Ace the Interview With Our Top Tips
Too often, interview failure occurs because of poor preparation and weak interviewing skills. When you prepare properly, learn how to sell your candidacy, and guide the interview, you stand the best chance of determining whether the opportunity is right for you – and getting the job if you decide to move forward.
Before the Interview
- Create inventory sheets to present your background, accomplishments, and results.
- Create lists for your previous positions. Write out your contributions and specific accomplishments and describe how previous companies benefited from your accomplishments.
- Be specific with equations, formulas, creative ideas, etc.
How to Answer Interview Questions
- Always answer questions about your background, accomplishments, and, most importantly, results.
- Strive to project eagerness and interest. Be a conversationalist but be yourself.
Handling Tough Questions
- Tough questions are those you would hesitate to answer for fear of saying the wrong thing. Preparing for these is key.
- Before the interview, make a list of questions that would cause you nervousness or hesitation.
- Prepare your answers. Be brief and factual, refine them, and memorize them. This will remove the hesitation.
Interviewing the Company
- Prior to the interview, prepare a list of things you need to know to make a timely, sound decision.
- Remember: employees are excited about their company and love to talk about their story. Use this to extract the good and the bad.
- Find out what will happen next in the interview process.
- Focus questions on the company’s needs, timeframes, career paths, recognition programs, past employees, culture, finances, business model, executive teams, technological advantages, etc.
What NOT to Do in an Interview
- Avoid questions that involve money. At this stage, it’s an unfair question to be asked of you.
- If the hiring manager is persistent, simply state that the company is in the best position to judge your value to them, not the other way around.
- Tell them what you currently earn, and to make you the best offer they can.
- Do not allow yourself to start negotiating with them directly.