Do THIS To Nail The Final Interview & Get The Job

So you've made it to the final interview, now you have to seal the deal. So if you want to learn how to secure that offer, beat out all the other internal applicants, then keep watching. My name is Sarah Camillo. I'm a Certified Career Coach and Certified Resume Writer with over 15 years of recruiting experience. So let's face it, the company clearly likes you. You've made it this far, right? So now it's about solidifying that you are the top candidate over all the other internal and external candidates out there. So how do you do that? I've broken it down into five steps. Step number one, maintain consistency. So don't change the little things. They've obviously been working. So I'm referring to the fact that the company already sees value in you. They like your experience, they like your expertise, they like your personality. All of those have gotten you this far. Stay consistent with your energy, your communication style, and the examples that you've been sharing that have gotten you to this point. This is no time to reinvent yourself, reinvent your background or expertise or anything like that. Just keep reinforcing your strengths and keep telling your story. So while I said don't change the little things, we are going to talk about in this video things you can change. Step number two, up your research game and enhance your responses. So by now you've done the basics, right? You've researched the company, you've learned about the company, you've learned about its values, the role, why the job is open, what the team might be lacking. So for the final interview you want to dig a little deeper and be prepared to bring some new ideas to the table now. So that can start by asking for more details and more about the challenges and the gaps in this role. Learn even more about that. And then go ahead and share some new ideas, some thoughts, and bring all of that to the table in that final interview. So if this example doesn't align with the role that you're in or the industry that you're in, then there are still other ways that you can impress the interviewer. Every company out there has competition, so get to know who the top competitors are. Let them know that you're aware of those top competitors and those organizations, what they're doing, what they're not doing, what their social media is like, what their community interest is like. Things like that. And it's okay to bring it to the table and just say, hey, I've seen other companies doing this. Have we ever done this at at our organization? Go ahead, put yourself into the role as if you're working for that company already. Another research tip is about the interviewer. So a lot of times you're given the agenda on who you're going to meet with for that final interview and what their background is, or multiple people that you're meeting in that final interview. Go ahead and research them. Research them on their LinkedIn pages. Do a Google search on them. See if they're listed on the company website. Anything you can do to get to know a little bit about their background, that can help your chances. Maybe you'll find some commonalities with them to help build that rapport even stronger in that final interview. Ultimately, understanding more about them can help you tailor your responses in a way and speak their language. At the end of the final interview, you want them to know you're already thinking about yourself working for that organization. You already see yourself in that role and you're ready to step in, learn, and contribute to the company. Step number three, consider those internal candidates and you want to knock them out of the running. So I have countless stories from back when I was recruiting where we would be to the final round, we'd have an internal and maybe a couple external candidates, and then the company would decide to go with the internal candidate and I had to have those dreaded conversations with the external candidates to say we really liked you, but no. And that's such a hard conversation for the recruiter and it's hard to hear when you're a candidate. And I know there's a lot of people on the other side who have been in that situation. You as a candidate may have lost a job to internal candidates as well. It's tough to beat them out, but we're going to talk about that here. I'm going to share some tips with you. Competing with somebody who already knows the company and the company already knows them can feel intimidating, but here's the secret. You as an external candidate can bring a fresh new perspective to the company and to the team that they don't have today. So again, those internals already have familiarity with the history, what's worked in the past, what hasn't worked in the past for the company. But either way, you're going to bring that external viewpoint that they can't bring to the table. And you're going to bring this wealth of diverse experiences that they can't bring as well. This is your time as an external candidate to bring your unique perspective and identify new gaps, identify new opportunities that the company may have overlooked in the past. You want to share new processes that you've used in your past and tell them how you can integrate them to maybe create a new outcome or result that the team has never had before. Also, don't be afraid to share what didn't work for you as well because the learning that can come out of that is really valuable as well. And plus, you know what, that vulnerability is also charming. It's this wealth of knowledge that they don't have and it is a little bit charming when you can be vulnerable and they'll appreciate it. So on that same note, anytime that you can talk about something new, something first ever that you are part of for a company, some kind of innovation that you've brought to the team, brand new ideas, brand new technology, software concepts, anything like that that you have been a part of at a company, that is so valuable for a new organization to hear because it allows them to learn from them. So it's really impressive. I'm going to share a quick example of this because this is a real live client experience. So a client of mine works in the pharmaceutical industry and she was part of creating a part of a team who was creating a new drug that had to go step by step through the whole process before presenting it to the FDA for approval. Well, ultimately at the end, the FDA did not approve it. However, that experience that got them to that stage, it's a very long process, it's very in-depth process, a lot of research, a lot of leadership, a lot of decision making goes into it to get to that stage of reaching the FDA and presenting it to them. Even though it was a failed attempt and it wasn't approved, it's still so valuable for a company to hear who maybe have not gotten to that point. On this same topic of bringing like new and fresh ways of working, they include maybe you're part of a, you're in sales and you're part of the team that brought a product into a new state or into a new territory for the first time or maybe you're on the acquisition team and you're part of a acquiring another organization or maybe a startup. All of those like mergers, acquisition stories and processes and examples and that experience, every company loves to learn from that and hear about that. Again, whether it was successful or not, that experience that you can bring to a company focused on mergers and acquisitions and that strategy around business development in general is really valuable. Now, if you can't think of anything like this, you weren't part of any anything like this, that's okay. What you want to do is you want to think about and share examples of a time that you joined a team or joined an organization or a project team where you successfully joined them and delivered results quickly. You made an impact quickly, showcasing how you can adapt and you can be flexible. That's what other companies want to hear too on how you're going to start up. You're not going to need a lot of hand-holding or anything like that. That's a really good story to share as well. And a final example here is maybe you're interviewing at a company where it's really important for them to have relationships within the community or maybe volunteer or really get their brand out there. Maybe you have an example of when you started at another company and you and you volunteered for them or you joined an employee resource group or business resource group. All of that just shows that you're you're willing to start and really jump into the company culture. Step number four, be extra extra prepared. So just because it's a final interview doesn't mean you're the final candidate. Some companies bring three or four candidates to the final round before making that decision. And again it might be you versus all external candidates, it might be you versus all internal, might be a blend of both, you never know. So you need to be extra prepared, extra on your A-game, don't take it for granted. And honestly the final interviews are still tough. You don't know if it's going to be something big or something small that's really going to set you apart from the other candidates in the process. So you want to bring all of it. So if it's something small like maybe it's it's like your poise or your presence or your personality or something specific about your expertise, I mean that's what sets you apart from other candidates. Or maybe it's something a little bit bigger and it's really your communication style and your body language and things like that to really let them see that you can sit at the table with senior executives or senior leaders in the company. Like you have no idea so you want to bring all the big stuff and all the little things to this final interview. And keep in mind you may have been interviewing along the way and had some more conversational questions and maybe you've already had some behavioral-based questions. And what that means is you need to be ready to share some more stories in this final interview. A lot of times a lot of the research that I do it talks about being being prepared to face even more behavioral-based questions in the final interview. You never really know what to expect to be prepared for both. Personally and what I do with my clients is I'm a big fan of just practicing your stories over and over and over and over. If you want to be prepared it's like going into a gym for the first time and not knowing what to do. No you want to go into it and have a workout already written and ready to go. So just like the final interview you want to have your stories prepared, have your stories already practiced where you're saying them over and over and over. So there's a lot of different storytelling techniques out there like the STAR technique that's been around forever. There's other ones like the PAR technique, the five C's. There's so many of them out there. Do some research see what works for you. Ultimately what it is is to help you tell your stories in the same consistent manner so that all of your answers come out the same way. If that makes sense. But bottom line is when you're sharing these stories you need to share that result. That's what interviewers remember at the end. They're going to walk away from that room and remember what you did. They're not going to remember all of the context. They just need the context and the details to fully understand your story. But they're going to remember that result, that impact, that final number, that final result. That's what they're going to remember and that's what's going to set you apart from other candidates as well. Now if you're interviewing with somebody you haven't interviewed yet along the way in the process make sure you share your best career accomplishment at that time. Sometimes you have a final interview and it's with somebody you've met with already and and that's okay. You want to still share some of those big accomplishments but bring something even more to the table. Another time that another impact that you left or another way that you're going to impress them. Something that shows your leadership, your collaboration, your adaptability. All of those skills and all of those qualities that will make you a prime candidate for this position. And step number five you still need to So again you've made it to the final interview but you know what you're still being evaluated. Every little move, every little word, everything you do it's still being analyzed and evaluated. So you still want to bring exceptional questions to this interview. So now you've already gotten some of those basic questions answered. So this is your chance to stand out as someone who's not only interested in this job and a fit for the company but somebody who's also invested in the company and the team's success at this point. So I'll list out some questions for you. Is there anything else you'd like to know about me and my background? It's kind of high level but it's still a way to make sure that you're that they have all of their questions answered as well. What does success look like in this role in the first 90 days? What have past employees done to be successful in this role? How can I make the biggest impact if I'm selected for this position? Or you can keep it conversational and also just ask them what has kept you at this company for so long. Things like that to get them talking make it conversational see what's important to them and maybe you can reflect on there. Another way of asking that is what do you personally enjoy most about working at this company? These questions just show that you are forward-thinking and you're ready to hit the ground running. So again preparing for the final interview is all about staying consistent deepening your understanding of the role in the company and the culture and all of that but also showcasing that you are the best candidate. You want to walk away as if there's like it's like a no-brainer that they have to go with you and whether it's for that role or maybe something else in the company they need you a part of this organization. Keep that in mind have that mindset going into the final. Again you've already impressed them so now it's time to seal the deal. So if you found this video helpful please like, comment, subscribe if you haven't already. If there's any other topics you'd like for me to hit on in the future please comment below and I'd be happy to touch on them in the future. Thank you and I'll see you in the next one.