By now, you should know that the key to landing the job you really want lies in the interview. During the interview, you have the opportunity to really connect with the hiring manager and let them get to know who you are. It's your best chance to market yourself and your skills.
In order to do this, you have to spend some time preparing yourself. Traditionally, an interviewer will ask many open ended questions in order to find out who you are and determine if you are someone they would like to work with. During your preparation, you should plan out answers to these questions so that you can make the best impression.
Although there are many ways you can go about it, I think that the best way is to approach it is by first understanding what the interviewer is trying to find out. If you think about it, the most common interview questions can be broken down into one of three categories. These categories are: who are you and do you care about making a good impression, what type of person would you be to work with, and do you care about the company or want to do this job.
In the first group are questions about your career path, education, skills, strengths and weaknesses. These questions allow the interviewer to get a quick overview of who you are and how you present yourself. Remember that the first five minutes of the interview are when you are making your first impression. Although you will have time to correct or enhance that impression, for the most part – first impressions stick.
During the second phase of your interview, the questions are designed to allow the interviewer to determine what sort of employee you would be. This is the part where they are trying to imagine you as part of the team or working in the position. Typically, you'll be asked behavioral interview questions here like – Tell me about a time that you had a conflict with a co-worker and how you handled it. Your answers to these questions should paint a picture of how you deal with common situations in the workplace and give the hiring manager a reason to think that you would be an asset to their team.
The third phase of the interview is a little less structured but it's just as important as the other two. During this part you'll have the chance to ask questions and show that you have done your homework and really want to work for the company. You may be asked questions like – “Why do you want this job?”. If you don't have good answers at the ready, you'll give the impression that you simply want any job and aren't very excited about their position.
By understanding what the employer really wants to know you can prepare answers that will give them the right information at the right time. Often, we make the mistake of not scripting out answers and thinking that all we have to do is go into the interview with a positive attitude and answer each question off the top of our heads. Although that might work for people who have tons of charm, for most of us, it just makes us look unprepared and we miss out on the chance to paint a cohesive and compelling story.
What do you do to prepare for an interview? Do you always research a company before going to an interview? Please share your thoughts in the comments.
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