By Ringside Talent
November 23, 2016
As your career advances, you’ll find that closing that final interview with a bang and subsequently getting an offer takes more than strong answers, recognition of a good fit and great chemistry with the hiring team.
If you can find an opportunity to show the hiring manager how you organize your thoughts, and how you’d develop a strategy for approaching the new position, you’ll give yourself an edge over the other candidates. Here’s what employers are looking for:
1) Clear Priorities
Based on the interviews you’ve had, the research you’ve done and the questions you’ve asked, you should be able to smoothly articulate the most important issues and priorities that you’ll address in the first 90 days.
2) Smart Actions
As you build your presentation out, you’ll want to include specific tasks you plan to accomplish and in what timeframe along with what people or resources you expect to need in order to make those things happen. Remember the SMART acronym? Set goals that are specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and time-bound.
3) Well-Defined Success Measures
One benefit of creating this timeline is that it gives you the opportunity to set the definition of success as early as possible. You and your manager must align on that, or there’ll be tension. Make sure you have a very clear understanding of the company’s wants and needs and have your goals reflect that knowledge.
4) Quantifiable Impact Measures
List specifically how you want to measure the success of your actions. An action without impact is a task. As you identify your specific action strategies, and how you’ll measure success, make sure you also tie it to the impact that action will have on the organization.
5) Scorecard
An essential part of any 90-day plan is building a report out. As you put your thoughts to paper, be sure to include the summary of actions, progress and updates your manager will see each week. Design your report out in an easy to follow summary you can update each week. Think of it as a mini billboard of your accomplishments.
Whatever level job you’re applying for, it’s smart to think about how you’d make an impact in the first 90 days. Be aggressive but realistic about how you’d get quick wins, and address pain points you’re aware the employer needs your help with. This approach goes above and beyond the standard interview Q&A.
Source: The Muse written by Lea McLeod