How To Leave A Lasting Impression In A Job Interview

Job interviews are your first interaction with the employer or their team. How you handle it can make or break your career path and, of course, also land you the position you seek.

You’ll find tons of books, the internet, and peers with a whole lot to say about how to respond correctly to common interview questions. But did you know that it’s not just the right answers that are needed?

Your interview can be a success or a failure, even if you have all the correct answers. It goes way beyond right and wrong. It’s about leaving a lasting impression by having meaningful conversations, showing genuine interest in the job and role, and forming a lasting connection with the interviewer.

Answering Questions the Traditional Way

When you look at most of the advice on job hunting, a lot of it boils down to how to answer questions. 

Whether it’s how to answer “What do you do?” in a networking meeting or how to answer “Tell me about yourself” in a first-round job interview, it’s answering questions. 

Even later, pieces of advice include things like how to answer the “What’s your greatest weakness?” question or how to respond perfectly to a situational or behavioral interview question.

The Pitfall of Relying Solely on Prepared Answers

There’s nothing wrong with having a really well-prepared answer to a question that you anticipate and, in fact, that shows a lot of positive strengths. But often, this dearth of answer-advice literature leaves us thinking that all we need to do is have a perfectly sculpted answer to each question, and we can Jedi-mind trick our way into the new position.

But when it comes to leaving a lasting impression in a job interview, having only the right answer—even if you have ALL the right answers—is actually an easy way to be forgotten.

If you want to be remembered, invited to the next round, or offered the job, then it’s all about asking the right questions.

How to Engage with the Interviewer

Humans are uniquely interesting beings, and they’re especially interested in themselves. 

So what is most likely to help you leave a lasting impression on any other human isn’t how interesting you appear; it’s how interested you appear in them and their company. 

So when the tables turn, the interviewer signals, “What questions do you have for me?” You need to have questions and ones that demonstrate interest.

Know the Company Inside and Out

To do this, you need to know about them.

• You need to know about the company (and more than the stock price and the CEO’s name).
• You need to know their founding story.
• You need to know how they have evolved.
• You need to know about the company culture.
• You need to know about the interviewer.

You need to take all that you know and use it to craft questions that only someone who knows and is genuinely interested in working for that company would ask.

Conduct Thorough Research

So go back and read archives in the Wall Street Journal. 

Find articles about past situations the company overcame. Find things you admire about the company or its leaders that you can bring up about the company. Read reviews on Glassdoor—positive and negative—to figure out what the company culture is like.

Importance of Researching the Company 

The better you understand the company, the more information you have about it, and the better your job interview will be.

Your knowledge will also give you much to ask them about during the interview.

Look into the company’s history, how and when it was founded, and the challenges that have come about since then. Look for the milestones it has achieved, its values, and its goals.

A good way to go about it is to look up news articles, industry reports, or employee reviews. This way, you will be better able to engage in meaningful discussions with your employer and also align your own values and goals with those of the organization.

Check out the organization’s culture, strengths, and areas for improvement. Knowledge in these areas will show that you have taken the time to understand the company and are committed to joining the team.

Craft Insightful Questions

From all of that information—from that research that goes deeper than any other candidate—will come questions that investigate deeper than any other candidate, that show a stronger interest in the company, and a stronger interest in being a part of that company’s mission, vision and its strategic plan than any other candidate.

When you have the knowledge, the next step is to form questions that reflect your interest. Instead of general queries, go in-depth. This will show that you have read about it and will keep the interviewer interested as you ask them to share insights or their experiences with the organization. 

Instead of asking generic questions like, “Where do you see the company in a few years?” Ask something like this, “I noticed you’ve recently expanded into new markets. How do you see that will affect the company’s culture and employee engagement?”

Word your questions carefully to establish a meaningful dialogue with the interviewer.

Prioritize Quality Over Quantity 

A side note: I realize this doesn’t really scale. You can’t apply for 50 jobs and do deep research on each one, but you probably shouldn’t be applying for 50 jobs simultaneously anyway. 

You should apply to the ones that initial research reveals as the right opportunities…and then do deeper research on those few.

So, do the research, choose, and then do more research. Learn everything a current employee would know, even some things they may have forgotten. If you do that, your genuine interest in working for the company will become apparent, and you’ll be much more interesting to the interviewer.

Wrap Up

Leaving a lasting impression on the job interviewer requires genuine interest. 

Only when you research the company and are truly invested in its values can you conduct an insightful conversation with your interviewer. 

Instead of preparing just answers, do your homework and prepare some meaningful questions that’ll make your impression last and, of course, up your chances of acing the interview and securing the job.