How to Stand Out EVERY TIME in Interviews!

Say this, do that, jump here, run there. You’ve heard it all. You really have. But today I am going to help reshape the way you approach your job search. Guess what? Most of you already do this in the context of your day-to-day jobs. So, buckle up and get ready to take a MIND SHIFT to the next level of your job search and professional acumen!  

When you go to an interview what usually happens? You are greeted with niceties and formalities, then you either sit down or stare at your zoom screen going through a scripted list of interview questions. You are lucky if the interview feels more like a conversation. But the questions are all scripted, designed to not create any unfair bias against you yet, at the same time, those questions are not designed to really let you highlight your unique skills and talents. What if there was a way for you to do that?  

There are MULTIPLE ways for you to stand out (outside of stellar resumes, interview questions, personality, etc.)! Today we are going to focus on ONE of those ways to stand out EVERYTIME: having your own business presentation/pitch deck that shows your business value! Brownie points for using a theme/color coordination representing the company you are interviewing with! Half of you just rolled over and groaned, the other half of you just thought, “tell me more!”. 

You need to consider this simple fact: interviews are long, they are intensive, and require massive amounts of time and energy investment from employers (and employees, love you all!). Imagine you are a hiring manager looking for the next extraordinary talent to join the team, and you sat through hours of interviews asking the same canned questions and hearing the same canned response except for a few? You would be spaced out too. Having an asset like a pitch deck/presentation to present to your interviewer (which they did not ask for, by the way) will help you be memorable, shows you take initiative, and if executed well it will show that you GET IT. Now let us talk about HOW you can piece one of these together.  

Goals 

• Show your BUSINESS VALUE (not just the tasks you completed!) 
• Keep it SUCCINCT (no more than 10 slides, really you should only need 5-7 minutes’ worth of content!!) 
• Templatized for scalability (so you don’t have to spend 3 hours every time creating this!) 

Sample Slide Playbook 

Slide 1- Intro Slide 

• This slide should include items such as:  
  • a professional headshot 
  • Title of the role you are being considered for 
  • 1-2 sentence overview of your career impact 
    • 6+ years delivering excellence customer service achieving 95% CSAT rating 

Slide 2- VALUES Slide 

• Ideally you should tie the company values into the presentation, but you can also talk about what YOU value 
  • Pick 3-5 core values that you live by or that resonated with you from the employer 
    • MAKE SURE YOU HAVE A STORY PREPARED FOR REACH VALUE AND HOW YOU LIVED THAT OUT, BUT ONLY TELL THEM 1-2 STORIES FOR SAKE OF TIME 

 Slide 3- Experience AKA BUSINESS VALUE SLIDE 

• This slide is going to be one of the money slides, you need to have at least 3-5 specific experiences on this slide in short form that highlight the business value you brought to your last team/employer (or pick relevant examples from your career that match this new role you are interviewing for) 
  • Examples of Business Value 
    • Customer Service, Sales, Marketing, Finance, Operations, Human Resources, Accounting
      • Can be broken down into Net Promoter Score, Revenue Generated, Leads Generated, Investment ROI, System/Process Improvement, Employee Retention Increased, Increased Cashflow, etc.!  

Slide 4- What you can do for EMPLOYER slide 

• Now that you have walked them through your previous wins, TAKE THEM THROUGH THE JOURNEY OF HOW YOU WILL HELP THEM WIN! 
  • You will find out what the true need of the employer is by conducting research through interviews, case studies, YouTube videos, google articles, and the literal interview process.  
  • I recommend identifying either THE BIGGEST NEED or 2-3 of their most important priorities  
    • Piece together a high-level strategy and execution plan for how you would either lead a team or individually help solve/meet the employer’s needs.  

Slide 5- QUESTIONS SLIDE & SOURCES, IF NEEDED 

• You must be prepared for the interviewer to poke holes into your strategies and ideas! You also want to open the floor for an engaging discussion as well 
• CITE YOUR SOURCES FOLKS 

 Key Things to Remember:  

• Data, DATA, DATA. You must include data that is relevant for any of the talking points that you are sharing, otherwise you WILL be seen as less credible.  
• Delivery is just as important as having this thing, practice and rehearse with your friends, family, heck do it in front of a mirror. Whatever you do, do not ‘wing it’.  
• Constantly A/B test what works and what does not work. This is not an end-all-be-all. Some employers will welcome this strategy, others will not! Some will love your ideas; others will say we have already done that.  

 How do I tee-up this type of presentation if I was not asked to do it in the first place?  

You: Mr./Mrs. hiring manager, I have done several hours of research on the company and this role as well as the responsibilities and desired outcomes. I prepared a 5–7-minute presentation to walk through my skills, knowledge, experience, and key strategies for success in this role. Are you open to letting me share this with you today at the beginning or end of our meeting?  

Other Resources to Help:  

Austin Belak’s Value Validation Project Interview- How to Get NOTICED to Get a Job at Google, Airbnb, Microsoft – with Austin Belcak 

Andrew Lacivita’s Valuable Eight for Resumes- Submitting a Resume That Gets Interviews: Checklist Included!