If you are getting interviews but are going home empty handed, this might just help a little bit?

If you get an interview and you have the qualifications, you know it is important to dress smartly without making some great style statement. (If you don’t even know this, I can’t help you.) If you don’t have much money you can get a perfectly functional suit and tie from Tesco or Asda. You can splash out on suits when you get the job

I cannot help you with your hygiene or body language or personality. That’s up to you, as long as your “soft skills” i.e. personality and the way you react to or interact with the interviewer are ok, you are who you are.

They will ask you at some stage what you bring to the company. You work out how you are going to say in your own words, so it doesn’t sound rehearsed, roughly the following.  Or at least just read it a few times and understand it as a primary truth. You articulate it as best you can.

“I have the skills to do the job, that’s clear, I certainly have the desire to get the job, and I need to eat and live and have bills to pay like everyone else. What makes me different is that I actually made the extra effort to learn about your company and what is important to you, (you use the internet, you make a phone call to their customers for their experience in dealing with them) I, unlike many people actually understand that this interview process is actually about your company assessing my suitability for the role which is important to your business. It’s not about me seeing how much I can get paid and what benefits I might get.”

“But most importantly I took some time to talk to a person who could teach you the importance of good customer service. He helped me to understand that every action I take while going about my job, (which hopefully you are going to give me) no matter what I do has an impact on how your customers view your company/institution”

“I just get that most people hear the words customer service and dismiss it as a cliché. But I understand that by my actions I can affect how our clients see us and the decisions they take about doing business with us in the future.  I appreciate that every person I deal with has an expectation to be measured up to. In time I will learn the products/services and particular way our business and processes work. But I walk in the door understanding from day one what good customer service, the foundations of a company’s reputation, is all about. I will go the extra mile and make sure I use everything our company’s armoury to make sure that the client gets what they pay for and are likely to refer or recommend us because we not just delivered our primary function but actually exceeded their expectations. They tell everyone we are a pleasure to do business with because that’s what people do. This is the high speed communication age. Clients will also tell everyone when they are dissatisfied. They can and do post reviews of poor experiences all over the internet. You have my assurance that I actually understand and care about this. Sadly most people just don’t get it.”

“That’s what makes me fundamentally the best candidate. I have the skills to perform the role; I have the personality, that hopefully means I will get on with your staff and clients. But I actually have gone to the effort to do what I can do to make me stand out as a candidate and employee rather than just come along and hope for the best.”

At the close of the interview, when they say they will be in touch, you ask “Just for my own piece of mind and as small feedback, can you please tell me if there is anything I have said or done in this interview that would stop you from offering me the role?”  They may tell you, they may not, but it demonstrates that it really matters to you without sounding desperate.

It really is that simple as long as you have the stuff required to do the job they have advertised