Well, it has arrived. The moment you have been preparing for is upon you. Make sure to bring the right things and follow a few simple rules, and everything should go smoothly. As for what to bring, make sure you have a few, clean copies of your resume, a list of your contacts or references, and your schedule, i.e. your work availability: when you can start, the hours you are available, and so on. As long as you have these, all that is left is to follow the rules. These rules, combined with the physical and emotional/mental preparation outlined previously, will result in the most effective interview performance possible.
The First Rule governs your demeanor: always smile and strive to maintain eye contact. This presents you as interested and attentive. Avoiding eye contact can send a host of bad, often incorrect messages. Your interviewer may think you are lying, unprepared, disinterested, or make other undesirable assumptions. Put your self in the interviewer’s shoes: what kind of person would you want to talk to?
The Second Rule follows closely on the first: always be attentive and engaging. Pay close attention to what the interviewer is saying. Interject questions from time to time, but be careful not to interrupt or speak out at an inappropriate time. Moderation is key here; you do not want to be so gregarious that you cut off the interviewer and hinder his ability to conduct the interview. Let the interviewer lead the discussion, and engage him in appropriate conversation when he gets to a topic you have a question on. This is where you get to demonstrate your background knowledge and your abilities through examples.
The Third Rule is simple: ask questions! This is a way to show that you are attentive and engaging, but also gives you an opportunity to learn more about the company and specific position than you learned from your background research. Encourage the interviewer to share information about the company with you, i.e. the atmosphere of the workplace, dress-codes, goals, etc… This demonstrates a sincere interest in the company and position, and allows you to further assess how well the job fits your needs. Remember, this interview should not just be the company learning about you; it should also be you learning about the company. Try to get the most you can out of it.
The Last Rule is this: be alert, but be natural. It is helpful to be acutely aware of your surroundings and the actions/words of the interviewer. Note the atmosphere of the workplace if you get a chance. Pay attention to the interviewer’s body language and subtle comments. You may, perhaps, learn something about the company and/or the interviewer that can help you during your interview. For example, you may notice that your interviewer has, during the course of your conversation, placed importance on an ability you did not expect. Let us say you thought communication would be the most important trait to the company, but instead the interviewer has stressed the importance of leadership for this position. Try to think of and include an example of you showing leadership in your past jobs in the remainder of your conversation. Alternatively, it could also alert you of what not to say, i.e. pet peeves of the interviewer, particular areas of concern, etc… While this is a very subjective rule, being acutely aware of your surroundings during the interview will aid you in saying and including the right things during your conversation. On the other side, you want to be alert, but not appear paranoid or distracted by your surroundings. Act as naturally as possible. Let the interviewer see who you really are, but be sure to focus his attention on your qualities that make you a competitive candidate for the position. Practice and preparation will aid greatly in this.
As a side note, some experts claim that most interviews are over within the first few minutes. This again reiterates the importance of achieving a good first impression. It is good to be consciously aware of this, and to realize that even if the interviewer has not actually made up his mind after a few minutes, it is likely that he has already formed a solid mental projection of what kind of candidate he believes you to be. Do not become distressed if you believe that the beginning of your interview has gone poorly, however. It is possible, albeit difficult, to recover from a bad first impression. Realize that the beginning matters most, but do not give up during the interview just because you think the beginning went badly. Doing so will only ruin any shot you did have of a ‘come back’.
During the interview, you will be asked a host of questions, some generic, some unique. Expect the interviewer to ask you about your strengths and weaknesses, past job experience, why you want the job, why you think you would be good in that position, what exactly drew you to apply for the position, what does the job/company/field mean to you, why are you switching jobs, how would you describe yourself, how would you describe your last boss, why you left your last job, and other questions along these lines. As was noted in the first article, be sure to prepare for questions of this nature so that during the interview you can answer them quickly, concisely, and firmly.
With preparation and adherence to these loose guidelines, you should have a smooth, effective, and possibly even enjoyable interview that teaches you as much about the company as it teaches them about you.
Have you had an interview experience that did not go smoothly, perhaps ending up as a funny story? Click Here to see other readers' comic and/or tragic stories or post your own!
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