Cracking Your Interview With the Hiring Manager

So, your Resume was shortlisted and now is the time to meet the hiring manager. You’ve come this far, and we’ll help you get to the finish line.

Here’s what we’re going to cover in this blogpost:

1. A typical hiring process from here on

2. What is the hiring manager looking for?

3. The Best trick to identify the questions that can be asked &

4. How to prepare answers for these questions

So, let’s get started. Wondering what the hiring process is like from here on?

Generally varies from company to company. In most cases, the recruiter will let you know about the entire process at the start or end of the recruiter round.  

Regardless, based on the company, after the recruiter round, you’ll have 1 round with the hiring manager. This is the person who will be your direct manager if you’re hired. In some large companies, after the hiring manager you meet a few colleagues. These colleagues could be from the same team or from cross-functional teams that your team usually works and interacts with regularly. Some companies also like to give you a take home assignment during this process. 

Pre-COVID, a lot of companies used to call you to the office and make you spend a day at their campus interacting with a lot of other colleagues. That practice has almost entirely been discontinued. 

If you’re applying for a technical role you’ll definitely have a technical round that is solely to test your technical skills. For example: Google Technical interview for Software engineers is considered to be one of the most difficult rounds to crack. Now, there is plenty of content on the internet to help you crack the technical round, this video is not about that. 

Your hiring manager and the colleagues that interview you form the hiring panel,  meet and share their notes with each other and decide who they want to extend an offer to once all the rounds of all the shortlisted candidates are conducted. 

Their decision is conveyed to the recruiter and then the recruiter either emails you with an offer or sets up a call with you. Here’s when you have the opportunity to negotiate your final salary. However, for smaller or mid-size companies, the process might not be so elaborate- you may have 2-3 interviews and can get an offer fairly quickly if you demonstrate you have the skills and are the right fit.

Now, let’s understand what the hiring manager is looking for.

If you search for “What Are Hiring Managers Looking For”, you  will see  5-6 things such as:

• Passion

• Communication

• Fit

• Preparation

• Resourcefulness 

• Willingness to learn

• Leadership etc.

Now, of course the hiring manager IS looking for all these traits in a person. If you’re interviewing at Amazon then they’re looking for 14 Amazon values and Google looks for Googliness amongst role related knowledge, General cognitive ability and leadership.

Since this is not about just cracking big tech but any interview across industries, let’s discuss holistically what you must know to crack any interview moving forward.

Across most roles and industries,  hiring managers are essentially looking for 3 things:

1. You are capable of doing what the position demands

2. You are interested in the kind of work the job requires

3. You will fit in well within the team and organization

It’s as simple as that. Let’s understand each of them. 

You are capable:

Of course there’s a learning curve to each new job but most hiring managers expect you to join and start delivering in the first 3 months itself. This means that you should have the necessary hard and even soft skills required to do the job. In most cases, it also means that you have experience doing this and you’ll be able to talk about your experience during the interview. 

It also means that you are well versed with any tools that are required to do your job. You’ll have to talk specifically about the skills and experiences you would bring to the job. These skills and experiences aren’t limited to what you did at your previous job — transferable skills gained through volunteering, hobbies or in another industry are also important. 

Next, Your Interest.

While your capability to do your job is important, your interest to do it is just as important to the hiring manager. They want to see that you are, for lack of a better word, passionate about your job and your industry. They want to see that if offered, you will accept the job and it’s not just because you want a paycheck.

Which is why what you say is important but how you say it is also important. The simplest tip to show your interest in the role is to actually genuinely be interested. If you’re interested, you will be prepared. You will research the company, the role and I'm pretty sure if you know their name you’ll even stalk your hiring manager online. 

And Lastly, Your Fit in the team

Everything else being constant, “your fit” in the team will be the cccfor the hiring manager. But what exactly is “fit”?

Fit means that you understand and can easily adapt to the company culture. For example, if you’re someone who believes in hierarchy and processes chances are you’re not a good fit for an early stage start-up. On the other hand, if you’re extremely casual and your company expects you to follow processes to the T, it’s not a good fit. 

But this doesn’t mean that you are required to be exactly similar to everyone else in the team. These were just examples of identifying fit. To check if you’re a good fit for the team, the hiring manager is evaluating how you would complement the team. Different skills, perspectives and ideas add to a team, enhancing its abilities. 

At your job interview you want to show that you are comfortable voicing your ideas and, at the same time, that you are a team player and will work cooperatively with the various people who already work there.

Whether or not you fit within an organization isn’t necessarily something you can fake. And even if you can fake it, eventually you won’t be happy in that role. 

Now that we’ve understood what the hiring manager is looking for, let's understand how they look for these things. Of course by asking you questions. 

And here’s The Best trick to identify the questions that can be asked

If you Google common hiring manager interview questions, you’ll get a list of questions. Here’s an article from Indeed that has 31 questions. And sure, that’s a great way to prepare for interviews. But there’s also a smarter way to prepare for these interviews because you already have the questions that will be asked. 

Yes, you heard that right. You already have the questions that will be asked and they are hidden in your job description - the responsibilities and the qualifications section to be precise. 

How’s that possible? See, you probably won’t believe it, but most organizations actually put in some effort behind crafting a job description. Of course there are some companies that don’t pay enough attention to it, and those are the ones that actually take months to find the right person because the recruitment team keeps sending them candidates based on the job description and if that’s not correct, then the whole process just goes for a toss. 

Now that it is clear that the questions are hidden in the job description, here’s the trick to identify these questions. Let’s understand this with an example:

Here’s a job description for a creative video producer at TikTok:

Now, the responsibilities section of the JD exactly tells you what you’ll be doing if you join the team. And like I said earlier, most hiring managers are simply looking to understand if: 

• you’ll be to do these tasks

• Will enjoy doing it

• Will others in the team enjoy working with you

So, all you need to do is, take each bullet point of the responsibility section and try to form a question to test your ability to perform that task. Let’s try a couple of them here:

1. Produce compelling and impactful video content for various outputs (social, digital, events, e mail marketing, and partner marketing) from concept to delivery, incorporating TikTok's style, tone, and vibe

Let’s break this down. 

Here, the hiring manager could ask something like:

• Tell me about your experience of creating video content for various marketing channels from concept to delivery

Here’s another version:

• Can you describe your process for developing a video concept from start to finish, including how you incorporate a brand’s style and tone?

Now, let’s look at one of the qualifications:

Minimum 5 years of experience in video production from concept to execution, with the ability to think with a creator mentality, incorporating TikTok styles, social first ideas, and creative production styles into B2B content

If you notice carefully, this is exactly similar to the responsibility we just covered. 

So, let’s take another one:

Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, and experience working collaboratively with cross-functional teams

This is probably one of the most common responsibilities or qualifications required for most jobs here in the US. That’s because most jobs require you to work with people cross-functionally and manage relationships, which requires great interpersonal skills. 

So, the question that could be asked can be something like:

• How do you collaborate with cross-functional teams to ensure that video content aligns with overall business goals

Or a classic question would be:

• Tell us about a time when you faced an issue working with someone not on your team. How did you resolve it?

Now, going through each and every point of the responsibility section for a job description can be challenging and time-consuming. Luckily, we’re in the age of AI, and we can use their help for this process. So, here’s what you need to do. 

Go to ChatGPT or Gemini, whatever you prefer. But stick to one and copy paste the responsibilities and the qualifications section in it and ask them to share questions based on it. And here’s what you get for this role;

Now, you have all the possible questions that could be asked for this interview. All you have to do is prepare. 

Some people would say, This we already knew. Tell us how to actually prepare answers for these questions. Don’t worry, read ahead! 

For this, let’s look at the questions first:

Based on Responsibilities:

• Creative Process: "Can you describe your process for developing a video concept from start to finish, including how you incorporate TikTok's style and tone?"

• B2B Content: "How do you approach creating B2B content that is not only informative but also engaging and visually appealing?"

• Platform Understanding: "How do you stay up-to-date with the latest trends and best practices on TikTok and other social media platforms?"

• Collaboration: "Can you share an example of a time when you collaborated with a cross-functional team to successfully deliver a video project?"

• Project Management: "How do you prioritize and manage multiple video projects with varying deadlines and requirements?"

• Self-Shooting: "What are your experiences with self-shooting videos and what techniques do you use to ensure high-quality footage?"

• Technical Skills: "What video editing software and tools are you proficient in, and how do you use them to enhance your video productions?"

Based on Qualifications:

• Experience: "Can you describe a previous project where you successfully produced compelling video content for a B2B audience?"

• Storytelling: "How do you use storytelling techniques to engage viewers and convey your message effectively?"

• Education: "How do you educate a business audience on ad products and features in a clear and engaging way?"

• Technical Skills: "Can you demonstrate your proficiency with video editing software and tools through examples of your work?"

• Problem-Solving: "Can you share a time when you faced a challenge in a video project and how you overcame it?"

• Trend Awareness: "How do you stay informed about emerging trends and cultural moments on social media?"

Now, carefully look at all the questions. 

What is the common link in most of the questions?

All the questions are about sharing: 

“your experience”, 

“your process”, 

"your techniques”, 

“how do you do something”.

The common factor is actually you. 

You’ve already done almost most of the things that the job requires you to do. So, all you need to do is look back at your experience and share a “true story” about your experience of performing the task. 

So, here’s what you need to do:

Take a question. For example - let’s take this one here: “Can you share an example of a time when you collaborated with a cross-functional team to successfully deliver a video project?”

We're taking this because it’s also a very common question. 

Now, of course, you’ve created a video before and you’ve worked with people across teams to create that video. Now, all you need to do is share that experience in the form of a story that the hiring manager can understand. 

The most common mistake that most people make is that they don’t prepare these stories in advance. They think they can wing it and end up mumbling through the interview. 

Now, you can use any of the answering formats that work for you. It could be STAR, or CAR (Context, Action,  Result) or any other method. But the idea is to keep your story coherent. 

And that comes from practice.  So, it’s always best to write down the story and say it out loud. 

Here’s an example:

Context: In a recent project, my team was tasked with creating a video for a significant employee wellbeing campaign within a tight two-week deadline. 

Action: To ensure efficient production, I assembled a dedicated team of experienced professionals. While they focused on scripting and pre-production, I actively coordinated with legal, accounting, and campaign teams to streamline approvals.

To meet the aggressive timeline, I maintained open communication with all stakeholders, emphasizing the need for expedited feedback. 

Result: Despite the short turnaround, we successfully delivered the video two days ahead of schedule. The campaign was exceptionally well-received, with the video garnering over 100,000 organic views in the first two days. This accomplishment was a direct result of effective teamwork & clear communication. 

Every video producer has such a story to share. But you can’t share it at a moment’s notice if you haven’t practiced it or said it out loud in multiple interviews. Therefore, it’s very important to write down your stories. 

And here’s the biggest secret. You don’t have to create 10-12 different stories for each question. All you need is just 5 great stories and then you can make certain adjustments to those based on the question. 

For example, the same answer can be shared if the question was: 

• “Tell us about a time when you produced a video under tight deadlines?”

Or

• “Can you share a time when you faced a challenge in a video project and how you overcame it?"

For the second one, all you need to do is add an extra layer of challenge. It could be getting last minute approval from the CMO or that you had to write the script yourself. 

The idea is to have 1 main story and make required tweaks to it while answering based on the question. 

So, cross functional collaboration, short TAT, faced a challenge, they all have the same story. 

Similarly, write down 4-5 more stories from your work experience and try to fit them with each of the questions and make tweaks to them based on the question. 

And keep practicing them. Narrate this story to your spouse, make adjustments where required until you feel confident that you can share these as stories as answers when asked about it in an interview.

If you’re able to do this activity, you’ll be able to approach every interview with a lot more confidence. 

Now, most interview processes have multiple rounds and you’ll probably have a couple of more after meeting with the hiring manager, but the hiring team usually divides aspects they’re going to test a candidate on between themselves. So, if you’ve prepared fully for all aspects, you should be good. 

The interview process for highly technical roles, such as that of a software developer would be slightly different because for those roles, you will also be asked to demonstrate your skills with an assignment. But each company will definitely have a behavioral round where a part of these questions would be asked. 

We'll be sharing tips to negotiate your salary soon. Stay tuned