Leave them feeling what you want them to feel

- In an interview, it's critical that the interviewer takes away important facts about you, key things you want them to know about you, correct? Well, sure. But here's one unusual interviewing tip to keep in mind at the same time, a vital micro-impression to make. It's inspired by, of all people, the great poet Maya Angelou who said "People will forget what you said, forget what you did, but they'll never forget how you made them feel." It's no different with interviews. We focus so much on the facts about us we want the interviewer to retain, which is understandable, that we can gloss right over the importance of influencing the feeling they get about us. So don't only think about what you want the interviewer to know about you, but also what you want them to feel about you because they're two different things, and having them walk away with the right feeling about you is especially important, given the fact that they've likely been in back to back interviews before seeing you, so they're probably pretty tired. Now, not only do you want to influence what the interviewer feels about you, you want to elicit the exact desired emotional response given the type of job you're interviewing for. For example, if you are interviewing for a job in leadership, you might want to ensure the interviewer feels energized by you, which is a key role of the leader. Interviewing for a public service job, you'll want them to feel your kindness coming through. A sales job, they should feel extra at ease with you, picking up your authentic self coming through, which is key for the sales capacity. For an engineering job, they should feel a sense of structure and careful consideration in the emotional impression you leave. You get the idea. The point is know the feeling you want to imprint, whether informed by the type of job it is, or even better by the written description of what they're looking for. Then put intention and energy into doing just that. As a lead interviewer for a decade on a corporate on-campus recruiting team, I developed a telling habit. I'd sit back after a batch of interviews and reflect not just on what was said, which I'd likely get mixed up to some degree in terms of who said and did what, but also on what I felt from each person. For example, maybe they made me feel their warmth, sense of humor, genuineness, energy, and so on. If they made me feel good in a certain way that pointed positively to their potential in the specific job I was hiring for, that person often got the nod. So before the interview, as you're preparing ask "What do I want the audience to know and feel about me?" Then plan accordingly. By the way, as University of Texas research shows, just about every interviewer is interested in knowing if you are skilled at taking initiative and making an impact. Here's a trick to make sure the interviewer can feel that ability in you. Think in advance of how you'd answer the question, what simply would not have happened, were it not for you? It's a question I asked before I bring anyone onto one of the multi-billion dollar businesses I ran in the corporate world. It really gets to the heart of what a difference maker the candidate is, what big, meaty, unique contributions they took the initiative on, versus talking solely about team-based contributions that in truth they may have played a small part in. When you can articulate with great clarity the difference you specifically made, it coaxes feelings of respect and admiration from the interviewer, telling them that you just might be the perfect fit for that role that requires a difference maker. So be intentional about what you'll make the interviewer feel, as well as the facts they take away about you, and you'll feel great going into and coming out of that interview.