Interview Skills & Techniques - How to sell yourself at an interview

Recently I delivered a workshop on interview skills and one of our most lively discussions was about how to answer difficult questions and convey your value to the interviewing company. It occurred to me that you could apply a sales skill I learnt whilst in BT to an interview, or any other presentation. The skill is called SPIN selling and was taught by Huthwaite International.

Essentially SPIN is a questioning technique which allows a salesman to verify a customer’s need and consists of four specific types of question. My brainwave was to use it to prepare effectively for an interview and provide evidence of your strengths and capabilities:

Situation             –            what is happening? In an interview you could describe the background of an issue you had to deal with.

Problem              –            explain what was going wrong.

Implication           –           describe the impact of that problem on the people concerned, customer service, morale, profit, health and safety etc.

Need                     –            what was it that you needed to do to resolve the situation? You can relate this to your strengths and skills and wrap it up by outlining the benefits of your intervention.

Some people get put off by the acronym SPIN because of its negative political connotations. They may also be wary of it being little more than manipulation. I prefer to see it in terms of spinning a web. If the web is planned and executed effectively your argument is going to hold and you are not going to let the opportunity escape you. If it is done on the fly and you wing it, there are going to be big holes in your argument and you will be left wondering why you have failed to catch your big meal ticket.