Highlight Intangibles In Your Job Interview Based On The Position’s Listed Duties

When you’re at a job interview, it’s important to meet all the listed requirements — but the task doesn’t end there. US News & World Report notes that it’s just as critical to emphasise the “intangibles” needed to succeed.

Arnie Fertig at US News & World Report suggests making educated guesses at what these intangibles are based on the job’s official duties.

If you take the time to closely read a job description, you can discern the competencies that are associated with a position’s requirements. For example, one random job posted recently calls for someone to be a “liaison for…”, “gain approval for…”, “track success…”, “contribute to…”, “execute marketing activities…” and “ensure budgets and schedules meet corporate requirements.”

Ask yourself what is required to attain success for each of these bullet points. To be a liaison and gain approval for things, one must have solid oral and written communication skills. To track success, you must be detail oriented, and likely have the ability to negotiate spreadsheets. To contribute, someone most likely requires a collegial, team-based approach to work. To keep budgets on track likely requires someone with a head for numbers.

I think this tip is perhaps best-suited for interviews where you don’t have prior experience with certain job duties, and need to convey that you could learn them. Maybe you’ve never telecommuted before, but you could emphasise your written communication skills and ability to work independently if a job requires some remote work. If the position involves creating web traffic reports, but you never did that at your old job, you could highlight your quantitative reasoning skills and analytical mind.

Once you’ve identified the competencies you want to highlight, think up some good anecdotes from your previous work that demonstrate them. Depending on how subtle these qualities are, they might not explicitly come up during the interview, but you can work in references to them during your other answers. Check out the source link for some more job interview tips.

The Two Things Savvy Interviewers Are Looking For [US News & World Report]