INTERVIEWING

After the employer contacts you they will want to actually meet you. This means that your first impression from your resume has interested them enough to make time in their busy schedule to meet you.

At this point, you can still mess this up by not presenting yourself in a appealing positive fashion. Remember that this first visual impression communicates the respect that you want to present to this interviewer.

To that end you need to focus on these areas:

  • Personal Appearance
    You need to focus on good grooming managing your haircut, facial hair, and cleanliness.

  • Clothing
    Your clothing needs to be clean, in good repair, and professional. Nothing unusual, or overly colorful.

  • Manners
    This is where your BEST manners need to shine. PLEASE, THANK YOU, SIR, MAM are seemingly old fashioned but effectively communicate the respect that needs to be afforded to the person speaking with you.

  • Professionalism
    Avoid colorful language, slang and profanity. Don’t try to be a comedian. Humor introduced by you in an interview is not appropriate. Being professional requires you to focus on describing how you will make their work life easier for them.

In The Interview

Answer questions as honestly as you can, but try to be diplomatic. Lying is a poor way to start a working relationship.

Stories from your past about how you made things better, go along way making you appear valuable.

The questions you will be asked are to determine how well you can think on your feet, and let you show how you present yourself to the public. These are common questions:

  • Tell me about yourself: Make sure your answer covers three key areas: where you are now (your current or most recent job or educational attainment), where you were (your background and some highlights including relevant skills and experience, briefly), and where you’re going (where you see yourself at this new company

  • What is your greatest strength? Select strengths, skills, and competencies that are relevant to the job—based on keywords you have extracted from the job advert and provide examples of how you’ve demonstrated these skills in past roles. Remember to be honest about your strengths and make your examples specific.

  • What are your weaknesses? For this question, be sure to relate a genuine area of improvement but frame it in a way that demonstrates you are being proactive in addressing the weakness. Highlight the steps you’ve taken to overcome this weakness, and ensure the one you select is not a deal-breaker for the hiring manager.

  • Why do you want this job? Show that you’ve researched the job and company, and talk about how you like those characteristics. Make sure you describe why you’re a good fit for the job and actually say “I think I’m a good fit for this because….”

  • How do you handle stress? Explain how you typically respond to stress, and give an example of how you’ve managed difficult duties. Describe how you solve problems and tell them this helps to handle stress.

  • How do you handle criticism? Provide an example of how you applied feedback (criticism) to improve your performance, and what the positive outcome was.
    – Describe the situation that required the feedback.
    – Explain the feedback that was given to you
    – Describe how you implemented the feedback
    – Share the result of the change you made.
    – Reflect on the experience

  • Why should we hire you? Closely study the job description, and summarize your key skills, relevant career accomplishments to date, and education, and how they align with the job requirements. Finish your comments with the phrase “I think I am be a good fit for this position.”


Winding Down the Interview

After a time the interview will wind down. Often it will end with the question “do you have any questions for me?“

At this point if you have questions about the way they do things at their business, or what business hours are on hoildays, you should ask them.

I like to ask “when do you expect to make a decision on this position?” so I can get an idea of soon to follow up with them.

Following up on the Interview

Follow up on the interview by stopping by at a slow time for the business just to say “hi”. Tell them that is why you stopped by (just to say hi). Ask if they made a decision yet.

They may say they picked another candidate. If so, thank them for their consideration. If you really want to work here, keep calling back from time to time to see if they have another opening.

Often you might have been close to getting hired, and your stopping to see if they have another opening might be all you need to get in on this job!