A Simple ‘How-To’-Interviewing
All the HR screeners and managed to land yourself an interview with a prospective employer. Your first step is to find out everything you can about the organizations culture, business, and product. It looks horrible if you go to a job interview and you know nothing about the company you are interviewing with. See if you can connect with someone that works at the company (via LinkedIn/FaceBook) to get some pointers. You will be surprised where old friends and connections end up, and most will be more than willing to help out. Take notes and bring them with you to the interview and make sure to bring any questions that you have about the company and position. You should have a pretty good idea about how interested you are in the position before you even go to the interview.
On the day of the interview try to make sure you have the day off from work (Doctor’s appointments always work) so that you can prepare properly. The most important thing to remember when dressing for an interview is that you can never take back a first impression. Dress to impress without going over the top. If you’re a guy, a suit is the rule, wear a nice suit no matter what. For girls a conservative pant suit is always a good choice.
Prepare examples of some of your achievements at work so that you can bring them up when asked. Be prepared for behavioral type questions. A behavioral question is when an interviewer asks you to provide an example of how you reacted to a specific situation. Go back through your work history and find examples of how you dealt with stressful situations, situations where you did something out of the ordinary (not in your job description), and times that you had to convince someone of something they didn’t necessarily want to do.
If you go to an interview with a number of specific examples you shouldn’t have to worry about being put on the spot and drawing blank.
In the thirty minutes before an interview don’t forget to have a drink of water and go to the washroom. When you’re interviewing be specific and don’t “avoid” the hard questions. Give honest, concise, answers and provide examples wherever you can. Stay relaxed and don’t be afraid to take some time to formulate your answers. When the interview is finished thank your interviewer and take a card so that you can send them a thank you e-mail as soon as you get home. Provide them with an invitation and phone number to contact you at if they have any further questions.
Following these steps will greatly improve your chances of landing your perfect job. Stay tuned for my next article on ‘Giving Notice; how much, when and dealing with counter offers.http://www.joshtherecruiter.com
