The only way you should alter your presentation in the second and subsequent interviews is that instead of asking, “What do I need to do to get this job?” at the end of the interview, you should ask the interviewer this question:
“Mr./Ms. ______, I believe that I am the kind of candidate your company is seeking for this opportunity. I believe I am the most qualified candidate you can interview. Do I have your support? Would you recommend that I be hired? “
Then s-h-u-t u-p!….listen to what the interviewer says and be prepared with these following response:
You are likely to hear, “Well, it’s not really my decision, I’m going to leave that up to Mr./Ms. _______. It is really his/her decision.”
If you ask the “Do I have your support?” question, you force the interviewer to acknowledge that, while the decision might really belong to someone else, he/she does have a say in who gets hired. You are not asking this person to hire you, you are asking the person to support you.
If the interviewer says that it isn’t really his or her decision, you need to say something like:
“Well, Mr./Ms. ________, your company must think very highly of your opinion or I wouldn’t be interviewing with you. I need to be sure that I’ve covered all the questions about my candidacy with you and that I have your support. If I’ve answered all of your questions, are you going to recommend that I be hired?”
*Note: These are blunt and aggressive closes.
If the interviewing authority dances around it anyway and will not give you outright support, you best be aware that you probably will not get his/her support. On the other hand, you may get the person’s support, but still not get the job. In many instances, interviewing authorities up the ladder may not really choose a candidate to be hired, but they can only say “no.”
The idea is for you to be more aggressive and more assertive than other candidates will be!
