One question that frequently arises in our mock interviews is about what candidates can or cannot say, as even the slightest error could jeopardize their job prospects.
Does it? Sometimes it does.
If we have clear instructions about the minimum required hard skills for a role, and you don’t have those skills, then indeed it can be that we reject a candidate based on the answer on one question. But then we clearly express why this decision is taken “Sorry, you don’t have the relevant knowledge we require on ‘IFRS9’ – to give an example.
But that’s not why most of the candidates don’t land the job.
Based on our experience, in an era where knowledge can be found on google, chatgtp, .. hiring teams try to answer 2 questions during an interview process:
1. Can the person do the job in a foreseeable future?
2. Can we trust the person to help us reach our goals / solve the problems we are facing?
If you get invited for an interview, it means that, based on your CV, the first question is replied partially. Your CV demonstrated a collection of hard skills which allows us (normally) to understand the type of professional situations you have faced already and how this could support you in the role.
The interview process is to assess how relevant that experience is for the role, however, the main reason for not landing the job is not purely related to hard skills. Many times we get the feedback,:
- the person could do the job, but he/she will not fit the team
- the candidate will not be able to handle the challenging situations we face here
- I don’t see myself working with this person daily
During the interview process we observe a switch, if the person has the minimum required hard skills to do the job, it’s very much about the human aspect of the cooperation. Often a candidate who still needs to learn a lot lands the job because the hiring team WANTS to work together, we really see the excitement at both sides.
That’s also why we raise situational questions, how do you react in a certain situation? Can we trust you to have our back when it’s required?
Short story long – what should you reply to a recruiter?
The truth - Be you.
Why? It’s how you create trust with a long-term vision in an interview. If you get the job for presenting a fake you:
- either the mask will be observed during the interview and it will feel ‘false’ so you will not have the job,
- or the disconnect will happen as soon as you drop the mask.
Hope this helps,
The freely team.
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