5 Tips to get your foot in the door for your next Job Interview

In the past few months, we have seen social media getting flooded with instances of people getting laid off from major technology firms. Imagine, getting fired from your job with monthly bills and family responsibilities looming over and the deadline to your credit card bill ticking off like a time bomb! This is the time to create your own personal brand, standing out from the crowd, holding the confidence to crack your next job interview and, God forbid, if not then moving on to the next one without your soul getting crushed with every rejection.

Ever wondered how some personalities have an aura, a charisma around them? How they are able to capture eyes when they enter a room or when they deliver a speech? How do they create their personal brand? Ever wondered, how did they end up in a leadership role and how to replicate that?

Am quite sure we all have a favorite boss or leader or mentor whom we love listening to, isn't it! So what's the secret ingredient in their breakfast which makes them apart from the rest of the crowd? Personal branding is the need of the hour. What makes you stand out will get your foot in the door. There's a quote which states that if you get 1 % better every day for one year still you are 37 times better by the time you are done.

Below are 5 tips to create your own personal brand and how to work on yourself each day just 1 % and the compounding shall do its magic over the years provided you follow the rules ardently.

1.   Create your niche: Build a unique quality, invest in yourself, learn that skill and keep working on it, and while you are at it, think of innovative ways on how to reduce your time spent on doing monotonous jobs every day, how that particular skill can get ingrained in your mind and body that it takes no time to take a judgement call. One clear indicator of a skill well-learnt & applied in life is when it gets ingrained in your instinct.

 2.   Spend your leisure time wisely: Read many books, save to travel extensively, gain experiences, be a pioneer. The best investments are the one which are spent to gain knowledge and experience. These are the things which shall help you network with some of the best people in the industry or talk relevant to a room full of intellects.

3.   Mimic your superhero: I recently read a book about world renowned investors and one of the interesting businessman and philanthropist which caught my attention was Mohnish Pabrai. Pabrai is a self-acclaimed copycat of his superheroes such as Warren Buffet, Guy Spier etc. He has just cloned their ideas and to quote his words “Everything in my life is cloned…I have no original ideas”. Not all of us are creative, some people are born with more grey matter than rest of us (and that’s fine) , some people are effortlessly smart, some have good memory & logical reasoning, some are naturally good at math…basically life is kinder for some people rather than rest of us. However if we replicate Pabrai’s tactics and just mimic our idols, just copy their ways shamelessly, who knows along the way we might actually discover something and reach where no man has reached before.

 4.   Less is more: It’s natural to feel anxious when you present yourself to a room full of people or a panel of interviewers who will judge every word and every logic you put it out there. And, that is why it is crucial to be silent when you have nothing useful to add. If you have no knowledge about a given topic, it’s better to admit that you lack in that particular field however you can strive relentlessly, from that moment on, to be on top of that and learn whatever is out there about it. Because exactly like work, learning never stops. One can never know everything about everything. Scientists are all the time proving and disproving theories they established just 50 years ago. So take a chill pill. When you are unsure, it’s better to admit your ignorance.

 5.   Be Kind & genuinely helpful: This goes without saying! We are here not just to work and pay our bills. We all have a higher purpose on earth and people will always remember of how you treated them. Be genuinely kind and helpful and universe shall send you back help in your darkest of the times. At the end, we all are humans. Be competitive however the more you share your knowledge, the more you shall gain.

In conclusion, before you apply for your next big interview, first work on yourself to build at least one niche skill which you have put so many hours into that you know you can do the task even with the eyes closed. The only way to be better than other people is to read & travel as much as you can & if you can’t do that then shamelessly replicate the ideas of your superheroes. Be kind and helpful to your friends, colleagues, and friends. Lastly, try to always convey your message in as few words as possible as you are occupying someone’s precious time and time is money.