Are you interviewing for a new job? Maybe you’re interviewing internally for a different position. Either way, your job is to make the people interviewing you see you as the perfect fit for the job. How do you do this? Follow these tips to make interviewers see you as the right fit!

A Good job candidate understand that the company is currently going through some kind of pain and needs it addressed. When you can understand the business situation by doing research ahead of time and making an educated guess, then you will appear to be the right fit for the organization. Why? Because you actually understand what it is they need. If you can discuss what you can do in order to help them fulfill this business need of theirs and resolve this pain, that’s going to bring you that much closer to landing the job.

Imagine a hiring manager has to select between two candidates. Candidate A has all of the right skills but they didn’t smile much during the interview and were a bit standoffish. Candidate B was not as strong as Candidate A, however, they were personable, engaging and confident. A good hiring manager will hire Candidate B. They have slightly less skills but their personality wins them over. You want to be friendly, confident and very engaging.

This ties directly into being engaging in your demeanor. To be engaging means you know how to tell a good story. If a candidate is able to walk an interviewer through their background and accomplishments in an interesting way, this will invite them into your world in a positive way. Interviewers will spend more attention on you and for longer periods of time. This will help you to see them as “the right fit.”

An interview is a sales presentation. If you’re not selling yourself to the interviewer, then you’re not doing a good enough job of selling yourself to the company and the interviewer. As a result. You’re not going to be seen as the perfect fit for the job. You have to sell yourself. This means you must articulate why you are the right fit for them.