Job hunting and interviewing can be stressful, so in this blog post I will share a major tip on how to stand out from other interview candidates.
If you are like myself, post grad life was a bit stressful mainly because I realized I wanted to switch totally different industries and positions. My first full-time position after college was a Technology Consultant at an accounting firm, and now I’m a part-time Marketing Coordinator at a biotechnology skincare startup. Super different!
I know how stressful and hard it can be to look for a job straight out of college, especially if you think you don’t have much experience. I’m here to tell you that you actually DO. There are so many transferrable skills you can bring to new positions. You can always learn new skills on the job if you need to. I was able to switch my career paths and so can you.
This is why I want to share a major tip on how to stand out from other interview candidates.
The Best Tip on How to Stand Out From Other Interview Candidates
Create a Presentation of Strategies
To stand out from other interview candidates, create a deck of strategies you would implement if you were to be hired in that position. This tip is what helped me land my new role in a completely different field than what I majored in and worked previously in.
This sounds daunting at first, but it’s actually really helpful in terms of preparing yourself for interview questions while also creating something tangible that will make you stand out. While you’re creating your presentation, you’ll be researching more about your role and the brand, which will ultimately make you more familiar with the type of questions they may ask you. This is especially helpful if you want to stand out in an interview with no experience.
Also, the more you create presentations, the easier it will get. It took me a while to make my first presentation, but after that I was able to create a new one for a different company (with a slightly different role) in a few hours. Although I say a few hours, creating the presentation is all I did to prep for my interview. It would be the same amount of time you spent practicing interview questions.
The presentation is a creative way to stand out in an interview. It will also give them a better picture of your style and your ability to create projects in a timely manner.
What to Include in the Presentation
Strategies
Come up with 3 strategies you would implement in your role. For instance, if you’re interviewing for a Social Media Marketing Coordinator (for Pinterest – we’re getting specific here so you can see what I’m talking about), your 3 strategies may be:
- Pinterest SEO – Optimizing the brand’s profile by researching the correct trending keywords on Pinterest and adding them to the pin descriptions to help push content onto Pinner’s feeds.
- Scheduling – Creating a consistent pinning schedule with fresh content through a scheduler in order to save time and gain traction.
- Monetizing the platform – Monetizing the platform through various features that Pinterest offers: Shop the pin, Destination link pins, Pinterest ads.
There’s definitely more to this. This is a very short and rough example. In each slide I would get into more detail on how you would implement those strategies and why it’s important.
Staying on brand
I can’t tell you how to stand out from other interview candidates if I don’t tell you how to stay on brand. Make sure to use the brand’s fonts, colors, and photos. Stay away from stock photos because the brand most likely has their own photos on their website and socials.
Staying on brand will demonstrate your ability to adhere to the company’s branding.
To get the brand’s colors, you can use a color picker tool to pick the colors from their web page. This will take the guessing game away and make it way more convenient for you. I use the Eye Dropper extension for Chrome.
Here’s a blog post showing you how to see what font a website is using. I also use Canva to create my presentations. It’s a user-friendly graphic design app that I use for almost all of my visual content.
Contact Slide
A contact information slide is a good way to end your presentation and remind the company who created it. You know, this is just for good measures and courtesy.
Supporting Email
Depending on the interview process, the way you send your presentation to the brand will differ. If the process only contains one interview, you’ll want to email the presentation beforehand with a quick introduction of yourself.
If the process is more than one interview, you have the choice of emailing them the presentation after your first interview. That’s what I did.
Example of what to include in your email (you can tweak the first paragraph to an introduction of yourself if you’re sending the presentation before your first interview):
Hi __________,
Thank you for giving me the opportunity to interview and learn more about (Brand) and the team! Thank you for informing me of making it to the final round of interviews! (Your availability for next round of interviews).
I would love the opportunity to join (Brand) team and deliver (Position) strategies. I have attached a presentation with some strategy ideas I would implement to aid the (Position goals) of (Brand). Of course there’s room for creative improvement- this is a start. I hope to discuss more innovative ideas with you all in the near future.
Kind regards,
(your name)
The Importance of Your Mindset on How to Stand Out From Other Interview Candidates
You’re standing out from other interview candidates for a reason- you’re going above and beyond. If you really want a position, you will work hard for it. The thing is, creating this presentation is like hitting two birds with one stone. You are prepping for interview questions, getting more familiar with the brand, and standing out.
Although it may seem hard at first, you’ll get the hang of it and you’ll thank yourself later!
I genuinely believe this tip truly shares the best way on how to stand out from other candidates. If you have any questions or want to see examples of the presentations I created, don’t be shy to send me an email at hello@destinyhalei.com
I am always willing to help where I can!
