By Jan Nordh, Nordh Executive Search — executive search in Cybersecurity, Enterprise Software, and AI across DACH and the Nordics.

"What makes you different from the other candidates?" You know the question. And if you are like most people, you have done exactly what you were told to do: prepared a polished little pitch, two or three sentences about what makes you stand out.

That pitch is the problem. The candidates who get the offer stop pitching themselves in interviews and start asking — they let the hiring manager hand them the differentiator.

I have spent 19 years in executive search placing senior people in cybersecurity, enterprise software, and AI across DACH and the Nordics. Before that, 25 years on the other side of the table — enterprise seller, sales leader, country manager — building European organisations for US technology vendors. I have run debriefs with hiring managers after hundreds of interviews. The same mistakes come back again and again, and they all share one root cause.

You Already Know How to Do This — You Are Just Using It in the Wrong Room

Picture yourself on the buyer's side. A vendor walks in, laptop open, deck ready, and runs through features, benefits, and references point by point. Polished. Rehearsed. How does it feel? Your resistance goes up immediately — because every vendor does the same thing, and it feels like selling, not like understanding.

Then there is the other kind of seller. They sit down and start asking questions. They genuinely want to understand where your problem sits. They let you talk. And only then do they say one or two things that land precisely on what you just described. Suddenly it does not feel like selling. It feels like help.

Job interviews work exactly the same way. Every other candidate walks in with a rehearsed elevator pitch, and the hiring manager has already heard seven versions of it that week. The tool that makes you successful in sales — discovery before pitch — works in interviews too. You just need to use it in the right room.

Why "What Makes You Different" Is a Trap

The question does not always come at the start. Sometimes it lands in minute two, sometimes in minute 52, when the hiring manager can barely tell you apart from the other people on the shortlist. Whenever it arrives, it has one quality almost no candidate spots: it is vague. Different in what sense? Experience? Personality? Working style? Network? Often the interviewer does not know exactly what they are asking. They have set a trap — and they do not even realise it.

Almost every candidate falls straight in. The reflex is automatic: you assume you need to impress, and the pitch begins.

The Three Interview Mistakes — And Their Shared Root Cause

Mistake one: the personality trap. The most common by far, especially when candidates are caught off guard. "I'm very dedicated, I learn quickly, I'm resilient, I'm a team player." It may all be true. But those are not differentiators — they are entry requirements. If you were not resilient, you would not be in the room.

Mistake two: comparing yourself to invisible competitors. You do not know who else they are interviewing, yet people say "my experience is unique, I bring something most others don't." When you are guessing, it reads as arrogance. In the worst case the hiring manager is thinking: the candidate before you had a remarkably similar profile — so what exactly are you claiming?

Mistake three: reading your CV back to them out loud. This one comes from experienced, well-prepared candidates. "I bring 18 years of enterprise sales, have built organisations across five countries, and most recently served as Country Manager for a US vendor." The hiring manager has already read your CV. If your answer to "what makes you different" is a verbal version of your resume, you have not differentiated. You have repeated yourself.

What all three share: you are pitching yourself. And that is the wrong tool for this moment.

What to Do Instead of Pitching Yourself

When the question comes, do not switch into pitch mode. Slow down. Radiate calm. Then say something almost no other candidate would say:

"That's a great question — but I need your help to answer it properly."

Short pause. Let it land. Then ask a clarifying question, relaxed, not performative:

"Are you thinking more about my professional experience, my approach with clients — or something that sits outside the CV?"

Three things happen in that moment:

• You signal composure. While everyone else scrambles to impress, you have deliberately slowed the pace. That alone is unusual — and therefore memorable.

• You force the interviewer to define the question. They now have to decide what they actually want to know. Once they say it, you can answer precisely instead of firing in all directions and hoping something lands.

• You quietly take control. They asked the question; you are now leading the exchange. For anyone in enterprise sales, that is the critical move.

Discovery before pitch. Once they have told you what they are really asking, then you answer — calmly, specifically, with one concrete example from your background that maps directly onto what they just described.

What This Looks Like in Practice

I remember a candidate — let's call him Stefan. Ten years in enterprise software sales, most recently an account executive at a US security vendor. Strong profile, shortlisted for a regional sales director role at a cybersecurity company.

In the second interview, the VP of Sales asked exactly this question: what makes you different from the other candidates? Stefan did not start pitching. He paused and said: "That's a great question — but honestly, I need a little help from you to answer it well. Are you thinking more about my enterprise segment experience, or how I've built new markets from scratch?"

The VP looked at him for a second, then said: "Honestly, the second one. We have enough people internally who can manage existing accounts. What we need is someone who can bring in new logos — in a market where we're not yet well positioned."

Stefan now had exactly what he needed. He did not respond with a list of achievements. He described a specific situation: a market where he had started without a pipeline, how he had built access from scratch, and what the numbers looked like after twelve months. The VP's feedback to me afterwards was brief: "He immediately understood what we actually need. The others told me what they can do. He asked what we needed — and then delivered exactly that." Stefan got the offer.

One Important Caveat

I have seen people get this wrong. When they do, it does not come across as natural — it comes across as staged. The redirect only works when there is genuine curiosity behind it: when you actually want to understand what is on the hiring manager's mind, what success in the role means to them, what problem they are trying to solve right now. If you ask questions to sound clever, people see straight through it. If you ask because you genuinely want to understand — that is the difference that makes the difference.

Frequently Asked Questions

How should I answer "what makes you different from other candidates" in an interview?
Do not deliver a rehearsed pitch. Acknowledge it as a fair question, then ask the interviewer to clarify what dimension they mean — experience, client approach, or something outside the CV. Once they specify, answer with one concrete example that maps directly onto what they said. This shows composure and lets the hiring manager hand you the differentiator.

Why is pitching yourself in an interview a mistake?
Because the hiring manager has already heard a polished elevator pitch from every other candidate that week. A pitch triggers the same resistance a buyer feels toward a vendor reading off a slide deck. Asking a genuine clarifying question instead reframes the conversation from selling to understanding.

Is asking the interviewer a question back seen as evasive?
Not when it is genuine. A relaxed clarifying question signals self-assurance and forces the interviewer to define what they actually want to know, so your answer lands precisely. It only backfires when it feels staged or used to sound clever rather than to understand.

What is consultative selling and how does it apply to job interviews?
Consultative selling means understanding the buyer's real problem before proposing a solution — discovery before pitch. In an interview, the hiring manager is the buyer. Understanding what they need before you describe what you offer is the same discipline that wins enterprise deals, applied in a different room.

Let's Talk About Your Positioning

If you have specific questions about your own positioning — or want to prepare properly for a particular interview — reach out. On LinkedIn or at nordh.de. The candidates who get the offers are not the ones with the sharpest pitch. They are the ones who stop pitching, start asking, and let the hiring manager hand them the differentiator.

About Jan Nordh

Jan Nordh is the founder of Nordh Executive Search, with 19 years as a headhunter placing senior and executive talent in Cybersecurity, Enterprise Software, AI infrastructure, and data centers across DACH and the Nordics. Before executive search, he spent 25 years in enterprise IT sales and sales leadership, building European organisations for US technology vendors — so he knows both sides of the interview table.