No matter what type of job you are looking for, these 7 tips will help you nail your interview! Just to give you a little bit of my background, before I had my daughter and decided to stay at home with her I was a full-time professional recruiter. I have recruited for a wide variety of job types including sales, customer service, finance, human resources, operations, and more. I have also recruited for a wide variety of job levels ranging from college intern to department director. I have received a lot of interview training and have preformed many interviews. I have a passion for helping people find jobs that are a good fit for them and that make them happy. I am a huge believer that you should enjoy your job and that it should make you happy! Follow these 7 tips and you are going to land a great job in no time!
1. Do your research on the company.
One of my first questions in all of my interviews was, “Can you tell me what you know about our company?”. I can’t tell you how many times people bombed that question! It was always so refreshing when I heard someone finally tell me about our business model, company values, and financial results. Whenever I heard that, I was immediately impressed and making a good impression from the very beginning of your interview is so important! Research the company’s website and read online articles about them. Learn their business model (aka what sets them apart from the rest of their industry). Learn what their company values are and what things are important to them. Take a look at their financial statements and stock price (this should actual be something you do before you even apply to see if the company is doing well and will be around long enough for you to progress in your career).
2. Prepare for your interview questions.
Don’t just go into an interview thinking you can “wing it”. This is not a good idea! I would definitely recommend reading an interview prep book. My favorite interview book is Boost Your Interview IQ which you can find on Amazon HERE. In college, I was required to read this book for a career prep class and I am so glad I did! I recommend this book to everyone that asks me for interview advice. It has the 50 most asked interview questions. More importantly, it teaches you how to structure your behavioral based questions. If you are asking yourself what a behavioral based question is, an example is “Give me an example of a time you faced a conflict while working on a team. How did you handle that?”. The interviewer wants you to answer this behavioral based question with an example of how you have handled this type of situation in the past. The best predictor for future behavior is past behavior.
You can also find several examples of behavioral based questions online. I found a good article with 30 example behavioral based questions HERE. I would also recommend using websites like glassdoor to try to find interview questions that have previously been asked by the company. Start thinking about experiences in your past where you have added value, solved a problem, or have gone above and beyond. Interviewers would prefer that you use examples from work but if you are a recent graduate with little work experience then it would be fine to use examples from school. Write these experiences down. First, give a quick explanation of the situation. Then, you want to explain what you did. How exactly did you add value, solve the problem, or go above an beyond? To end, you want to explain the results. Be specific with numbers if possible. Were you recognized for this? How did this effect your team or the company? Try to “sell yourself” but do not make it too long! If you go longer than a few minutes I promise you that the interviewer will lose interest and think you are rambling. You definitely don’t want this!
3. Videotape yourself answering your questions.
Try to memorize the main points of what you have written. I wouldn’t recommend memorizing word per word because you don’t want to sound like a robot. Just memorize the main points and try to sound comfortable and confident. Videotaping yourself will also help you catch yourself if you are saying “um” too many time, are slouching, or something else that you may need to improve. You may feel silly doing this but I promise you that it will help!
4. Have a friend or family member do a mock interview with you.
Give the person helping you a list of possible interview questions and pretend like it is the real thing. Practicing talking to another person will help you feel more comfortable in your actual interview.
5. Prepare professional questions for the interviewer.
At the end of your interview, the interviewer will most likely ask you, “Do you have any questions for us?”. DO NOT SAY NO! This is your opportunity to show them you are very interested in the job and have done your research. Pay attention during the interview and take a few notes if you want to. Ask them to expound on something they said. You can also ask “what a day in the life” looks like or ask them something you found while researching. I would recommend preparing 3-4 questions. Do not ask the interviewer any personal questions! This is usually awkward for the interviewer because they don’t know you. Also, interviewers are not allowed to ask you personal questions back because it might lead to possible discrimination accusations if for example they find out your marital status or nationality.
6. Bring a nice folder that contains several copies of your resume, paper, and a pen.
If the company you are interviewing for is organized then they will probably distribute your resume to the interviewers before you arrive. But there are sometimes occasions where miscommunication may happen or maybe the interviewer is running from meeting to meeting and forgot your resume. So just be prepared and bring several copies. The paper and pen are to write things down during the interview process if you need to.
7. Dress for the part and be professional.
It is always better to overdress for an interview then to underdressed! Even if the company has a casual dress code (like my previous company did) they usually still expect the person being interviewed to dress professionally. Also make sure you are well groomed. Try to stay calm, be yourself, and smile. Turn your cell phone off! Not just on silent, but off. There may be an alarm you forgot about or something else might go off unexpectedly. You don’t want to bring any distractions into your interview. Also, you don’t need to have anything out other than your folder that I talked about in step 6. I once had a guy bring an open can of Mountain Dew into his interview with me. He made a horrible impression on me because I immediately thought he was unprofessional. Take my advice and don’t be like that guy!
There you have it! Follow these seven steps and you are going to nail any interview! Good luck!
Sincerely,
shari jean
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