Best job interview question

Don’t leave your interview to chance. Ask the million-dollar question!

Best job interview question to ask the hiring manager

You found a job for which you were perfectly qualified, put together a beautiful cover letter, and submitted your resume.  A few days later, the miracle of miracles takes place.  You receive an email from the recruiter wanting to set up an initial phone screen. Go out and buy a lotto ticket, Pookie, because today is your lucky day!

Even though you felt you were perfectly qualified for the job, it was still like finding a rest stop on a long trip after a 72-ounce Big Gulp when the recruiter emailed you. You are both happy and “relieved” when you read the email.  It wasn’t the “Dear John, We received many resumes for this position and will call you if you are qualified” email.  It was the “Hey you’re cute, call me”, email with digits attached.  Our face goes flush; we get excited and can’t believe our luck.  “She called me!  She is interested in me! I gotta buy a new shirt and shine my shoes!”

Self doubt

Then, in anticipation of the first date, self-doubt comes a-knockin’.  Worries about what to wear to the interview and “Will they like me?” crept into your mind. One minute, we think we will be working at Acme Publishing, and the next minute, we don’t believe we have a chance. The Lord giveth a good feeling, and the Lord taketh away.

You assume 150 resumes were submitted for the same position, and you are probably right. We know that the competition will be stiff.  If we were interested in the positions, why wouldn’t other candidates be interested as well?

WHY DID THEY CALL ME?

And this is where the interview goes to crap.  If there is self-doubt before the phone screen has even started, baby, you are going down.

I am here to tell you that you shouldn’t have any self-doubt and that you can eliminate your insecurities.

It’s a 3-part process:

Step 1:  Remove all doubt

Remember, the recruiter reached out to you! You don’t care how many others applied; it only takes one person to fill the position. The recruiter called you. If the recruiter is calling you, it’s likely that you are qualified. You are not underqualified; you are not overqualified. Just like Goldilocks, you are “just right.”

Close your eyes and repeat after me: “The recruiter called me, the recruiter called me, the recruiter called me.”
Trust me, the recruiter didn’t pick your name out of a hat like a raffle. They didn’t throw darts at a dartboard. The recruiter isn’t going to waste their time on someone who isn’t qualified, almost qualified, or even 20% overqualified.

Step two: recognize the recruiter’s reputation on the line

Companies receive enough resumes that they can be choosy. Setting up interviews with candidates who are 10% underqualified to 30% overqualified increases the candidate pool exponentially.  Remember, this recruiter isn’t just working on your position; they are working on 10 others at a minimum, in some cases, 30 different positions. They are ONLY setting up phone screens with candidates that are perfectly matched to what they are looking for. (This is why we tailor our resume to each job description!)

Step three: Establish professional rapport

Most recruiters will send an email to set up the initial phone call.  Candidates should send a follow-up email that conveys both excitement and professionalism.  The day before the phone screen, send a professional email confirming the appointment for the next day.  If someone confirms an appointment the day before, the chance of the meeting being canceled or rescheduled decreases significantly. They committed not once but twice.

Recruiter Bob,

Good morning, I just wanted to check in and confirm that we are still scheduled for tomorrow at 3:00. I am looking forward to learning more about the opportunity. If anything comes up, I can be reached at xxx-xxx-xxxx.

Thanks!

Johnny Candidate

Million-dollar question

Step 3: Take notes on the $1M job interview question

Before the interview starts, have the job description in front of you.

When the recruiter calls, answer enthusiastically and explain that you are excited about the opportunity for the interview.

You will be able to tell within the first 5 seconds of the call whether the recruiter is going to conduct an interview or have a conversation.  Either way, the best job interview question we need to ask in the first few minutes of the interview is the following:

“Bob, Acme Publishing is a great workplace, and this sounds like a great opportunity.  I am sure you received many resumes and a lot of interest in this position. Could I ask what on my resume stood out to you enough to call?

We are not asking job interview questions in an insecure voice, as if we can’t believe we were called. We are asking this as a probing question to close the sale.

Then, take notes, write down exactly what they say, and keep the notes in front of you as you go through the interview.

Job descriptions typically range from 700 to 1000 words. More often than not, they are generic and give the applicant very little to go on.  The bottom half of most job descriptions can be interchanged between the same job title at different companies!  It can be challenging to determine what a company is looking for from most job descriptions, as few companies want to list their requirements explicitly.

Jackpot 

A company would be sued if it listed what it was looking for.  With the above-listed question, you will hear EXACTLY what it was on YOUR resume that interested the hiring manager. With this information, you know what to focus on, what questions to ask, and how to tailor your answers with specific examples of your prior behavior.

Your resume and LinkedIn profiles may be multiple pages long, but for each candidate, only one or two things resonated with the recruiter and hiring manager that made them think, “This is the one.”  We need to figure out what that is and reinforce these qualities. This is why we need to ask the most specific job interview questions we can.

The second million-dollar question

This question does one other thing that is critical to your interview success. This question makes for an excellent setup so that later in the conversation, you can ask, “Earlier, I asked you what you liked about my resume. What experiences or examples are you looking for that are not listed on my resume?”  This is not a yes-or-no question.  We are not asking, “Am I missing any skill sets”?  We are asking for specific examples.

Make sure to reinforce the reported weakness with examples to overcome doubt 

Candidates regularly ask me if they have any weaknesses; when I reply, they rarely follow up with me. The “What was it on my resume that caught your attention?” question puts the hiring manager in a situation where they are closing themselves off.  

Want to get to the heart of the matter? Find out what the recruiter is looking for and why they think you are the right person for the job by asking the smart job interview question.

See you at the after party,
HRNasty

nasty: an unreal maneuver of incredible technique, something that is ridiculously good, tricky, and manipulative but with a result that can’t help but be admired, a phrase used to describe someone good at something. “He has a nasty forkball”.

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