Putting your best foot forward in the interview process is a critical aspect of a successful job search. But even more importantly, it can have a long-term impact on your loss prevention career in general. These impressions can have a lasting effect on how you are perceived as a professional as well as how you approach your career development plan. Whether the information serves as a reminder or a revelation, the most important objective should be to make a strong and lasting impression when exploring new career opportunities. Let’s take a closer look at how we should approach the interview.
Approach the Job Interview with the Right Attitude
The right attitude is critical in the interview process, and enthusiasm is key. There are many things that go into determining who will be the best candidate to fill a particular position, and many of those factors go well beyond the details listed on a resume. Bringing the right attitude can mean the difference between getting the job—and getting a letter thanking you for participating in the process.
Organizations hire people—not just skill sets. By the time that the hiring process gets to the interviewing stage, most if not all of the candidates that are involved in the process have represented the skill sets necessary to be considered a viable candidate for the job. At this juncture, interviewers are typically looking at capabilities as well as qualifications. They’re looking for a fit. They want someone who will work well with the team, cooperate, and be a strong partner. They want someone who can show flexibility and the ability to adjust and adapt. They want to see passion, drive, and enthusiasm. They want to see the qualities of a leader. Your ability to project these qualities with enthusiasm and sincerity will make all the difference in the interview process. They don’t necessarily want to see cartwheels, but they want to see energy. Enthusiasm is contagious – let them feel it!
Don’t Allow Your Ego to Drive the Conversation.
Every job—and every job interview must be perceived as an opportunity. We must be able to recognize the stage that we’re on, and how our approach will reflect on our overall performance as a professional. The interview shouldn’t be viewed as a singular event, but rather the foundation for a lasting impression.
Approach the conversation with the mindset that “This is the job that I want” “This is where I want to go” “This is what I want to do”…and take it from there. If we take this approach, what’s the worst thing that can happen? We get into the conversation, realize it might not be the right opportunity, the company makes us an offer, and we turn it down. Most of us can live with that.
The other side of that coin is what leads to far too many frustrating results. Too many take the “Let’s see how this goes” or the “What’s in this for me” approach to the interview. Many then get in the middle of the conversation and realize that it’s exactly the type of opportunity that they’ve been looking for—and by then it may be too late. These are the types of ego-driven mistakes that often haunt us later.
Interview performance can have a lasting impact on loss prevention careers. You never know when another opportunity might arise in which the person that you’re interviewing with is the same person that you spoke to once before. Interviews wasted often result in opportunities lost.
A Winning Approach Starts with a Winning Attitude
A job interview provides a means to open a window into who we are—as a professional, as a leader, as a partner, and as a person. We are given precious minutes to summarize our value and our character; and make a positive and lasting impression on those having offered us the opportunity. This is a platform, and not a guarantee that others will see us for who we are. It is up to us to open the window and share the picture.
But an interview is also something more. It is a search for a match, and a chance to take our skills and abilities to another level. It is a means to build upon our career, and find a home that not only meets our needs, but helps reveal our future. Unfortunately, it is also a skill that many take for granted. It’s simply not enough to be good at what we do. We also have to be able to share that information with others, and offer the best possible picture of who we are so that we continue to move forward down a successful and rewarding loss prevention career path.
Visit www.lpjobs.com for more information about loss prevention careers.