Stand Out in the Interview

Time for a guest appearance in my own blog. Caryn Ewald shamed me into the next installment. Oh to have fans! Tough to find the time working 80 hour weeks. But I’ve had enough days off in the past few years to last me til retirement!

Recently I interviewed folks for a temp job. One lady stood out and got the assignment. How could she not? I was needing someone to help with MS Access database design and analysis.

She obviously knew her stuff, but so did others. I asked if she knew where to put a spreadsheet so the database could find it. She remembered from the job description that my company uses a certain brand of ERP system. So she suggested letting her create a software bridge between Access and the ERP system so my employees would not have to waste time downloading a spreadsheet.

Later in the interview, I asked if she knew how to use a particular feature of Access. She said, “do you mind if I put a flash drive onto your computer? I brought along a database I created for you. I can just show you the feature there.”

Who got the assignment?

Anything here apply to your situation? What can you do to help your next boss visualize the contributions you can make? You know what questions they will ask. Are you one step ahead with a creative way of answering them?