The Job Interview – In Detail

Interviewing as a Sales Process

One of the best ways to think of an interview is to see it as an opportunity to "sell" the prospective employer on the benefits you can bring to the organization. Good selling is NOT forcing something on the buyer.

Good, consultative selling involves:

1. Uncovering and clarifying the buyer's needs. 
2. Communicating and demonstrating how you can satisfy those needs.
3. Making it easy for the prospective buyer to make a decision

Look at interviewing as a sales process. In this process, you are both the product and the sales product. In order to sell yourself to the prospective buyer/employer, you must be able to sell yourself as a person. 

All products, including you as a candidate for a job, have features. They are the defining characteristics that make them what they are: engine size, table height, type of wood, experience, education, horsepower, and other factors.  While these features may be interesting, what is more important is that the salesperson knows what the customer needs to solve the problems at hand.

Features can then be turned into benefits. The heart of any successful interview, therefore is asking appropriate questions to discover what kind of problems the "buyer", who has the open position is having, and what the implications of those problems are. Then you begin to "sell" the benefits of your employment.

In job search, the "features" are your skills, knowledge and experience. They may qualify the product (you) but they won't make the sale (get the job offer).  The "benefits" are your accomplishments, the results you have been able to produce (productivity, profitability), and the solutions you can provide.  All are keyed to the interviewer's needs, as you have been able to elicit them during the interview.