How To Sell Yourself In An Interview: 15 Tips That Work | 2023

You might have arrived here while searching for how to sell yourself in an interview or how to sell yourself for a job application. You are in the right place. With the help of industry recruitment experts and research partners, we have compiled details on how best to sell yourself even with no experience. 

People swarm to Google trying to find answers to questions like: What should I wear to a job interview? How should I describe my strengths? How should I sell myself in an interview?

In addition to a variety of tips on how to sell yourself in an interview found on the search engine, we thought it might be helpful to read a firsthand example of how to market yourself.

From quite an intensive interactive session with some top career coaches, we culled a good number of our updates today. 

This article offers you the tips you’re looking for on how to sell yourself.

15 Tips on How to Sell Yourself In An Interview

It’s often said that you should sell yourself in an interview. But how? What’s the best way to do that? Below are proven ways and tips on how to sell yourself for a job application.

Sales skills are a vital part of every company. Discover: Best Answers to “sell me this pen” Question in an Interview

1. Punctuality

If an interview is 10:AM and you make the extra effort of coming an hour before the time, it creates a beautiful impression of how serious you are before the hiring managers. This is one of the first ways to get into the good books of employers.

Even if the interview is virtual, the hiring manager wants to see you already logged in before he/she shows up.

In our last survey with some employees and job interns, we discovered the major issue that causes lateness to an interview; the ability to decide what to wear for an interview.

While this may be true for you or not, reading this article will help you make a better choice of what to wear to an interview; Best Colours To Wear For An Interview In 2023

2. Make an In-depth Research

Research the company’s mission statement and values, their past work, their clients and competitors, and any general trends or trends related to the company before you walk into an interview. This shows the interviewer you put in effort and are interested in the company.

Create a few questions from your research that you can ask your interviewer at the end of the interview. This shows your interviewer that you did your research.

For example, when you learn that the company you’re applying to work for recently hired Microsoft as a client, you can ask: “What have the most exciting things been about working with Microsoft so far?”

Interviewers sometimes ask, ‘What would you like to see us do better as a company?’ This is a good opportunity to show that you’ve done your homework. Don’t be too focused on what the company isn’t doing.

Concentrate instead on ideas you have for new opportunities that align with the company’s culture and mission. Describe the rationale behind each idea you propose, and explain some of the initiatives and projects you would like to tackle if you were offered the job.

3. Show off your Portfolio

Show off your portfolio if it’s appropriate for the type of position you’re interviewing for. Employers love to see and hear about real successes and accomplishments.

If not, prepare a list of times your work directly led to measurable achievements and be prepared to describe those achievements in detail during the interview.

For example, architects can include images of structures they have designed in a portfolio or journalists can include articles they have written.

4. Dress Smart and Decently

Wearing the right outfit for an interview will be one of your interviewer’s first impressions, so be sure to think about it beforehand.

Irrespective of the type of job you’re applying for, you should dress sharply and never wear anything that looks soiled or torn? Iron your clothes if necessary to avoid wrinkles and don’t wear anything with stains or tears.

Remember, you are addressed based on how are dressed.

5. Maintain a Confident Posture

Maintaining eye contact and smiling during an interview are essential. Keep your shoulders back and your feet on the ground. Or keep your hands by your side and gesture as you normally would when talking.

Keep your shoulders back, your back straight, and your chin up. Don’t keep your hands or arms in your lap, or play with any objects while you are interviewing. With this pattern, you can sell yourself even with no experience 

6. Keep your answers short and precise

Make your first statement directly related to the question and then follow the statement with two or three supporting points that further qualify you. Keep your answers focused on the interviewer’s question.

As an example, if the interviewer asks: “What makes you the right candidate for the job?” you reply should come this way: “I have years of experience in the software industry.” You can then follow up by saying: “I worked for the top software development company in this city for the past 5 years, and right after I graduated college, I developed apps for 2 thriving startups.”

7. Prepare on how you can bring value to the company?

Share specific skills you used in your current or past jobs to achieve something valuable. Explain why you are the perfect candidate for the position.

Using your strong leadership skills, for example, you could say you led a team of sales representatives to increase cell phone sales by 300% at the store you managed last year. As a result, you will be able to help this new company to double their sales if they hire you as their sales manager.

8. Give Precise Details of Your Strength

In an interview, interviewers want to hear more than a handful of words that describe why you are outstanding. They want you to share an example from your career that demonstrates who you are and how you approach things. Avoid using buzzwords such as “collaborative” or “dynamic” to describe your approach to things.

Provide an example of a time when you collaborated with coworkers on a project and how you dealt with the situation, rather than simply saying you are a great team player.

9. Ask Cognitive Questions to Impress

Interviewers want candidates who can ask questions and impress them. Prepare a list of questions about the company and the job before the interview and ask them at the end when you are given the chance.

If you want to follow up on something your interviewer says, write it down. You can ask questions afterwards.

10. Don’t Speak Negatively About Past Employers

A bad word about your past bosses or jobs looks unprofessional. Don’t mention your former employers to your interviewer.

That type of behavior reflects immaturity and is unproductive. Discuss your upcoming endeavors rather than what you have learned from your past employers. This will show you are a positive, professional candidate.

In your reply to the interviewer’s question about why you left your last job, don’t talk about how much you hated the role or had a problem with your boss. Instead, talk about how you felt it was time to move on and find new challenges in order to progress professionally and grow as a person.

11. Have a Deep Thought About Your Answers And Keep Them Concise

The danger of not thinking before you answer is that you will end up giving a long or poor answer. Knowing exactly what your answer will be also keeps you from using too many filler words, such as “like,” “uh,” and “um.”

It’s completely okay to tell the interviewer you need a moment to think about what you are going to say. This will show them how much of a good communicator you are.

For instance, When a question is asked to you that you don’t know the answer to right away, you can say: “That’s a good question, let me think about it.”

12. Be a Storyteller

In just the same way that brands tell their stories, applicants need to tell their own stories at interviews.

“You should present your attributes in the most compelling way during an interview,” Be concise and authentic in telling your story.

13. Come Prepared With Three Strengths

Every interviewer will ask about your strengths. Career coaches will always recommend that candidates number their strengths in groups of three to convey organization and efficacy, in keeping with the ‘rule of three.

At the outset of the interview, candidates can list out their three strengths to give the interviewer an idea of how they’ll answer the question and then elaborate on each.

14. List Relatable Weaknesses

Strengths are easier to discuss than weaknesses, because you don’t want something to appear as a sign that you aren’t a good fit for the job. You should mention a weakness that is relatable but not alarming.

We recommend not mentioning weaknesses such as poor time management, a lack of organization, difficult communication, or perpetual procrastination.

Career coaches recommend that candidates mention that they take on too much work and have difficulty delegating work to others.

While these may be weaknesses, they are relatively nonoffensive ones that show candidates are passionate about their work.

15. Add Some Hobbies to Spice up Things, Don’t Stick Strictly To Work

A job interview is your opportunity to demonstrate that you’re a good fit for a specific role, as well as to indicate that you’re a relatable, enjoyable co-worker. Always you include a section on your resume that states your hobbies and interests.

16. Thank Your Interviewer to Show Your Interest

After the interview is over, send your interviewer a thank you note via email or LinkedIn direct message to show you appreciate the time they took to interview you. Thank them immediately after the interview ends.

You should also use this opportunity to reiterate your interest in the job and briefly remind them why you think you’re an excellent candidate.

Depending on your situation, you could compose a message like, “Thank you again for the interview today. I really enjoyed our conversation and I’m very excited about the opportunity since I think I would make an excellent marketing coordinator.

Conclusion

There are quite a number of ways to sell yourself in an interviews, but the ones we listed are based on researches and tips gotten from recruitment experts and career coaches.

We geared our update towards adding to your knowledge on how to sell yourself in an interview.

FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions)

References

• How to sell yourself in an interview – Businessinsider.com 
• How to sell yourself in any job interview – Wikihow.com  
• I6 ways to sell your self in an interview – Hellogiggles.com 

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