How I passed my interviews

Hi networkers,

Last week, I wrote an article on my internship journey.

It went into detail about my struggles job searching, and how I ultimately landed my 1st internship in finance with zero experience.

For context, I’ll link it here. (Check it out after reading this one)

Today, I’ll share insights on what I did to pass my interviews, and how you can use my strategy to pass yours.

🏁 Here’s the route for this week’s run:

🎙️ The Hidden Interview Trick

💡 Key Takeaways

📍 Checkpoints: Networking Events To Stop By

TOPIC
The Hidden Interview Trick

If you Googled “interview tips”, you would probably get advice like:

• practice common interview questions

• research the company

• prepare your own questions

And while you should do all this, there’s a hidden skill that’s often overlooked or outright ignored by many candidates.

That skill is your ability to get along with others - aka likeability.

Most people treat interviews like an interrogation, where the interviewer is asking all the questions.

The problem with this is that it makes you more nervous. You’re sort of putting this intimidating “authority” status on the interviewer.

I believe interviews to be a two-way conversation. I’ll explain below how I used my likeability to pass my first interviews.

My Interview

I had just been told by my recruiter that my interview with Scotiabank would be in five days. Naturally, I got to work preparing.

I did what anyone would do, I researched the company, I practiced questions, and I prepared some of my own to ask.

The problem was, I had done this before, and it didn’t work.

Months before, I managed to get an interview with RBC.

I did everything mentioned, yet I didn’t get the role. I could tell too, the interview felt stiff, and there was something unnatural about it.

With my Scotiabank interview only 2 days away, I decided to call my recruiter to ask for her help, and I’m glad I did.

Because she left me with one piece of advice that transformed the way I approached interviews.

By taking her words to heart, I changed my mindset on how I viewed my interviewer.

Instead of seeing them as an intimidating figure I needed to impress, I saw them as a colleague or friend I was chatting with.

Treating my interview as a two-way conversation leveled the playing field and that’s where I succeeded.

I was much more relaxed, which allowed me to give better responses and express myself without seeming like a nervous wreck.

After, when I asked my hiring manager why he chose me, he told me this:

Actionable Step

Focus on hitting that conversational flow and you’ll leave a lasting impression.

The best way to practice this is by replicating it in coffee chats!

This week, reach out to someone for a coffee chat and do your best to make it a two-way conversation.

Schedule a call with me here if you’d like to chat 😄

-Michael Ly

TIP/TOOL OF THE WEEK
Key Takeaways

😌 It’s a conversation, not an interrogation

If there’s one thing to remember from this, it’s to treat interviews like conversations. A lot of the struggle starts in the mind, so focus on changing that first, and the rest will follow

🧐 Show your curiosity

Whether or not you have questions can make or break the interview so be sure to end it off on a good note and ask questions that show your interest. There’s no golden number but try to use up the remaining time in the interview

🤓 Practice, but…

Answer the questions as if you haven’t. Even if you know what to say, take a 5-10-second pause before answering, you’ll come off as more authentic. If you answer right away you’ll risk sounding too scripted

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