Abimbola O’larry Turner
My last interview. The interviewer asked me "what can you offer us?"

"Nothing", I said.

He was puzzled. He cocked his head to the right a bit, waiting for me to finish.

I smiled instead.

He reiterated, "Nothing?", gesturing towards a printed copy of my very rich CV in front of him.

I noticed he had taken his time to print out the CV I'd sent over email.

To his left, was what looked like a quiz... for me. Lol!

"Oh?", I thought. I smiled again. Still smiling, I nudged at the CV and said, "This is a very big organization. You have a very good reputation. You have the best and knowledgeable experts in the field. I'm here to learn from them and become like them, then become better"

"You have enough professionals, specialists and experts already, at this stage of my career, there's nothing I can offer better than that, professionally."

The expression on his face. It was less bewildering. It leaned towards curiosity. He seemed more interested in my personality than my CV now.
I went on, "My CV says much about me and where I'm coming from. I'm here, because I need to go further. What may interest you more is my person, not my expertise". "I have been termed as a smart person. I am a fast learner, adaptive, intelligent, creative, meticulous and very intentional. I hope to leverage on these traits while I'm in your organization. They will help me learn skills & harness them towards achieving fantastic results here" He smiled, he looked at my CV again. "You're confident & smart. I can tell". He then went on to confirm the rest of the information on my CV.

I left the office with an appointment letter.

That was how I got into the dream company my colleagues were dying to work for.

Oh. I forgot to mention. He tucked the bulky quiz back into the drawer. There was no need for it anymore.

The point is being able to read your organization, interviewer, situation at hand, your negotiation power and dealing the right hand. Once you understand these, you will do well. There's no general formula.

Each job interview has its own approach best suited for it.If I had tried to sell myself as an expert. I may have performed averagely or worse. I saw my competition, refused to take the bait and decided to shift focus to my ground: my strengths. I managed to link it to what they'd want and Boom! I hit home.I did my research before going for the interview. It was my only shot.
Did I mention that someone who got hired a week before for the role I applied for, was reassigned elsewhere just so I could take their spot?
It was grace and (promise of) competence