The key thing recruiters want to know about during interviews

Job applicants may be missing out on certain aspects when it comes to presenting themselves in the best ways to recruiters, specifically about the work they do for the job position they are interviewing for.

This is what Lindsay Mustain, a former Amazon recruiter and current CEO of Talent Paradigm, a career coaching firm, hopes job candidates will understand. Firstly, “nobody hires you to sit there and keep the seat warm,” she shared, so it becomes crucial for candidates to think about the work they do, making sure to be specific when giving examples.  

Speaking to CNBC Making It!, Mustain shared an incident where a candidate that had forgotten to be specific when it came to sharing the work that he had done, back when Mustain was still with Amazon. An applicant, who had rather good qualifications, had sent her a message on LinkedIn to enquire about the status of his job applications.

While Mustain saw him as the most qualified person she had ever interviewed, the applicant did not include specific at-work accomplishments or the kinds of tasks he took on in previous jobs, which meant that Mustain had no clue on what exactly he could bring to the table. She had only managed to understand the full scope of his work history after calling him to understand a lot more of the work he did, which was the last mile transportation for supply chain slash fulfilment, perfect for Amazon as an organisation.

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Mustaine cautioned job applicants to reference the work experience that makes them the right candidate for the position. “You need to know specifically what you bring to the table that makes the company money,” says Mustain.