5 tips from recruiters to effectively demonstrate your motivation in an interview

How can you show a recruiter that you can really see a role working out for you? Where do you draw the line between enthusiasm and being over the top? Here are five mix-and-match tips for getting it right: pick and choose according to your personality, interest in the role, and the person interviewing you.

A job interview can be a bit like a pop quiz, or a first date (minus the romance). It’s a test of nerves and know-how. When your back is against the wall, knowing how to demonstrate your ability and enthusiasm for the role can make all the difference. It’s proof of your motivation and offers a glimpse at your aspirations in the role. Recruitment trainer Leo Bernard, and career coach Karine Trioullier, share their tips for discussing the future with a recruiter without coming across as insincere.

Tip 1: Be an active participant in the conversation

What’s worse than talking to someone who’s not interested or is visibly bored? Demonstrating your interest means being truly present during your job interview. This includes nonverbal cues—turning towards the interviewer, looking them in the eyes, suppressing the urge to yawn—and verbal ones like taking an active interest. “Someone who always waits for a question before saying anything isn’t really demonstrating their interest, even though they may be keen. Contributing to a natural, flowing conversation shows that you want things to go well,” says Trioullier.

If the person you’re talking to regularly works with the person who currently has the job you’re aiming for, then you really should be interested in their career path. “You’re not going to know everything about everyone, but you can try to understand this person’s role and history with the company. It’s not about being overly familiar, you just need to show a professional interest,” she elaborates.

Tip 2: Demonstrate your interest

Admitting to having scrolled through the LinkedIn pages of your potential future colleagues won’t brand you as a stalker. Researching the company, its financial status, its staff, and their respective career paths is totally normal. There’s nothing wrong with being transparent about it. “This type of research is essential if you want to find a great fit, and LinkedIn is a mine of information. But you must do it because you want to, and not just pay lip service to it to look good,” Trioullier highlights.

Showing that you’ve prepared for the interview and you’ve done the research will leave the recruiter with a positive impression—but don’t take it too far! “I’ve had candidates show up and say, ‘I’ve read all your articles and listened to all your podcasts, I feel like I know you already.’” It’s a bit much. Don’t go overboard, because then it seems fake,” Bernard explains. It’s worth taking a moment to size up the person interviewing you; recruiters come in all shapes, sizes, and personalities and different people will have different reactions.

Tip 3: Talk about the future

Demonstrating a real interest means talking about the future and your possible development within the company. This is the time to discuss your expectations of the role, the company, and work generally. “When you’re asked how much time you envisage yourself staying at the company, there’s no point in being vague. You need to paint a picture and explain why you want to join the company, be it for the training, the pay, the flexible working, days off, etc. If you’re happy on the medium- to long-term points, you’re less likely to want to look elsewhere,” Trioullier concludes.

Talking about training opportunities, perhaps a skill that’s maybe not on the job description that you want to develop, is also a good way of showing you’re planning on sticking around for a while.

Tip 4: Be authentic

Don’t strive to land a role that isn’t a good fit or change yourself to make someone else happy. It’s best to avoid trying to win over the recruiter with generic platitudes. “For me, anything generalized, obvious compliments, or anything said in honeyed tones can come across as false. Saying you like someone won’t convince them to hire you. You’re just hiding behind niceties and that’s not reassuring for recruiters at all,” Trioullier continues.

It’s better to create a true connection with your interviewer, something they’ll remember. If there isn’t one, so be it. Yannis Sioudan, press agent and managing director of Interference Press shares his experience: “I usually introduce myself, talk about how I can see myself working at the company, what I can bring to the table … Sometimes that goes against me, like this one time when they told me, ‘It was a great presentation, but you’ve got too much personality for our agency.’” At first, he found the comment really frustrating, but in the end, he saw the positive side. “In the immediate aftermath, I started to question my personality, but it turned out to be a good thing—it made me look inward, strive for more, and create my own agency.”

Tip 5: Leave room for improvement

A magician never reveals their secrets, or they’d have nothing left to offer. The same goes for job seekers: If you put too much into the first interview, the second one might seem a bit flat compared to your searing first impression. “The goal of a first interview is for everyone to get together to see if there’s mutual understanding. As you get further in the interview process, your motivation levels should increase. If you put too much into the first meeting, you leave no room for improvement,” explains Bernard.

In an ideal scenario, you hold a little back so that you can grow on it with successive interviews.

As final tip, don’t forget the little things that show your interest before and after a job interview: send a personal note when you apply, a thank you message after the interview, touch base with the recruiter after a week, and so on.

Translated by Debbie Garrick

Photo: Welcome to the Jungle

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