Can you make an impression at an interview, such that they wish to hire you on the spot?

Yes.

And my experience has taught me the following:

Preparation works.

An interview can make up for a less than ideal resume.

Interviews are performances.

Presenting a unique hook can be the tie-breaker between you and another candidate.

I have used different tie-breaker hooks at different times.

A hook I call the “triple hatter” hook landed me assignments at Epicor and White Hat Security.

More about this hook:

Minoo Jha

 · 3y

What are the best/innovative ways to introduce yourself to anybody?

Triple Hatter After reading Richard Nelson Bolles’ What Color is Your Parachute?, I found myself doing some soul searching. I thought about my past, my present and my future - all the colors and threads which were the patchwork of my life. And then I wrote a one page “dare to share” piece about myself, I titled Triple Hatter. I created it as something I would leave behind at an interview. I would hand it over to the interviewer at the end of the interview and say “This will tell you things about me that may not have been caught or covered in the interview”. If I was interviewed by 3 people in turn, I would hand out a copy to each of the interviewers as they left the room. I am sharing Triple Hatter with you. I hope it will motivate you to read What Color is Your Parachute? (when you get a chance) but more importantly, to learn to accept who you are in your entirety (past, present and future)... ... and then to “dare to share” everything you are with the world. Read Triple Hatter. Then go write your own Triple Hatter. And start sharing it with the world…. Triple Hatter One Gal. 3 Hats. I am a Commissions Analyst who writes advertising copy and a blog. I am a Copywriter who does Commissions Administrations and Implementations. I am a Commissions Admin who does Xactly Implementations You could call me a Triple Hatter. One Gal. 3 Hats. Solution Partners Inc, Los Gatos This is where I picked up my Implementations Hat. I said goodbye to fear and a regular paycheck when I signed up to be a contract Business Architect with Solution Partners and do Xactly Incent Implementations for different companies. 2 years and 4 projects later (including two 3-month stints at Salesforce Inc) – I am still entranced with the nuts and bolts of the Xactly Incent Commissions Machine. And now I can’t wait to see what it’s like to work both sides of the equation – the administration side and the implementation side. Which company will provide me with the opportunity to put both these skills to work? It’s exciting to speculate and wonder. Extreme Networks, Santa Clara This is where the Commissions Admin Experience I had gained at Palm was put to the test. And my ideas about my skills and traits. Excel whiz. Good at picking up new software. Accurate. Deadline Oriented. Dependable. I was there 5 years and had a fantastic relationship with my boss. Need I say more? Palm Inc This is where I got my training wheels as a Commissions Admin. No sooner did my boss sign me on to assist with commissions, when she went out on Maternity Leave. And never returned. So I was Palm’s one-woman commissions team from that point on. Of course, this meant I needed to take off my training wheels ASAP. Staying up nights with multiple Excel books, I did. It paid off. Minoo Jha Life Strategies My writing hat. It’s my oldest hat. Writing comes naturally. As flying to a bird. For a while, it looked like I had a broken wing. But when in December of 2010, I started blogging, I knew I was back in the groove. I write the Minoo Jha Life Strategies blog. Posting regularly to it, inviting guest posts and promoting it via Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest. Triple Hatter. That’s me.

Using “triple hatter” as an example, you can craft your own tie-breaker hook, to stand out from other interview candidates.

One suggestion for a tie-breaker hook is to create a one-pager titled “What My Mentors Have Taught Me”. Try to list at least 7–10 things on it.

When the interview is complete, hand a copy of your “What My Mentors Have Taught Me” one-pager to the interviewer, and say to them, "I would like to leave behind a short note detailing what my professional and personal mentors have taught me" and exit the room. Let them read it after you have left.

Since other candidates are not likely to have something like that in their tool kit, you will be sure to stand out from the other candidates, even though their resumes are similar to yours.

Once again, in my experience…

Preparation works.

An interview can make up for a less than ideal resume.

Interviews are performances.

Presenting a unique hook can be the tie-breaker between you and another candidate.