You finally got the interview. Whoo Hoo! Now, what? Your first step is to dress to impress but not over do it. If you can get your parents to buy you a suit or if you can splurge to get one yourself, that would be ideal. But if you can’t manage to get one, then a clean, pressed, white buttoned up shirt and slacks or skirt will suffice. For women, don’t wear tight-fitting clothing or have your skirt six inches above the knee or bare all your cleavage. For men, when you select an undershirt, please make it plain and not something that has text on it that may offend anyone if it shows through your dress shirt. Remember to dry your hair before you go to your appointment. And don’t wear any flashy jewelry. You don’t want anything to distract the interviewer from listening to what you have to say.
Before the Interview
Review your notes on the research you did on the company and the qualifications and description for the job. You want to be able to speak intelligently about how your current skills can be an asset to the company and the position.
Think of questions ahead of time to ask the interviewer. Szlucha suggests, “You can ask about how their business has been over the past year. What opportunities for advancement are there with the company? What is the biggest challenge of this position?”
And lastly, arrive 10-15 minutes earlier than your appointment. It will show the interviewer that you are responsible and interested in the job.
Szlucha wanted me to tell you that it’s important to establish a good rapport with the person who is escorting you from the front desk to the interview. “You’re not going to fly there unaided, so make an effort and be considerate enough to chat with the person who walks you back to the interview,” she says. Your interview begins from the moment you set foot on the company property so be nice to everyone you meet.
During the Interview
After you and the interviewer have shaken hands and are seated, their job is to ease you into a conversation. Your interview should not feel like an interrogation. As a warm up question you may be asked: “Tell me about yourself?” I know when I was seeking a job and was asked this question I wasn’t sure how to answer it. Did the interviewer want to know my whole family history, my political views, why I chose my major? But Szlucha explains, “[T]he interviewer has just dug your resumé out of a pile and left their desk to meet you in the reception area. Their mind, however, is still on the last problem that just appeared in their email inbox. They don’t want to look unprepared by re-reading your resumé in front of you, so their intent is to ask you a basic question that reminds them about your credentials and experience.” So be prepared to recite your resumé but that doesn’t have to be a bad thing. You can take this opportunity to focus on jobs and experience that are relevant to the job. Other questions you might be asked are: Why do you want the position? What skills can you bring to the position? What are your greatest strengths? What are your greatest weaknesses? What challenge you faced on a job and how you overcame it? Where do you see yourself in five years? Try to come up with answers to these questions beforehand so you are not left grabbing answers out of the sky.
During the interview it is important to show enthusiasm and smile a lot. It’s contagious and it will make you more pleasant to speak with. Let the interviewer lead the conversation and be sure to eliminate “um,” “uh” and excessive use of the word “like” from your speech. Look your interviewer in the eyes when either of you are speaking, but don’t stare. If you are looking everywhere around the room but at the interviewer it will show that either you are not really interested in what is going on or that you lack confidence, both are not qualities an employer is looking for.
Under no circumstances are you to bring up salary or benefits, unless you are offered the job on the spot or the interviewer brings it up. If they ask you about salary you should already have a number range in mind. Do your research ahead of time and find out what people are getting in your area for the position you are applying for. One website you can check out is salary.com which will tell you what the average person is getting in any position, according to experience, in any city. Another option is to call up a temporary agency and ask them what people are getting paid in your industry.
In the event you decide in the middle of the interview that you don’t want the job, don’t act like an idiot to ensure that they won’t hire you. You never know, later on in your career search when you are applying for your dream job, you could run into that hiring manager again. And if you were rude, they will most definitely remember you.
Those are my tips for rocking your next interview. Did I miss anything? Share your knowledge with the rest of the group, please.
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