Human Resource and Career Management Consulting
MAY THE BEST CANDIDATE LOSE? Fantastic! Your lengthy job search finally turned up an interview. All that hard work has paid off. Simply answer a few questions and the job is yours. Right? Interview Performance is Everything Regardless of the time you invest in your job hunt, interviewers will base their hiring decision on your INTERVIEW PERFORMANCE. If you succeed with this performance, your reward will be a new job that can improve the quality of your life. If you do not succeed, you've just wiped out months of hard work and perhaps experienced an indefinite setback. Serious job hunters appreciate the significance of the interviewing process. THE INTERVIEW IS CLEARLY THE MOST DECISIVE PART OF YOUR JOB HUNTING CAMPAIGN. The Interview Process To help you understand the interview process, let us first clear up a common misconception: Outstanding qualifications rarely guarantee employment. In reality, job qualifications land interviews, but INTERVIEWING SKILLS LAND JOBS. The employer will hire the candidate who is PERCEIVED as the best person for the job. More often than not, the person chosen is NOT the "most qualified" candidate. The reason is simple: Busy employers use a pre-screening process to select only those applicants who meet specific hiring requirements. As a result, everyone who enters the interview is "qualified," and thereby, has a reasonable chance of success. Remember that the interviewer does not know you, does not know your potential capabilities, and cannot read your mind. The interviewer is forced to base the hiring decision on your interview performance. If you stumble over answers or answer questions inappropriately, your fate is sealed. Now, if you have an impressive background, but your interviewing skills are weak, you may not get the job you deserve. A mediocre candidate who has strong interviewing skills can take a great job away from you. If, on the other hand, your competitors have more education or experience than you, think positively. With preparation, you can improve your interviewing skills and give yourself a distinct advantage. In either case, interview training will significantly increase your chances of getting hired. Prepare for the Interview So how can you effectively prepare for an interview? After all, you do not know what to expect. The answer is easier than you might think. Contrary to popular belief, job interviews are very predictable. The interviewer simply wants to learn more about you; and who knows more about you, than you? So, many questions you will face are non-threatening and easy to answer. There are, of course, challenging questions that can wreak havoc with the unprepared candidate--fortunately, only a few of these questions are relevant. Because the possibilities are limited, the questions are quite predictable. Sure, there are minor variations, but if you prepare responses to the general questions, you'll have no problem managing the variations. By preparing and practicing in advance, you can deliver polished answers to difficult questions. In doing so, you will impress the interviewer(s) with your confidence and professionalism. Consider the advantage you will have over other interview candidates. Rehearse the Script to Get the Job You can think of the job interview as an acting performance. You are the actor or actress, and the questions and answers are the script. With the help of an effective interview-training program, you can rehearse the script in advance. Getting hired depends almost entirely on how well you perform. If you know your lines, perfect your delivery, and dress the part, you'll get the job. This manual presents a proven interview training strategy unlike any other approach. This system provides lifelike interviewing experience to prepare you for the most difficult of interviews. With it, you will increase your confidence, reduce interview stress, and quickly land the job and salary you deserve. Without it, you will leave the outcome of your job hunt to chance. By preparing to interview, you prepare for success. Practice Makes Perfect In today's competitive job market, interview success requires careful preparation. You are certain to face rivalry from other determined candidates. Many of your opponents will have studied interview strategies found in books. They represent a serious threat to your success. While reading can provide knowledge, it is NOT a substitute for real-life interview experience. After all, did you learn to drive a car by reading a book? Of course not, you learned by practicing. Successful interviewing, like driving, requires practice--the more you practice, the better you get. When faced with a difficult question, you have just seconds to prepare and begin delivering an acceptable response. Any difficulties that you encounter will instantly elevate your stress levels. As stress increases, performance decreases, which causes more stress. This perilous cycle is the sole cause of many rejection letters. One poorly answered question can leave a lasting impression. Reducing Interview Stress To combat interview stress, you must prepare in advance. If you anticipate the difficult questions, there will be no surprises. If you prepare solid answers to these questions, you will always respond appropriately. And finally, if you practice your answers in a realistic simulated interview, you will project a confident and professional image. To further improve your effectiveness, job-hunting experts recommend that you record your voice while practicing your answers. Recording and listening to your voice is an excellent training technique, although it can be awkward and inconvenient. As a result, few people take advantage of this strategy. Attached are sample questions along with professional advice for answering. You can attach your own reminder notes. Evaluating your voice in a simulated interview makes you far more effective. Remember to focus on improving your delivery. The key to effective interview training is realism. The closer your training resembles real-life interviewing the better your chances of success. Simply picture yourself sitting in an actual interview, face-to-face with an interviewer and practice. You may be tempted to browse through the questions and mentally prepare your answers. This approach definitely requires less effort, but it is also much less effective. Speak aloud, as though you are talking to a prospective employer. Using your voice is much more difficult than simply imagining what to say. By practicing with your voice, you will learn to deliver more concise and effective responses. To impress interviewers, you must focus on more than the content of your answers--you also must evaluate how you sound and how you look. If you follow the training strategy as outlined
above, you'll be "light-years" ahead of
other candidates. With practice you will impress
interviewers with the content of your answers, the
confidence in your voice, and the natural appearance
of your gestures and mannerisms. As a result, they
will perceive you as the "best" person for
the job. As you know, the best person always gets
hired. If, after sending your resume, you were invited to participate in a premise interview, it would be safe to assume the hiring authority viewed your features as potential benefits to the company, thus prompting your premise interview. Some will tell you that you should be yourself during an interview. We feel that may not be good enough! We advise our candidates to be the best that they can be. And, the key to being best is being prepared. Preparation is the key to a successful interviewing experience. It is imperative that you are cognizant of your strengths as well as your weaknesses. Before the interview, evaluate your assets and or features that would benefit the potential employer. However, don't stretch the truth or say anything you can't substantiate. Do in-depth research on the company. If the company is publicly held corporation, background information is generally readily available. If the company is privately held, call their sales department and ask them to send you their company literature. Or, in the event the company has a web page, background material is just a few keystrokes away. Remember the interview starts and ends with the receptionist. If you're asked to fill out a company profile sheet do it graciously. If your appointment is for ten o'clock and the interviewer is running late, don't over react, but be gracious. And, when you have completed your interview remember to thank the receptionist on your way out. Anticipate questions, particularly tough ones. Write down key "questions and answers" and then rehearse them. Practice talking about yourself. In fact, do it in front of mirror so that you can see what impression you are creating. Make sure the questions you ask are well thought out. It is important to recognize "buying" signals. "Do you have any more questions?" is a buying signal/question. If this is the first interview your response should be, "Yes, what is the next step?" or if it is the final interview, respond "Yes, when do you like me to start?" Show and voice your enthusiasm
early in the interviewing process. If you wait to the
conclusion of the interview to do so, it is more than
likely too late as the interviewer may have already
decided your not interested and ruled you out. When
asking questions, ask the question as though you are
already an employee.
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