How to Think like a Hiring Manager and Get the Job

How to Think like a Hiring Manager and Get the JobWhen youre interviewing for a new job, the odds are in your favor if you can rely on a referral from a mutual friend or a big-name former employer. If thats not the case, youre going in to a situation where youll need to sell yourself. googletag.cmd.push(function() googletag.display(div-gpt-ad-1467144145037-0) ) Hiring managers are often misled by their personal biasesand learning to stack the deck in your favor can pay off when it comes time to get hiredKeep the following in mind if youre gearing up for an important interviewWe tend to think positively about people who we think are like us.What can you find out about the company culture or even the hiring manager in particular to help you demonstrate interests they may share?We tend to view those different from us negatively, even if we need someone with very different skills.While its good to be yourself in an interview, its only common sense to downplay any fringe interests or edg y personal style featuresfor example, hide visible tattoos or piercings until youre sure the sekretariat culture is receptive to them.First impressions count.The halo effect and its opposite (the pitchfork effect, maybe?) is what happens when we find one quality we like in a person and assume that the rest of their unknown qualities are probably just as good (or as a bad, if we focus on a quality we dont like).If you make a great impression with one area of experience or personality trait, the interviewer may give you the benefit of the doubt in areas where they know less about you (The flip side is of course that one bad impression may color their whole perception of you just as easily.)Peoplemake subconscious assumptions.Try as you might, you wont know what traits will ping a hiring managers radar. It could be your college, yourlast company, your hometown, the teams yousupport, or the stores you visit. Keep an eye out for what you might mention, but always alwaysbe genuine. Everyo ne can spot a fake.Living and working in New York, I have had to become as cautious about disclosing sports affiliations as most people are about politics, religion, and money But when Im lucky enough to encounter a fellow Mets fan or a member of my alumni association, I play that up like nobodys geschftlicher umgangdont be shy about school/team/town name-dropping, just avoid coming across like The OfficesAndy Bernard and trying to mirror everyones experience with your own