How to master tricks used by interviewers and use them to your advantage?

Sometimes, passing an interview can force you to go an extra mile. The feeling is often overwhelming because interviewees feel uncomfortable replying unexpected questions from the interviewer. A job interview triggers anxiety because you have to meet and impress the interviewers – who are often new people in your life.

However, you can soon begin to share your value with potential employers if you have the ability to master the techniques and tricks used by interviewers. Actually, you can easily get the job you want by simply presenting yourself effectively at interviews.

Here are some of the ways you can master the tricks used by interviewers and use them to pass the interview.

They check on your EQ

In almost all interviews, it is not those who have relevant skills or experience in that field that gets the job. Interviewers are interested in your emotional intelligence (EQ) more than your job experience.

Be keen to observe questions that are aimed to measure your EQ. You have to boost your ‘people skills’ and check on how you relate to your emotions. The successful candidate relates well with others and has the right EQ.

Hence, emotional intelligence is the ability to identify your emotions or other people’s emotions, understand them and use them in a positive way to communicate effectively with your colleagues.

You can easily boost your emotional intelligence by:

• Picking up on emotional cues, developing strong relationships and communicating effectively with others.
• Engaging with people in a way that draws them to you.
• Recognizing your own emotional state and the emotional states of the people around you.

In this case, it is advisable that you find a common human connector between you and your interviewer. Please note that emotional intelligence can easily be learned because it simply entails emotional awareness and the ability to quickly curb stress.

You can make the interviewing process less intimidating if you set out with the intention to discover how you and your interviewer are connected.

They want to test on your level of confidence

Confidence is one of the most powerful traits that determine whether you will get the job or not. Confident people are often given priority by interviewers because it shows that they can perform their tasks accordingly.

Do not let fear overcome you during the interview. Interviewers can use every trick to test your confidence, but you should be smart enough to identify that trick and use it to your advantage.

You can express your interest during the interview by being confident and asking relevant questions about the company and the position at hand.

Interviewers also love listening to your questions. It’s not only about them asking you questions. You can also ask them great questions regarding the job. Send a message to the interviewer that you have what they need and that you can do anything you put your mind to.

That’s how the pros win interviews and scale higher in their job positions. Do enough research about the company and identify areas where they are facing a lot of challenges. Outline their current challenges and tell them how you can address them and find effective solutions for their problems.

Admitting your true areas of weakness can also show that you are confident and frank. Show the interviewer you know yourself – your weaknesses and your strengths. Try to be self-reflective and thoughtful in both your answers and your interview questions.

You should be clear about what you can offer the company and what you need before you reach the interviewing stage. You need to assert yourself because you can’t just be an effective responder.

Here are some of the questions that you can consider asking the interviewer:

• What are the company’s goals for the department?
• What communication style do they prefer?
• What happened to the person who had the job before?
• Who are the key internal customers? Are there any special issues with them?
• What specific problems do the company hope to solve as soon as possible?
• What results do the company expect from the department?

They often use behavioural interviewing

Employers often prefer using behavioural interviewing to get to the working style and motivations of a potential employee. This type of interviewing style consists of a series of incisive and probing questions.

You can easily anticipate likely questions if you pay attention to the idea behind the question. Some of the behavioral interview questions used by interviewers include:

• Describe a situation where you were able to identify and solve a certain problem in your previous work. How did you go about implementing the changes? How did you identify the problem? Was the problem easy to solve?
• Describe a situation where you annoyed certain people and how you convinced them to believe that your idea was the best?
• Describe a situation where you failed to accomplish your goals, how did you manage the situation?

There are effective ways in which you can anticipate likely questions and make the interviewing process more effective. You need to prepare yourself accordingly because interviewers often follow up with further questions related to your preliminary answers. Check out the following tips to stay in control:

• Go through the search results about the company and the job position
• Make a list of what you think about the position
• Make a list of questions that you think the interviewer may ask you regarding the position
• Create your own answers using the experience you gained from your previous work
• Rehearse key points and practice answering the interview questions until you are well-familiarized with most of them.

They want to test your level of stress management

Anyone can easily get stressed during a job interview. It is upon you to manage your stress and look for ways in which you can easily curb and overcome stressful situations.

Take note that stress limits your capacity of thinking creatively and clearly. Hence, stress can impair the way you communicate during an interview if it becomes constant and overwhelming.

However, you can turn this to your advantage by using the stress to help you perform under pressure. It’s vital that you learn quick stress relief techniques ahead of time. You can easily provide clear answers to an interviewer’s questions, recall the stories you’ve practised and think on your feet, only when you’re in a relaxed, calm state.

When we’re overwhelmed by stress, all our best intentions go out of the window. You will actually be unable to utilize other interviewing tips and techniques if you find it hard to relieve stress in the moment and return to a relaxed state.

Therefore, you should practice and boost your stress relief techniques and always put yourself in a calm state whenever you are before the interviewing panel. Stress management is a very important aspect that many employers check when recruiting new employees.

They want to listen to your story and determine if it’s related to the job

Yes, employers are always interested in listening to the stories of their potential employees. More so, they want to confirm if your story can be linked to the job. Hence, when telling your story to your interviewers, ensure that it is tailored to the job.

Think of stories that reveal your skill set. What have you done in the past that can be applied to the department and make it work for the company? Tell them stories that show how you learned lessons from failures and mistakes, how you made choices under pressure and how you handled change.

Ask yourself, which stories are relevant to this job interview? The best way to do this is simply putting yourself in the interviewer’s shoes and think of the questions you would ask the interviewee.

At this stage, it is critical to line up the stories that apply to the position at hand. Anticipate your interviewer’s questions and have the answers at your fingertips.

Learning and appreciating your story is a prerequisite to any interview process. Don’t rely on your ability to think on your feet. Anticipate the questions and have answers at the ready. In the end, this is about making a great and memorable impression that demonstrates competency and ability. You can consider framing your stories around these areas:

• The mistakes you made in your job and what you did to overcome them
• A time in your job where you provided a sense of direction or a successful leadership
• A time in your job or career where you encountered stress and how you dealt with it
• A time where you worked as a team and how you related with your workmates

If you are not certain about the story to tell, you can consider asking your family or friends on the best stories that you can tell your prospective employer.

Hopefully, you now have a clear understanding of the common tricks used by interviewers. It is now upon you to use them to your advantage and win as many interviews as possible.

Written by JobTeaser