Having recently sat on both sides of the table I may be in the best position to formulate advice on the topic of getting the job.
First of all, experience is a very subjective thing. You must be able to prove a depth of experience but it doesn’t necessarily need to be experience working in the exact position you are applying for.
To get the job, what you really need to do is to understand the position you are applying for better than anyone else. If someone else has already performed that job, they naturally have the advantage but you can still beat them. If you do the proper research, make the proper preparations and really know your shit, you will get the job.
The proper research
Every company operates differently. Understanding how a company works is essential to performing within that company.
If you understand the goals and values of the company you are interviewing with beforehand you can tailor your application and interview toward appealing to them. You can do and say whatever it takes to prove that you understand and respect the company. Not only will this make you ‘feel’ like a much better match to the interviewer but it demonstrates that you care enough about the job and the company do the research to learn about them.
So what is the research? Generally, the research is understanding the company’s products, brands, ethics and values, history, etc. Specifically, it is understanding their practices concerning your specific position. What kind of tools/software do they use, how do they handle specific industry problems, what are their priorities? You need to make a list of questions like these specific to your industry. The more questions you can formulate the better. Any questions you can answer through research, make you a more informed candidate, any questions you can’t answer through research become questions you can use in the interview to make yourself appear intelligent, competent and proactive.
The proper preparations
Once you understand the company and know what the position is and what is expected of the person that fills that position, you need to make yourself that person. Ideally, this job is something you have been building towards your whole life; it is already your passion. If it isn’t, you’d better make it your passion starting now.
Learn the tools/software that this position requires. Devise your own mock projects and execute them. Prepare examples of your efforts. These do not need to be perfect. Aside from proving your technical skill they help you learn about the nuances of the position which in turn become something you can talk about in a genuinely educated manner. Having experienced the difficulties associated with the position ahead of time, you’ll have had an opportunity to think of how to avoid/fix them in the future.
By the time you arrive in that interview you should be so saturated with the skills necessary to fulfill the position that the interviewer can’t help but see the fruits of your preparations in your overflowing body of examples and the insightful anecdotes flowing from your mouth.
Knowing your shit (and making it show)
Now that you’ve done the research and made the preparations, you need to organize what you’ve learned. Find a list of commonly asked interview questions (try the internet). Answer them. Answer them again in a different way. Write down and memorize some flattering stories and lessons you’ve learned. Memorize as much as you can about what you’ve learned about the company and try to relate this to what you’ve learned from your own projects. Making insightful connections can make you sound very qualified and will help you find some good questions to ask in the interview. If you encountered a particular problem during your preparation, ask your interviewer what the company policy is for this problem. At the worst you demonstrate a proactive desire to learn and improve yourself, at the best you demonstrate an insight above and beyond what anyone at the company already possesses.
Be confident and honest
If you’ve put forth the effort and followed the above steps, all you will need to do in the actual interview is be confident and honest. If your preparations have been thorough, there is no reason not be confident, you have a very worthy reason to be there, you are prepared and have nothing to hide; your strengths and weaknesses are all apparent in your examples and you are willing to discuss them equally.
There is, of course, no guaranteed way to assure success. Even after preparing, you may be bested by another applicant who is honestly more qualified than you are. What separates the successful from the failures is the ability to acknowledge this possibility and still undertake all of the research and preparation without holding anything back.
And remember, a company that is unable to recognize proactivity and preparedness is not a company you want to work for anyway.