During this episode, I will show you a simple, 4 step approach to formulate an answer that help the interviewer visualize what great results they can expect from hiring you.
Transcript
Hi everyone, and welcome to today’s episode about the common interview question, “What can we expect from you in your first three months?” Interviewers ask this question to determine if you have a thorough understanding of the role, how seriously you are interested in the position and how quickly you can be up and running. And for you, this is a great opportunity to help the interviewer visualize what great results they can expect from hiring you. Let me show you four simple steps to crafting a convincing answer.
Step 1: The value you will create
When answering this question, many candidates focus on the activities they will perform during their first employment months. However, activities are not what you want the hiring manager to connect with employing you. Instead, you want them to visualize you delivering concrete results that help them achieve their goals. So, you should start with the end in mind and ask yourself what value the successful candidate will create in this role. Then, break it down into an ambitious yet realistic milestone you can deliver during the first months. For example, if you apply as an account manager with the primary objective of increasing the company’s sales by growing customer accounts, your goal could be to close 2-3 new deals during your first months.
Step 2: The steps to get there
Now that you determined what you will deliver, it’s time to focus on how you will get there. In most cases, the main activities to deliver the results you identified in the previous step include building relationships with your primary stakeholders and understanding their priorities, establishing an internal network and quickly building company-specific knowledge. A good starting point for identifying the right activities can be to answer the following three questions:
- Who will receive the deliverables of your work and what are their needs?
- Who will you work together with to create these deliverables?
- What do you need to learn about the company’s products, services, organization or procedures to do a good job
In our previous example, the successful candidate for the account manager role might focus on establishing relationships with the client’s key stakeholders to understand their main challenges, building a network with internal sales and pre-sales resources and learning about the company’s offerings and sales methodologies.
Step 3: Past successes
If we simplify it, the message to the interviewer of the previous two steps was, “I will create result X by doing A, B and C.” Now, the third step is to add a simple – yet powerful – message at the end of your answer, which is
“..and I have done it before.” Now, this might not always be the case, and you should definitely not make things up. But, if possible, provide an example of how, in the past, you successfully delivered results during the first months in a new role. Ideally, quantify these results, so they become relevant to the interviewer. For instance, in our previous example, you might have closed three deals worth 500K during your first three months in your current role.
Step 4: Your answer
Formulate your answer by combining the results of the previous steps. Your target is to have the interviewer picture how you get the job done and deliver results quickly. To reinforce that picture, speak as if you are already part of the company. For example, use “our products” and “my customer” instead of “your products” and “your customers.” Here is an example of what a candidate applying for an account manager role might say:
“I want to create value as quickly as possible, so during my first three months, I will aim to close at least a couple of new deals with the customer I will be managing. To get there, I will focus on three things: establishing relationships with my customer’s key stakeholders and understanding their main challenges, getting to know my new colleagues and building an internal network, especially with the pre-sales and sales experts and learning about our products, services, pricing and the sales process. I used a similar approach when starting at my current job and managed to close three major new deals worth 500K within the first three months. What results would you want me to focus on during my first 12 weeks?”
These were the 4 steps to formulating a convincing answer to the question: “What can we expect from you in your first three months?”
And one final thing: If you want me to help you prepare for your upcoming interview, check out the link in this episode’s description.
That’s all for today. Thanks for listening, and I hope this was helpful to you.