Hi there!
Hope all is well. Congrats to you as you are consistently being selected as a potential candidate.
Just based on the feedback, it sounds like there may be more opportunities for you to relate your interview responses to the role. Interviewers need to be able to see you in the role. The easier you make this the better. A few ways you can do this:
Practice your Elevator Pitch https://www.themuse.com/advice/perfect-pitch-how-to-nail-your-elevator-speech. In doing so, always start out with your first and last name, declare your brand/areas of expertise, include the skills that you possess that align with the role and be confident.
When sharing examples of your experience, make sure it relates to what is being required for the role. For example, if going for a Project Management role and asked about teamwork, yes you could provide the most awesome response of a time you led a team for a community service event BUT it would be great to take the opportunity to share about a teamwork experience when leading a team of cross-functional members for a Finance/IT system integration project. Make it apples to apples for the interviewer.
At this stage, I think you can go with a power question. You have been in this spot before and this may be a go hard or go home moment. If it flows with the interview and you are confident in asking I would ask "Thank you so much for the opportunity to discuss this role with you. Would really love to hear, based on my resume and conversation so far, what your thoughts are on my alignment with this role?" Follow up question if not shared, "Do you see any hindrances or what would be any hesitation in selecting me as your top candidate?" Again, this has to be delivered confidently. But being your 3rd attempt, what do you have to lose. Get to the bottom of it before you leave the call/room. This also gives you an opportunity to clear up any discrepancies, misunderstandings or omitted information from your resume or interview. Also shows that you are not afraid of healthy confrontation and discussions. You MUST be prepared to respond to the response, share additional information, provide examples if possible and if it is something that is a gap in your skillset be transparent and acknowledge it but share if you have done anything similar, or your soft skills that allow you to take on new challenges and get up to speed quickly or if/what you are prepared to do about it practically, i.e. training, etc.
Lastly, I would recommend taking a look at the candidates that were hired previously. Go into LinkedIn and look up the company and job title and see if you can find the individuals that did get the job or previously in the current role they are looking to fill. There may be some insights there in their experience or background.
Hope this helps! Would love to see an update on how things go!
Coach Olivia
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