Experienced Candidate? Here's What Recruiters Expect From You?

You are carrying few years of experience in your resume and have known nuances of an interview. When experienced candidate attends the interview, do not expect simple and similar questions like “Tell me about yourself” to be asked. Remember that employers prefer experienced workers because they have already got few skills, experience and have the attitude to learn and grow that would be a great benefit for the organization. However, with experience comes few greater challenges, if there are frequent job changes observed, or being over qualified for the job.

But, an experienced candidate can use his previous interview and company experiences and convince the interviewer that he is the right candidate that will resolve their problems and help their organization in achieving their goals. One of the best possible ways to answer questions in an interview is to showcase your career experience to the be best of hiring company's advantage. Showcase your experiences as stories of significant junctures in your career wherein you overcame challenges and succeeded.

While answering these questions, the focus should not only be on the experience you carry in the number of years, but also on highlighting them with few practical examples of how your efforts bore fruits at your previous company. Here are 5 interview tips for the experienced lot to focus on in answering toughest of questions from the interviewer.

1. Show Greater Confidence:

When you are experienced the interviewer will ask tougher questions and observe the way you answer and the thought process behind your answers. To answer properly and accurately you should demonstrate your confidence in showcasing that you are ideal for the position in the job interview. You must come across as highly confident, knowledgeable having relevant experience which suits the job you are applying for. You need to clearly highlight the relevance of your experience not making the recruiter to guess.

2. Show What You Can Do Going Forward:

The skills and experiences you acquired at your previous job aren’t limited to what you did till your last job. Some will be transferable skills which are gained through volunteering. Also, hobbies and skills gained from a different industry are also important, bringing weight to your resume. Remember that the hiring manager would see what you have acquired from the past experiences, however, will not be that interested in whether you did a similar job in the past; they would rather like to see how those skills would be utilized by you going forward in their company. Hence questions based on those lines can be fired at you and you should be well prepared to answer how the acquired skills can be leveraged in helping and enhancing to do a better job.

3. Show Passion and Ability to accept Challenges:

When you have shown the hiring manager that you have the abilities to do the job, you also need to show them that you have that x-factor which is separating you from the other candidates. That factor is your ability to handle challenges, your enthusiasm that you’ll bring into the company. When a candidate is very experienced, there is another doubt that you need to clear off your recruiter's mind.

You need to show them that you are interested in the job and are here to stay in the job. Remember that it is a tedious process to hire a person for the company. After investing in your training and getting you on board if you lose the focus, or leave in 6 months, though you might have got good talent or great experience, is such a waste of time and cost involving process.

Another major aspect that Hiring managers worry is about somebody being over-qualified. Hence, if you have the right talent and experience you need to show that you are passionate to work and would focus on the job and make the recruiter believe that you would not leave the company any sooner.

4. Be enthusiastic and have right attitude:

This one is very crucial. Though the requisite skills and relevant experience matter, make sure you don't show a dull or uninspiring attitude during the hiring process. Your lackluster attitude could be due to overconfidence or being sure of making through the interview as you have relevant experience. But, having right attitude at each level of the interview process is very essential. Make sure along with the skills, experience, abilities needed to do the job, you should also showcase you have the right attitude. Never be dull or over-confident though you might have got the skills and experience. This could be one factor that could make a difference between another candidate having similar kind of skill sets and experience.

These days, Job requirements are not as flexible as they were a few years back. So, you need to tell through your experiences that you can step right in and make a difference and contribute to the company relatively quickly. So, it's not just about your experience being adequate to fetch the job for you, but how good it is in achieving success in an interview.

Remember, companies want to hire persons who would like to be themselves still being effective in learning and producing results to the company. Hence as an interviewer, they would not like you to be very scripted, at the same time they would want to know how much you are aware of the company, and what value additions you can bring to the team if you are hired. Hence, be sure to be well prepared for a question like, “Where you would like to see yourself after 3-4 years in the company.” With this, they would know what your long-term goals are and what your path to growth would be like.

5. Explain why you love working there:

When a candidate is experienced and has cleared through the initial round of interviews they understand that they have a good chance of getting through the final rounds of interview. As an experienced candidate, you must have done research on the company, the position etc. So, they would not ask, “What you know about the company or job role you are applying for?” They would like to know more. Share your own experiences in other jobs and relate it with the current job openings with examples and show that real zeal to work for the company. Try to explain why you want to work there and how it is different to all the previous companies.

Another aspect that a recruiter would look is if you are a good fit for the company and its working culture. So, speak statements that emphasize that you make a great fit for the company and can adapt faster and understand the company culture and how you would benefit the organization. Understand that having an amazingly flattering resume with great work record is not going to knock off the feet of recruiters. A recruiter might well choose potentially fit employee for their company though the applicant might have less impressive experience.