Many people believe that selling themselves during an interview is really difficult, particularly people who do not have a sales background. This article provides interview skills help and explains why thinking about ‘selling yourself’ isn’t always helpful, as it makes it sound much more difficult than it really is. A more helpful approach is to reframe this question into “How can I help the company?”

How can I help the company

Instead of thinking about selling yourself, which focuses on your potential lack of skills, it can be more helpful to look at an interview from the company’s perspective. Every company has a series of problems they need someone to solve, many of which they have listed in the job description. An interview assesses who is best placed to help them to resolve these issues, the more problems you can resolve, the more desirable you are as a potential employee.

The most effective way of preparing for interviews is to switch your focus into answering “How can I help the company to overcome the challenges listed in their job description?” I suggest dividing the job description into the main areas of the role, linking your experience to each area, and identifying your best examples to demonstrate how you can help them to resolve these issues. It is a simple fact that whatever we focus our attention on appears to grow. Focussing on how your experience relates to the role, builds your confidence, focussing on how difficult it is to sell yourself reduces your confidence. Once you’ve identified how you can help the company, it’s time to learn how to communicate these points effectively during interviews.

How to sell a product, service or yourself

Most people who are concerned about selling themselves aren’t familiar with the sales process, let’s look at the main stages in selling a product (like a car), it’s not as daunting as it sounds.

• Understanding what their customer is looking for – This may involve researching their customer before a meeting, and/or asking probing questions (and actively listening) during a meeting to understand their customer’s concerns. As part of our interview preparation, we can research the company online and look at the main duties in the job description and person specification, which will tell us what the company is looking for.
• Explaining how their product or service meets their customer’s needs – The secret of successful sales is to focus on the customer, not the product. In other words, explaining how the product delivers what the customer needs or wants, rather than outlining a long list of benefits which may or may not interest them. In an interview context, this means explaining what you can offer, linked to the main areas in the job description and providing evidence (STAR based interview examples) which demonstrate this. You don’t need to try to convince an interviewer that you’re better than other candidates, simply explain how you can help them and let them decide whether they would like your help.
• Answering specific questions – A good salesperson answers questions clearly, as well as listening to and overcoming any concerns. During an interview, listen closely to the question and answer this as clearly and concisely as you can. If you have prepared answers in advance, ensure you are answering the question they actually ask, rather than the question you prepared.
• Understanding when the customer will make a decision and closes the sale At the end of a sales meeting, a sales representative finds out when the customer will be making a decision and follows up with them to (hopefully) close a sale. At the end of an interview, you can ask when you can expect a decision, there is usually no need to follow up with the interviewer, as they will contact the successful candidate to agree a start date and other terms and conditions.

During the sales process, the sales representative is careful not to disclose anything which may introduce a concern. All products, services and people have strengths and weaknesses, however it is best not to disclose these unless the customer asks about these. During an interview avoid mentioning anything which may introduce a concern, however be honest and open, ready to discuss your weaknesses if they ask you about these.

As you can see, the secret to selling yourself is positioning yourself as the solution to their problems, rather than convincing the interviewer to hire you. You may wish to read some of the other articles for further interview skills help and advice to improve your interview skills.

Improving your Interview Skills

Would you like to improve your interview skills and confidence? I provide interview skills help via interview coaching sessions, personally tailored to your needs. You may wish to visit the interview coaching section of my website, where you can find more information and prices. Or you are welcome to contact me, and I’ll be pleased to discuss how I can plan a session to help you.