Talent alone won’t get you the job

What’s going to get you that job?

The articles I write are often directed at business leaders, but I wanted to direct this article to the people who are applying for jobs in medium sized businesses from a business owners perspective. 

You see, one way to grow a company is by hiring team members. Therefore, some years ago that is exactly what I did. I’m going to be bold and speak on behalf of my fellow business owners. You, as an employee might not be aware of this, but us business owners would never be able to get so far if it weren’t for you. We need you to do the things you’re passionate about and good at. Which in most cases are the things we are not good at, but this in return helps us stay in our super power and enables the company to grow. 

One of my companies is a small business and I myself still operate in it. It is my passion project. Therefore I am very conscious of who I let on my team. To me it’s like inviting someone into my family. What I want to avoid is having one rotten apple infect everyone else in a negative way. When hiring team members, one of my main objectives is to keep the company’s environment and my existing team safe. This will enable everyone to work and deliver to the highest standard. 

Of course you need to be talented in what you do. If you’re not, you could potentially harm a company more than do it any good. Yet, from my experience talent alone won’t get you the job. Therefore in this article I am going to be sharing my 5 main points which you can adopt to increase your chances of being hired. 

1. Look the part

You may have applied for a position that doesn’t require you to wear a suit, but that doesn’t mean you should look like “it’s the weekend” in your interview. Yes, there are those Facebook cultures that embrace the whole casual vibe, but you simply can’t neglect human conditioning. You see, we are programmed to judge a person’s appearance within 3 seconds. We judge according to social dominance hierarchy and optically the majority of the people on the top look the part. So if you’re dressed like you’ve just rolled out of bed, well the person who’s done their best will instantly be ahead of you in the race and why would you want to take that risk?

2. Have a positive energy

Congratulations you’ve made it to the job interview. You’re very talented in your area of expertise and on paper you tick all the boxes. However so do the other 10 candidates who’ve gotten through to the interview rounds. In my opinion something that will instantly let you stand out from the rest is having a positive energy. Smile and be thankful! It’s not a given you got invited to this interview. In addition, the interviewer also took time out of his/her busy agenda to sit with you. Sound upbeat and happy. Having a positive energy will show your interviewer that you will be able to engage with fellow employees with an optimistic frame-of-mind and contribute to conversations and team meetings in a constructive manner. Having someone with this attitude on my team is a definite plus.

3. Be polite

It might sound cheesy, but in my opinion something that never goes out of fashion is politeness. It’s the number one social skill and in its essence shows respect. When you are polite in your interview your interviewer will see that you have the ability to show respect to your fellow team members as well as clients and business partners. 

4. Be open

What do I mean by this? When you’re at your interview or new workplace, try to leave your preconceptions and beliefs outside. Then when you go home and you still feel uncomfortable without them you can always take them on again. When discussions take place people often act in response to what they believe. Belief is a funny thing, you can’t see it, hear it, taste it or touch it. It’s completely invisible yet every person on the planet operates from this space. Being open minded doesn’t mean you have to agree with everything the other person is saying. However, just by being open to new ideas, concepts or beliefs makes way for endless possibilities. Having a flexible mind will show that you have the ability to think and act outside the box and move with a dynamic flow of entrepreneurship. You will be a major asset to the company.

5. Be yourself

I strongly believe that being yourself is key. Why? Because when you express your core values concerning a job, you will attract a company who equally shares these values. You might say; “but Arnon, won’t I scare companies away if I express my values out loud?” Yes, you will! These companies might not hire you, but that’s a good thing because if you are forced to conform to morals and values you are not happy with, over time you will become unhappy in your job. That will make you an unhappy employee and no one will benefit from that. 

Put all of these points together and you get something I’d like to call a winner’s attitude. As a business owner I can train talent or skills, but one thing I can’t train is attitude. When your attitude is right and you show this in your interview through the few points I have mentioned above you will stand out from the rest and your chances of being hired will drastically increase. Good luck out there!

Arnon Barnes started his first business at age 11 and built and sold his first multi million euro company by the age of 28! 

In the past 7 years Arnon has personally trained and coached more than 90 000 people from well over 65 different countries including, The Netherlands, Belgium, Poland, Italy, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, the UK, Brazil, Singapore and South Africa to name a few.

Arnon is an explosive international speaker, author, investor and one of Europe’s leading and most exciting business mentors.

Want to meet and work with Arnon? Join one of his upcoming webinars? For more information about classes or coaching check out his website www.arnonbarnes.com or contact his office via info@arnonbarnes.com.

I help solopreneurs get MORE PROFITABLE in WAY LESS TIME, grow and scale their one man businesses into time independent 7-8 figure machines that make money even when you’re asleep. Learn how in my Renegade Solopreneur Profits Bootcamp.