7 Steps to Crush Your Next Interview
Eliminate Mistakes Before They Happen
The rare individual looks forward to an individual, whether they were Communications Majors in college, or simply love public speaking, or perhaps are extroverted, love to talk to new people, and are simply cool under fire. Not knowing exactly what the interviewer is going to ask or want to talk about is why you do your research and plan for anything and everything that may be covered, it can still be a nerve-wracking experience for the common person. With good planning, practice, and awareness of the pitfalls that often happen and are noticed during an interview, if you know yourself, your tendencies, and what to avoid saying or doing, you immediately give yourself a leg up over the competition.
- The Resume
- The interview is far more important than the resume and cover letter, but the two go hand in hand. A poorly constructed resume may eliminate you from the competition before you even get started, and cause you to never get that call to interview. Thus, build a quality resume, one that reflects the key attributes and responsibilities the company you are interested in is most interested in bringing aboard.
- Practice Makes Perfect!
- That is a cliché for a reason – it’s based on truth, and something just about everyone knows, yet not everyone takes to heart. Few of us are a ‘Natural’ who can breeze through school never studying and find themselves on the Dean’s List. Most of us need to prepare and study to get the high marks that get you into grad school and pave the way for true education and the launch of a successful career. The Interview is no different and includes more than just looking the part or speaking clearly. Practice your posture, how you will sit, keeping good eye contact, and maintaining control over your hands and body while speaking not to appear to animate or uninterested. Get feedback from someone, or record yourself to judge first-hand, how clearly, and succinctly you speak with the right balance of positivity, energy, and pace. Do research on the company, the team, the industry, and even the interviewer to be able to relate and cover items you have deduced that would be of interest and assure the person across the table that you know your stuff, and it’s their stuff!
- Punctuality didn’t end in high school – Be On Time!
- Plan for commute times, traffic, know where the building, the office, and room are within the location, and know the name of the person with whom you are scheduled to meet. Standing at reception and having the person greeting you calling to multiple departments trying to see if your name sounds familiar to anyone is not a good look for someone who has expressed interest and gotten to this point. It screams Unprepared, and it will not work in your favor.
- Know the Players
- Assuming you know the job and the industry, and were a key reason you applied in the first place, there is much more to do to be ready to interview with an expert, the interview, and the person on ‘the inside’. They know inside and out everything about the company, their organization, and team, and they sure know what they are looking for in the person they look to join them. It is critical to have your relatable experience down pat, but the research you do on the company and team with whom you are seeking employment will pay off. Knowing the company’s core values, culture, history, and competition will demonstrate you know how to prepare and that you take this work and this opportunity seriously. An interviewer will likely be happy to tell you about the company and all of the great things they do, for clients and for employees. If you come to the table able to share all that you know about how great the company is to clients, and how impressed you are with the culture they have built, you gain instant credibility as a serious person who does their homework and intends to Win.
- Be Engaging
- Bring the personality….but stay in control! Everyone loves to work with someone who is fun to be around, can lighten the mood, and while productive, never take themselves too seriously. Striking a balance here to show that you are a ‘human’ first, and a productive, ‘A’ Player that they desperately need second. An opportunity to infuse a bit of levity is a great tension breaker and can immediately ingratiate you to the interviewer fairly quickly. If you continue to make the person laugh, or insert a bit too much humor, and appear too ‘jokey’, it’s probably over. You will likely be easily categorized as more ‘style than substance’ and even if you have put forth some incredible ideas and thoughts, and conveyed clearly how your experience is a direct fit for the role, the takeaway may be ‘I interviewed a fun guy today!’. Sounds nice, but no one hires the ‘funny guy’. Be smart, and become the funny guy once you have the job.
- You’ve Got the Mic
- The last segment of most interviews is when the person interviewing lets you take the wheel. They give you the opportunity to ask anything you want. Often times people believe the best response is to show they know everything already and thus no questions are necessary on their part. Don’t pass up the opportunity. It is not only a chance to get more information but also to show the depth of your thought process and interest in the role and the company. Think of provocative, powerful questions that give the interviewer a chance to share something no one could know coming from the outside, and have them picturing how a person who asks such a meaningful question is clearly intelligent, savvy, and likely ‘just what we need around here’.
- Finishing Touches
- Thank You Cards. Sure, we read them and usually discard them almost immediately. When they are not sent, people usually don’t notice, so it will not likely cost you too many points for not sending. But until you have an offer in-hand, you want to pick up all the points you can, and these are easy to score. Drop a thoughtful email, and/or drop a small ‘Thank You’ card in the mail addressed to the company in care of the person you met with, so they reflect, even for those seconds before discarding, on the quality of the experience they had interviewing you and quality of person they would want.
There are innumerable ways to crush an interview and just as many ways that will do you in if you are not aware of the potential pitfalls all around you when you go through the process. Be smart, study, and prepare for the different settings and situations you may encounter and you will not be surprised when it goes precisely as you expected. When that happens, you have likely put yourself in a shrinking pool of top candidates moving on to the next interview – Rinse and Repeat at each interview stage until you have an offer in hand!
0 Comments