I’ve seen interviews go all sorts of ways at this point.
Team shows up not knowing who they’re interviewing, who’s asking the questions, or why they’re even having the conversation. Which is truly sad, I work with great professionals who pour everything they have into preparing for these roles.
So, what do you do? Focus on what you can control.
And, having a moment where you can control the room is everything.
Don't forget to build rapport.
There will be times where you run into a difficult interviewer that jumps right into the questions. No "how was your drive," no "tell me about yourself."
Just the question you feared most, right out of the gate.
One of my clients navigating a career transition was immediately hit with "so, why this role?" to open an interview.
Instead of answering, he paused the room.
"Yeah, totally great question - hey, before we do that, I just had one thing... I noticed [common ground from pre-interview research - same city, past school, mutual connection]."
And it wasn't just one rapport point. He stacked a couple!!
The move that made it land?
He closed it himself. Instead of letting the momentum die, he said: "Awesome, okay - we could talk about this all day. I do want to make sure we get through your questions. What can I answer for you?"
He landed the plane and handed control back.
Focus on what you can control because it can still change the outcome of the room.
The room is yours if you take it.
One question for your career this week:
When was the last time you slowed an interview down? Or, asked a clarifying question?
Before you leave…
I crossed $1M in combined compensation for clients in 2026. And it's only May.
6 years ago I had $30 for 30 minutes of career advice on a janky website. I couldn't see the end goal of the work I was doing or support as many people as I wanted to.
Now I get to live that dream every single day and the 7 professionals who dug deep and did the work with me this year are the only reason I can say that.
The rapport moves, the strategic pauses, the intentional conversations most people skip. That's what's happening inside the community every week!
If you’re looking for 1:1 support let’s chat, May is booking up fast.
This one applies directly to the job search and I’m glad Wispr Flow could be the sponsor of this week’s newsletter. I had a job seeker use it in combination with ChatGPT to help them interview prep and build out their prep document!
An AI tool I’m genuinely behind in this market, try it out 👇🏼
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Another awesome career focused newsletter that I recommend!
