A bit of a strange title for a post I thought. However, I think it summed up the message of what I wanted to get across. I was listening to the feedback from an unsuccessful interview, where the candidate had prepared thoroughly, had researched competitive offerings, weaknesses of current offerings but… they did not take the next step and offer up thoughts or suggestions of what could be done to address the short falls or move beyond the competition. This got me thinking and prompted me to offer up this thought – When preparing for an interview ask yourself the “So what…” question.

From the example above, possible solutions may have been conceived if the candidate had asked themselves “So what can be done to close the gap or even move beyond the competion?” before the interview.

Similarly, your transferrable skills, education or qualifications probably look good on paper and have got you into the interview seat but ask yourself “So what can you bring to the post?”, “So what will they offer to the potential employer?”

This is a lesson I have learnt the hard way. By adopting a similar approach you can demonstrate that you can think beyond the obvious answer and have something to offer.