential employer that their company isn’t the right fit for you instead of the company saying that about you. Quite a change, I must say.

Not only do you have to know the client, but you also have to know yourself. What kind of person are you? Are you quiet or outgoing? Are you well organized or “it’s organized to me?” Are you detail-oriented or like seeing the whole picture? Are you the best fit for the place you are interviewing for? Knowing yourself is knowing your product and, through that, you can have belief in your product. Belief in your product can mean the difference between a sale and a “no sale.”

An interviewee must be careful of answering unasked questions. This is mostly apparent in the “strengths/weaknesses department” where the potential employer asks what some good or bad characteristics about yourself are. Sometimes you can say too much in either direction and that could scare away your potential employer. It may introduce some new worries the potential employer didn’t know they had and it may also deflect attention away from the core needs of the potential employer are.

The “What do you do?” question comes in the form of “tell me about yourself” in the interview process. Though it is more open-ended, it may actually be a little too open-ended and the focus has a tendency to stray from the needs of the client. Be sure to be prepared for this question by the means of a 30 second pitch for yourself and practice saying a few times in the mirror, for confidence boosting.

Also, remember that in the job hunt, you will fail and that’s OK. Just like in sales, it’s natural in all sorts of areas. Take it as a learning opportunity and try again with a different approach. Even a blind squirrel finds a nut every once in a while. And always remember to pray about your search, that the good Lord will lead you in the right place to serve in His name.