Most of you may know the biggest question on interviewer’s mind.
But do you know the Second Biggest Question that can be as important as the first one?
Interviewers have a tough job at hand these days. They want to select the best candidates for the job when the job seekers have multiple options.
Gone are the days when applicants were desperate to get a job. With the rise of work-from-home job possibilities and multitudes of freelancing platforms, if anyone wants to earn money they have several options to choose from.
Heck, many may even choose to try hands-on trading because of the ease and possibilities created by the zero-commission mobile apps for trading like Groww!
So, employers are no longer in the commanding position that they used to enjoy in the past. Several candidates choose to reject offers just a day or 2 before their joining date these days!
This is why, right from the start, even before the first interview till the candidate actually joins the organization, employers need to be ultra-careful about selecting the right candidates.
This is why 2 Big Questions are on top of the recruiter’s or interviewer’s mind when hiring you.
Can you tell us which is the first one?
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It is …
Are you the best fit for the job? – The Biggest Question on Interviewer’s mind
This one is obvious. If you are preparing for interviews and have explored the common interview questions, you may have come across them umpteen times.
Even if this question is central to their quest, it is hard for them to convincingly determine if you are truly the best fit for the job!
So, they keep on throwing questions at you, which essentially are, them asking you – Why should we hire you? – in different ways!
After all, they had just a small window of opportunity to understand you with your resume and interview rounds. You may have prepared well. So, you may have aligned yourself well for the role offered! But they want the truth…
First, they may find out your key strengths and your key skills to be relevant to the job requirements.
Then they may find your experience to be suitable, making you well-equipped to handle the challenges that come with the job.
Now you are almost there. You have reached a level where you have the highest possibility of getting the job.
But wait .. this journey is still to be complete .. hold your breath!
There is one more Big “If” on the interviewer’s mind!
They know that even if you are the best fit for the role, there are aspects that may make you unfit to be hired.
Plus, there are chances that, if you are given an offer, you may either reject it or decide to not join later or you may leave the job soon after joining their organization!
If you know how long it takes for employers to hire a candidate and how much they spend on hiring an average new recruit, you will know that these are the last things they want to happen!
So, how do they avoid these situations or possibilities?
To be honest, no recruiter or interviewer can avoid this completely. But there are ways that they dramatically reduce the possibility of such things happening even before you are given any job offer!
This drives to the Second Biggest Question on their minds ..
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Will they enjoy working with you? – The Second Biggest Question on Interviewer’s Mind
Here the word “they” means, either the interviewer himself or the team that you may join if you are offered the role.
The other side of this question is – Will you enjoy working with them?
As you can sense it is more about you being the culture fit in their workplace!
Look, there are many candidates who fit the bill skills-wise and experience-wise, out of the hundreds of applicants who apply for any role in a desirable workplace.
Rather many candidates are well aware of the skills most employers love to see in job applicants. Recruiters can easily get a sense of your work experience from the project description in your resume.
Your achievements stated in the resume may be highly impressive. Your interests mentioned in the resume may be highly relevant. Add to that, your hobbies mentioned during the interview may create a level of intrigue about you!
Finally, you may have mastered key interview skills. So your performance in the interviews may be top-notch.
But all of these do not take away the human element involved when you actually get to work in any organization.
This ultimately proves to be the make-or-break condition for your eligibility to get hired for any role in any company.
Interviewers want to ensure that you feel and bring positive energy to the team. You will feel naturally motivated once you join. The workplace environment will bring the best out of you!
And last but not least, you will work for a long period of time once hired.
This means, even if you fare well on the biggest question in their mind, this second question will matter almost equally highly when you are getting interviewed.
So, it makes sense that you prepare well upfront to handle it …
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5 Tips to Help You Be a Culture Fit Most Naturally
You read it right. The goal is, you want to be a culture fit … BUT .. naturally!
Not in a forceful way. Not through any kind of manipulation. Not for the sake of it. And not because you somehow just want to get a job!
What you want to ensure is that there is a natural win-win in this for you as well as the employer.
You want both to be naturally suited for one another. So, here are a few things that will help you achieve it.
1. Spend a good amount of time understanding the company and its culture.
Yes .. this may sound cliche. And still, you will find yourself neglecting this big time during your job search!
It can feel like hard work. It may sometimes even be boring. But it is a MUST!
If you do it diligently, you will save a ton of hassles later.
2. Apply only to those companies, which have values and a culture that aligns with you.
Instead of spending a ton of time and effort later to explore this fit, it is better that you do it even before your job application.
3. Ask questions about the company culture to the recruiters
Recruiters want to enjoy the highest conversions while trying to place candidates they source to the employers.
They tend to be well aware of the culture and general grapevine about the company they are trying to place you in.
So in many ways, they are your best buddies or shall we say partners in crime 🙂
4. Use the first round of interviews to gauge if you may enjoy working in the company
This is where you may want to use a few questions or look for subtle hints in the conversation that may lead you to get a feel of how it is to work in the company you have applied for!
Just the way, each round of interviews is sort of an elimination round for you, they can be an elimination round for the employers too!
Choose wisely!
5. Open up interviewers to talk more about the company and the team
Interviewers are generally from the team that you are eventually going to work for.
This means, they probably have the best insight into what the team likes and dislikes. They know how the team operates together and how they go about any work at hand.
They can talk about many instances, challenges, and examples of how they went about doing anything.
If you acquire a few interviewing skills yourself, you will be in a far stronger position to do this.
And it is not as difficult as it seems!
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We hope that this puts you in a far better position to not only choose the best organization for you to work for, but also the best possible work experience that you may eventually get!
Time to read our interview section and career coaching section for many more useful insights!
