#1 Way to Stand Out in a Job Interview

Are you getting interviews but not offers? If you’re qualified for the job but not getting it, it’s time to do something new. In my 20 years of experience in managing, hiring, recruiting, and career coaching thousands of successful job seekers, I’ve found that the #1 way to stand out in a job interview is to bring a communication tool with you that gives the hiring manager a test drive of you in that role.

What’s the #1 way to stand out in a job interview?

Build and bring a 30-60-90-Day Plan. It’s an outline of your action steps and priorities in your first 3 months on the job.

It reassures the hiring manager (your future boss)

A 30-60-90-day plan answers the 4 unasked (but very important) questions in every hiring manager’s mind:

Do you understand the job? (knowledge)
Can you do the job? (ability)
Will you do the job? (work ethic)
Do you pose a risk to the hiring manager’s continued employment? (how your performance will reflect on them)

Talking over your plan in the interview answers all those questions and makes you stand out in a big, positive way from your competition. You’ll demonstrate your knowledge, ability, and work ethic—along with showing that you’re not a risk. In fact, you’re going to be a great hire.

Drafting a plan is especially critical if you don’t have much experience. You can use your plan to show that even if you haven’t worked in that role before, you’re more than capable of succeeding in it.

It makes you a stronger communicator

When it comes down to it, interviews are all about communication. If you can’t communicate your skill set to the hiring manager, you won’t get hired. When you go over your plan with the hiring manager, you’ll have a professional conversation about what needs to happen in this role. This is a much better conversation for you than a simple Q&A interview.

You’ll be much better prepared for the interview

The research and thought process necessary to put together a good plan will absolutely transform you in to the most knowledgeable, most prepared candidate for the job. That’s an incredible way to stand out in your interview.

How do you create a plan?

A good plan can be a PowerPoint or written out on paper, either in outline or bullet point form. It should be about 3 pages total (one page for each 30-day section), plus a cover sheet.

The first 30 days primarily focus on getting settled into the job, with things like :

getting training
meeting everyone
learning the organization’s systems, software or procedures

In the next 30 days (the 60-day section), you might be more focused on:

identifying problems
building relationships
reviewing efficiency of processes, procedures, or programs
getting feedback

During the last 30 days (the 60-day section), you may be:

beginning your own projects
going after new business on your own
implementing strategies based on your previous evaluations
setting long-term goals

These are only examples. The truth is that every job has tasks to be done and goals to be met. Your plan should be tailored for THAT job in THAT company.