Terrible Advice Masked As Good Advice About Bad Advice

I don't like quoting bad advice, and I really don't like linking to bad advice. But this is a common piece of bad advice and I'm afraid that some job seekers may actually believe it. Want to improve your odds of getting a job offer? Help a prospective employer solve their problem. That means what the interview wants is more important that what the interviewee wants.

Yet still, an "expert" actually wrote that what the hiring manager wants is less important than what the candidate wants them to hear.

You also need to shift from what a hiring manager wants to hear in an interview to what you want the hiring manager to hear in an interview.

This is not only patently offensive to the hiring process, but, can hurt your chances of getting an offer. Part of the problem with this advice is that it can lead job seekers to focus all of their preparation efforts on getting their message across. Recruiters and hiring managers want to learn about you, so you should have some key points you'd like to get across, but your priority is still to answer the questions asked of you.

Trying to outsmart the interviewer may just tick them off. Not a good strategy for trying to get a job offer. What the interviewer wants to hear is important. Answer their questions first.