Top 5 Interview Secrets I wish I knew 10 years ago

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Hey everyone and welcome to the Equipped Interview Podcast.
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With a combined 30 plus years of being interviewed and interviewing thousands of others, we're here to build your confidence, help you stand out and get your dream job.
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Your hosts are Joshua Tinkey and Linda Kamali.
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Let's get you equipped.
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What advice would you give to younger you?
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Well, I thought about that recently and came up with my top five things.
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Happy New Year everyone.
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I'm sure you're hearing that a lot, but I mean it nonetheless.
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And other than a short Monday Motivation episode a couple days ago, it's been a while since we put out a full episode like this, so I'm really excited about this one and I really appreciate the emails and questions that have come in and just asking when we'd be back and giving us ideas.
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So we have a lot of good stuff planned for 2025 and pretty pumped to be chatting with you again today.
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So who doesn't like a top five list?
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We're going to do one today.
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I started with a lot longer and had to pare it down.
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Got way too long, so we're going to go with the top five.
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Top five interview secrets that I'd give myself 10 years ago, the younger version of myself, things I've learned along the way, and let's dive in Number five.
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It's not about their questions, so it is about telling them what they need to hear.
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This is, this is basically if you listen to Monday's episode, this is basically a follow-up from that short snippet.
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Go back and listen.
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If you haven't, I'm just going to expand on it a little bit.
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You know better than they, you know you better than they know you, and the they in this case is the interviewer, the hiring manager, whoever.
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They're just trying to figure out what they need to know and you need to do yourself the favor of telling them straight up.
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They're just trying to figure out what are the right questions to ask you to get the answers that they, that they need to figure you out.
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Beat them to the punch by going in with a plan, an intentional list of strengths, stories, examples, details about you.
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This is basically, if you know our prep steps, we have our equipped interviews seven prep steps.
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This is basically prep step two in the list, which is change your mindset, because your approach is all wrong, and I'm going to definitely tell the younger me, my younger self, to reframe my mind and really repurpose all those countless hours of interview prep that I did, and guess what I was still nervous after all those hours of interview prep, anxious, unclear of my strategy, going in, curious what they're going to ask me, and it gives you an uneasiness if you approach it that way hey, what are they going to ask me?
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I don't know if I'm going to be able to give the right answers, but if you repurpose that time and think about your mindset going in instead being these are the things I want to tell them, no matter what they ask.
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And once I realized that the interviewer was just asking questions to learn about me, I started focusing my prep time on really diving into knowing my own stuff.
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There's so much to say on that topic.
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I think I've had at least one or two full episodes on that alone over the years.
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But it's something that's really important.
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But if you're already stuck and you're thinking well, I'm not sure where to start with that and how to do that.
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Start with the top three things that every hiring manager is looking for in an interview.
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What they're trying to answer is does he or she have the skills that I need?
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Does the candidate have the excitement or passion for the job enough that they'll still want to stick around and actually want to do the job.
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After that quote new job smell wears off, like I like to say.
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And then three, do they like you?
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So focus your prep energy on doing some self-assessment on those areas.
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Write down the top three to five skills you think they're looking for.
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Maybe you know it hands down, maybe you have to really think about it.
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But write down your top three to five strengths then, and let's hope they match right.
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If not, is this the right job for you?
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You gotta think, then, and let's hope they match right.
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If not, is this the right job for you?
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You got to think about that.
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But let's hope they match and make sure you know them down cold.
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And also really think about why you're excited and be really specific on that.
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Anyone can say that, oh yeah, I'm excited, I am really excited for this opportunity.
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Got to get specific about this, really think about it and make sure it's believable.
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For example, I mean maybe you could point out two specific things that you know about the job description or a project.
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You know that you'd work on the location, the culture, but be careful with that one.
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No matter what, make it specific.
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You don't want to just read something off the website that anyone else could say and say, oh, the culture looks great, I'm excited about that.
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You need to dive into why.
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What's specific that they could really really believe you and make sure it's true, but really believe you understand that, hey, this person is actually excited for the job and that passion will come out in results.
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So, number five on the countdown list I tell my younger self that it's not about their questions.
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I need to know myself.
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I need to prep and just tell them the important information about me, regardless of what question they ask me fit it in which I'll need to research ahead of time the important information about me.
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But if I want to gain confidence going into that interview, that's the start.
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Number four start prepping way before you have to.
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Often it's way too much pressure to do it in a time crunch and so I would tell myself start prepping way before you have to.
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Most of us think about it as we apply, or as we're starting to apply to things, or if we actually get the invite for an interview.
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This one's actually straight out of prep.
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Step one Always be prepping, and here's a couple practical ways to approach this and then we'll move on to the next one.
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I did talk about this briefly last week too, or last episode too.
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It's almost like there's a framework that works for people and I want to drill it into your head.
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Anyway, if you've ever prepped for any interview, I mean you know this.
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You're usually up the night before trying to remember at least something good you've done, trying to craft the perfect answer as to why you want the job.
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It's a lot harder to prep well and think clearly.
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With limited time or pressure or maybe even lack of sleep, it's not impossible, but you're much more likely to get kind of B minus work out of that or forget something.
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So instead, here's what I recommend you keep a phone or notebook nearby and jot things down as they come up over the year.
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And that's for work, that's for life, whatever situation you're in.
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Keep it nearby and write things down as they come up.
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If you're feeling really ambitious, make a table of strengths versus skills and examples.
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So you picture a table of some kind spreadsheet, whatever.
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In column one write down a list of all the skills you're likely to use or need to talk about or demonstrate, and then in another column next to it, jot down some notes about a situation when you use it, something that can jog your memory down the road several months away from when you wrote it down.
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That way you don't have to try to, you know, scratch your brain and think about it from months ago.
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What did I do?
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What skill did I use?
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What's a good example?
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It's not all about the examples, but this can help because you obviously do need to think about examples of times that you used certain skills and strengths.
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Oh, and make sure you schedule this.
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If you want to get basically an expert level at this, what gets scheduled gets done.
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If it's not on your calendar or in a phone reminder probably won't happen.
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So schedule it.
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Make it happen on a weekly, bi-weekly, monthly basis, if that, if it's if it, if your decision is between don't do it at all, or do it monthly, or once every other month, do it then, but I'd recommend every other week to keep things fresh.
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So, number four I'd tell me from 10 years ago to start prepping way before I have to.
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You don't feel like you need to Save myself from hours of probable stress, all right.
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Number three and this is where things get really good, in my personal opinion I would tell myself prep for specific questions, even if you think you won't get asked those questions.
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So this seems a little backwards.
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I'd probably start questioning myself at this point if I told myself that Then again I'm talking to myself.
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So who am I to judge?
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But stick with me, this isn't a perfect analogy, but it's kind of like the Karate Kid.
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You might have seen the original way back or the remake or just heard of it, but obviously if you have heard of it, mr Miyagi has Daniel do all sorts of chores again and again, over and over.
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Daniel thinks it's pointless because he's not going to wax cars or paint fences or anything during a karate match, right, but he ends up building muscle memory for the motions that his arms, legs etc.
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Are going to need later.
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So the same thing is somewhat true when prepping for an interview Kind of the best analogy I could think of off the top of my head.
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One of the best ways to prep for an interview is to do thought exercises, prepare answers, think about and write down how you would answer certain questions so that if you get other, somewhat related questions, you've already put thought into it, you know yourself and how you'd answer it and you won't panic in an interview when that comes up You'll also be able to.
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You'll have done the work ahead of time, so you don't have to come up with new ideas, skills, strengths, things to think about in the moment.
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So my favorite question to prep for in this case and when I coach everyone I work with that they must prep for is the question why should I hire you?
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Now you probably have like only a I don't know 10, 20% chance of getting that question in an actual interview.
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I mean, I've gotten it multiple times, but it's not that common.
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It's a wildly important question though.
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That can significantly help you with almost any other response during an interview, because here's what it does for you.
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It helps you if you really think about it and you spend time answering this question why should I hire you?
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And crafting a good response.
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It helps you gain clarity on your own value proposition.
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I mean, sit back and think about it.
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Why should they hire you over someone else?
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It also helps you gain clarity on what skills you offer.
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It forces you to really think about and understand why you want the job, or if you even don't right, you have to think about that.
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That as well.
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So here's here's how I think you can do that to prep for an answer to that question.
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I teach people to do this.
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You need to one focus on your skills.
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Write them down.
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Use those three to five skills I mentioned earlier.
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Use your strengths.
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Talk about those strengths.
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Focus first on your skills.
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Know yourself down pat.
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Focus on your, your passion.
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Like I talked about your skills, know yourself down pat.
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Focus on your passion.
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Like I talked about your excitement.
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Why is it Really really reflect on what those are?
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And I legitimately mean you need to write these down, not just think about them.
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Third, you need to focus on the unique things.
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What do you uniquely bring to the table that could be different than the other candidates?
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So this could be something like you know that you have a unique experience.
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You know you have a unique background, maybe a special designation, a certain certification, a certain degree, something that's unique that you can call out and know about yourself and bring up.
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And then, fourth, focus on making the hiring manager's life easier.
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Maybe you know something about yourself.
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You know you're a quick learner.
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You know I mean a lot of people say that, but think about specifically how are there times and other jobs that you've gotten up to speed quickly?
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Think about that, write that down as a differentiator for you and yourself, something you can bring up in the interview at any point.
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And maybe there's something else, but ultimately, when you think about, if you actually get the question, why should I hire you?
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That's how you answer it, by the way you talk about well here.
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Here are the top three skills that I have.
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Here's why I'm excited for the role.
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This is a unique thing about me.
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This is something that I don't think any of your other candidates are going to have, and here's why it's either my, my background, my experience, my training, a specific job that I've had, a location that I'm in, something unique that I bring to the table.
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Oh and, by the way, I'm going to make your life easier because I get up to speed quickly.
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You're not going to train me, you know you fill in the blank, but those four areas skills, excitement, unique, something unique about you and then making their life easier that's how you answer the question.
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But it's also what you prep for, because, think about it, if you, if you know the answers to those questions or you've done the homework and you know a lot about yourself, now what you bring to the table, how much easier is it to answer other questions, like the tell me about yourself question, which spoiler alert we're going to talk about in just a second.
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It's also easier to answer other questions.
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Hey, you're probably going to get a question around strengths.
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You know what's, what are your top strengths or what are your development areas, and you can, you can pair that up, think about that and then pair it with a strength at the end.
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If you know the answers to those questions or that list that we just went through, you can answer with confidence almost any other question that you get asked.
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Or you can answer that question and pepper in some of these skills in your passion and at some random point, throw in there why you're unique, throw in there why you're going to make the hiring manager's life easier.
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That is the power of prepping for this question.
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It's probably my favorite.
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One of this list is you have to prep for a question even if you don't think you're going to get asked it.
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So, as number three, I tell myself to prep.
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Why should I hire you?
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Number two, use every part of the interview to share as much about yourself as you can.
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I mean whether that's small talk, your questions at the end, et cetera.
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Use every part to your advantage, all right.
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So this one can be pretty self-explanatory in some cases, but bottom line, you need to take advantage of every situation, be proactive, be intentional.
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You're there to do a job.
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You're not there to answer their questions, as we talked about earlier.
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You're there to tell the interviewer at every opportunity what you want to tell them or show.
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That's part of the process.
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You know how earlier I mentioned, one of the things every hiring manager is looking for is to answer.
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Do I like you?
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Small talk might be annoying to a lot of us, but it can go a long way in helping them see the real you.
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How do you interact with the non-interview type question?
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There may be a glitch on the video interview, maybe.
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If you're in the physical room, maybe they show up late.
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How do you respond to that and how do they start to see you as a potential coworker or someone that can get work done for them?
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Another way for them to see the real you is how you approach the questions at the end of the interview.
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When the hiring manager gives you a chance to ask questions, don't say no, I'm good.
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I think you answered everything.
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I think I've harped on that enough at this point.
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Most people don't do that anymore, but I still see it.
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I still do interviews and I still see it.
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I still see it one out of every three, four interviews.
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So what happens?
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Don't be that person.
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Don't say, no, I'm good you answered everything.
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You got to come prepared, because it's a waste of time and a soapbox minute for a moment.
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The time at the end of the question at the interview for you to ask questions is not really for you to get your questions answered.
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You can go in and ask questions If you have a burning question.
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You're like I don't know how this job, what this is like.
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If you're talking to the recruiter or HR, like that, that's when you get your a lot of your early questions answered.
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Hopefully, if you have one for the hiring manager, great.
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But the vast majority of that time should be spent telling the interviewer more about you.
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Use that time to your advantage through the lens of questions.
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So you certainly don't want to ask only basic.
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So the worst is no questions.
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The next level up is asking basic questions.
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The next level up is asking pretty thought provoking questions.
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But peak level is, yes, asking a question, but basically setting yourself up to start a conversation so they can see you as a peer, as a colleague in that role, and just talk about something in the industry.
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Talk about something that is important to you, get them talking and then intersperse more information about you.
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Maybe there's something during the interview you didn't get to touch on.
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Bring it up here.
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Find a way to throw it in, ask your question and, as part of that conversation, talk about something that you forgot to answer, whether it's an example, certification, experience you have.
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Find a way to throw that into the question.
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So I can't go into the whole framework now, but I have one that I teach called the show method to use this time to start a conversation, to show them the real you, because listen, you're at the end of the interview.
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You'll be more relaxed, more like yourself.
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Use this time to ask a question in a way that one tells them more about you and two gets them to know the real you.
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The show method what it stands for is S-H-O-W.
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It's an acronym S share, h have an opinion, o opinion get theirs this time and W write and wonder, and what that really means is, you know, share something.
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This is kind of how you set yourself up for a conversation and to use this framework and, real briefly, I have other episodes on a checkout podcast.
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I think it's episode five.
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You can check out, search for it on the website, you'll find it.
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But basically, short version is share something.
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Do your research at a time, but then share.
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That's the S.
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Share something that you've learned.
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Read a podcast, you've listened to something you've learned in the industry, the conference, you went to a TED talk something.
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Share something that you've learned a concept, methodology, whatever.
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Have an opinion on it.
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So say, I think X, y or Z, this you know, here's my take on this.
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It's going to be a game changer, or I think it's going to peter out and never show up again.
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Have an opinion Now here's where the question comes in and get their opinion on it.
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That's the O opinion.
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Get theirs this time.
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So ask them but hey, interviewer, what do you think on this topic?
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How do you see this impacting our industry or this organization or this job?
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Find a way to ask them a question.
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And then the W is just keeps the conversation going.
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The wonder is just keeps the conversation going.
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The wonder is just kind of a keyword or trigger.
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You could use the word curious if you want, but it could sound something like hey, you know what?
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I wonder that's an interesting thought, hiring manager.
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I wonder if this was any different, would you, would your opinion change?
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Or I wonder how this might change things.
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So the wonder is merely just a way to keep the conversation going, for them to see you in action at having a conversation, which is obviously, as you can tell, is a way different approach than just asking quick hit questions.
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It's not the best value of your time to do Q&A.
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You've probably gotten most of your questions answered by the time you're with the hiring manager and you can use this time to tell them more about you.
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Trust me, it really is a game changer.
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I've used it myself for years.
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I've had good feedback from everyone.
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That's used it mainly for the hiring manager setting, not so much the HR recruiter setting, but you can pepper it in there too.
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So for number two, I tell myself from 10 years ago to totally change how I spend that time at the end of the interview and make the most of it.
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All right.
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Number one top thing I would change or tell myself from 10 years ago change how you answer.
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Tell me about yourself.
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I would absolutely tell younger me to change up how I give a first impression in an interview, especially after having interviewed so many people and hearing so many bad answers to this.
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I know most people mess this up, even without realizing it.
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So don't be that person, don't?
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I'm gonna start with the don'ts.
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Don't tell you what to do.
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Don't go chronologically.
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That's what most people do.
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First I did this and then I did this, and now I'm here and often take way too long to do that.
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Don't take way too long to do that.
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So don't go chronologically and don't spend too much time on this.
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You need to talk about the important things and do it in a relatively concise, efficient manner.
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I'd say two and a half minutes, maybe three if you're really engaging as the way that you do it.
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So what do you focus on?
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First, focus on your skills, not job titles.
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Talk about the skills you've used as a leader.
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Talk about the strategic planning that you did, the coaching, the development, the change management, the vision that you set as a leader, as a project manager.
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Talk about the deadlines that you hit, the efficiency that you use, the influence and persuasion that you used, not the job titles.
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So that's where you got to focus on.
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I used these skills, I did these accomplishments, not necessarily the job titles that you had and just your job description.
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It can be a start, but that's what everyone does and I want you to stand out.
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So, second, after you're thinking you know strategically about, like the skills and not the job titles.
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Second, start with who you are now and I recommend what's that you follow what's called the present past future formula, or methodology, or current past future.
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Either way, you start with who you are now, what skills you're using and what impact you're making.
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Give them a picture of who you are today.
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So what that starts with.
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So, if you get the question, you know, tell me about yourself.
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Or you know what brings you here to the interview today, to tell me about your background.
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All of those versions are the same question, by the way.
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If you get asked any of those, go with the prepared answer that you expected to talk about around Tell me about yourself.
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I don't want that to throw you off.
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So any, any way you get asked it, go with your prepared answer and fill in the blanks.
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So the way you start that out, it could sound like okay, tell me about yourself.
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So then you, you start, you say absolutely, I am a.
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And then you start filling the blank I'm a.
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Let's go back to that leader example.
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I'm an engaging leader.
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I love to get results.
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I coach my team, I recognize them.
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I get excitement and encouragement from seeing people develop over time.
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And that's the kind of leader I am today and these are the types of people that I lead.
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You know that's a short, very short version of that, but you get the gist.
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So after you start with who you are today, give them a picture of who's sitting in front of them in that room or on that video screen.
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So after you talk about today, then you go back to before.
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That's the past part of the present past future formula.
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You go back to before.
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So here's what got me today.
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Fill in the blank, talk about skills you used in the past, skills you developed, opportunities you had.
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This is where you can talk a little bit more about a couple of the roles you had, but still with a focus on skills that you've used and developed and what you bring to the table.
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And then bring it home with why you're in that room virtually or physically, why you're there, what brings you here today, and so you can even say that.
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So what brings me here today is to fill in the blank and build on what you've said so far.
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Why are you there today?
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And, hopefully, if you've prepped for your answers to that, why should I hire?
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You, question.
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You think about your skills, your excitement, you've done that homework, what's unique about you and how you make your the hiring manager's life easier.
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Answering those questions ahead of time can help you with this.
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This answer this is exactly what you need to nail and bring home is like hey, here's why I'm here today.
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So you've just shared who you are.
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Now You've gone through your past and some of what got you to here and got you to that point skills you developed, experiences that you've had, and now, here's why I'm in this room.
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I want to bring these skills, this excitement, and here's something unique about me that brings me.
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That's why I applied for this job.
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I didn't apply for just any job.
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I applied for this job.
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There are thousands of jobs out there.
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This is why I went for this one and why I'm excited to tell you more about me in the interview today.
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That's a very different answer than just walking through, chronologically, your experience.
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They have your resume, they've already seen it and if they haven't, they can.
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If they want to, they can read your resume.
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They don't need to hear that, they just want to hear you, and it gives them a better idea of who, who you are and what it would be like to work with you If you're a little bit more real, a little bit more real, a little bit more conversational, and you fill in the blanks for them and connect the dots for what they might not see on the resume.
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So, number one, I'd tell my younger me to swim against the current and do the opposite of what pretty much everyone else does, so I can stand out.
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So, to sum it all up, number five, it's not about their questions, it's about telling them what you need to tell them.
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Number four start prepping way before you have to.
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Number three, prep for specific questions, even if you think you won't get asked it, such as why should I hire you?
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Number two, use every part of the interview to share as much as you can about yourself.
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And, number one, change how you answer.
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Tell me about yourself.
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Well, I hope you enjoyed today's episode.
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Remember we always have Monday motivation, quick hit episodes and regular episodes on Wednesdays.
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Also, do you have a question or scenario that you'd like our guidance or help with, or a question you want us to answer.
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I'd love to hear it.
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So just we'd love to help hear it.
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Just send us an email, question comments, whatever you have to questions at equippedinterviewcom.
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That's all for today, but let's keep the conversation going.
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Check out equippedinterviewcom, be intentional, do the work and build your confidence to stand out in your next job interview.
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Thank you.