What the Wolf of Wall Street Can Teach You About Job Interviews

The problem with most interview advice is it makes a job interview seem like a test, or worse, an interrogation. This attitude is giving millennials interview anxiety.

The only interview skill you really need is confidence, and here’s why.

How Confidence Lets You Ace Any Interview

Now I’m not saying you can stroll into a job you aren’t qualified for and BS your way into a job offer.  What I’m saying is confidence in your abilities is the most important interview skill because it switches the perspective of the interview from an interrogation to a sales pitch.

If you’ve seen The Wolf of Wall Street, then you’re familiar with the story of Jordan Belfort. Watch this movie again, and pay attention to how Belfort, played by Leonardo Dicaprio, gets his first job at a brokerage firm.

Belfort now does speaking engagements in which he tells the true stories that inspired the movie, and how the persuasion skills he used to get rich can be applied to any aspect of life. The main point he stresses is that selling is EVERYTHING.

Have you ever convinced your boyfriend or girlfriend to do something they didn’t want to do? You sold. Remember those professors you got to give you a deadline extension? You sold. A job interview is just selling yourself.

 

The Art of Selling Yourself in a Job Interview

In sales, the appearance of the salesman can make or break a deal. A salesman who isn’t sure of himself can’t be sure of the product or service he sells. This concept applies to the job interview as well.

Walk into your interview, look the interviewer in the eye, and give him or her a firm handshake. Have a little swagger in your walk. A hiring manager wants to be confident her choice can get the job done. How can they see that in you if you look like you just took defendant’s stand?

Also, it’s more important to know your skill set inside and out than memorizing the perfect answers to the most common interview questions. It’s good to research these answers as guidelines, but every answer you give should have your own personal twist. Just like in sales, anecdotes are a good form of persuasion. Don’t just say your strength is “people skills.” Give a concrete example of how you used your people skills to get a job done.

Frame your weakness as an “improvement area.” Don’t actually admit you’re bad at anything. If time management is your weakness, say you are working towards maximizing your efficiency. Hiring managers are looking for employees with growth potential.

Your final job is to close the sale. Your best opportunity is at the end of the interview when the interviewer asks if you have any questions.

If you say no, then there’s a good chance you won’t get the job. If you ask questions about things like growth opportunities, company culture, or something that shows you researched the company, then you have a much higher chance of getting hired.

Do you have any tips you used to land a job in your field? Do you have one interview skill you feel is more important than all others? Share it with our readers in the comment box.