Congrats! You’ve been searching for that next career opportunity for some time now, and you’ve finally found it! It matches your desire, education, and experience and you’ve landed the job interview.
Finding yourself overwhelmed with the excitement of a new opportunity, you have hundreds of thoughts racing through your mind.
What do I wear? Am I qualified? How should I wear my hair? What are they gonna ask? Am I going to be on time? How do I get there? Do I have any questions? What are my nervous mannerisms? Will I bite my nails?
Relax. Take a moment and breathe.
Let’s take a couple of moments to talk about the interview preparation process and some basic key strategies to assist you nailing this or any other interview you may have.
1. Do your homework!!! When preparing for an interview with an organization it is important that you have done your research. Not only do you want to research the position that you applied for, take some time to find out about the company, the industry in which they operate, their competition and their place in the market.
This can prove helpful when discussing the goals of the organization and how your skills and experience can drive the organization to reaching those goals. It also gives a perspective employer the opportunity to assess your level of enthusiasm and interest in their organization.
BREATHE
2. Review the job description for which you have applied. Remember that the job description many times is a brief snap-shot of the qualifications and duties that you may need to have or demonstrate in order to be proficient in the role.
Also take some time to compare your most up-to-date resume with the job description, identifying any key strengths or areas of opportunities that you would like to highlight or may be addressed during an interview.
In this step, it is important that if you don’t already have a journal of documented work situations, you sit, brainstorm, and document some situations you’ve had in the past.
Things you may want to consider in doing this exercise, create a list of some challenges that you have encountered, what your role was directly in the situation, what was the risk or potential gain, and what was the impact.
BREATHE
3. Be concise, honest, and confident. Many employers today are utilizing the STAR format when it comes to interviewing. This is when the candidate is asked to give a specific Situation or Task, Action, and the Result. This behavioral interviewing technique is based on the premise that past behavior and experience can be used as a predictor for future behavior in similar situations.
It is important not to fall into interview traps when this style of interviewing is used.
Many times after a question is answered the interviewer will allow time for an awkward silence. We as the interviewee intuitively respond to this awkward silence by filling this space with our perceived need to provide information. This is an old interviewers’ trick! Be confident. Be honest. Be concise.
BREATHE
4. Practice, Practice, Practice! One of the most important, but many times overlooked steps when it comes to interview preparation is PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE! It is important to practice the examples you intend to use in an interview so that you can form a clear picture of what it is you want to say. There are several methods that you can use to practice articulating your interview ideas.
Mirror technique. Standing in front of a mirror will allow you to see how you articulate your ideas from the perspective of the interviewer. It also gives you the opportunity to build confidence in yourself without fear of embarrassment.
Mock interviews. Mock interviews are designed to place you in a real life interview scenario providing the unique opportunity for you to receive feedback without impact to the position you are preparing for. Mock interviews can be conducted by peers, friends, family, or others whose feedback you value and deem appropriate in helping you prepare for that next opportunity.
5. Anabolic Energy!!! For those that don’t know, anabolic energy is a constructive energy. It allows you to build and project positivity. It can also help to create the type of environment in which you are most comfortable interviewing in by shifting the energy to opportunity and possibility.
Anabolic energy it is based on the premise that if you make a conscious choice to look at things with a positive perspective you generally exude a positive energy that others can sense. Be sure to balance this carefully and not overdo it as organizations are not usually looking for cheerleaders, unless you interviewing with a sports team. In that case have at it!!!
In general interviewers will look for someone who they think are positive and has a high amount of anabolic energy, even if it is not identified using the same term.
BREATHE
What’s next?
REST and Breathe! Well after all of your preparation and hard work, be sure to get a good nights rest the day before the interview and work to eliminate or reduce other stressors which can distract you from the task at hand.
Remember, be prepared, be confident, be honest, be concise and be YOU!
Contact Me! For more interview tips and other career coaching and infusing more spirit, contact James Caldwell-Acha-Ngwodo, MHRM of S-P-I-R-I-T Coaching at www.lifecareerspiritcoaching.com
