Do you desperately want to land the dream job you’re about to interview for?ย Then you need to read below and you will increase your chances of nailing your next interview.
1. Be Purposeful
Keep in mind at all times during the interview that every word that you say should be fully calculated in order to show your skills and that you’re experienced in the job at hand. What you say should focus on your expertise, your style of work, accomplishments and why they should hire you. When you’re able to show how you would deal with a specific situation and challenges they will want to hire you. Keep in mind that first impressions are very important.
2. Speak Plain English
Avoid any language that could come off as useless jargon. Don’t use overused phrases and cliches. Be unique. Many people will give a full on sentence about being team players and result oriented. Reword this beforehand so that your sentence is unique and yet states this information. This will help you to stand out from other candidates. ย There are some good tips on the nPower site.
3. Don’t Regurgitate Words
Instead, process them. Be familiar with the company. Go to their website and peruse their “about us” page. Do the research so that you know what others are saying about the company and learn all that you can. The more you know about the company the more valuable you’re going to be to them. Keep in mind that you need to use the right terminology and verbiage without overdoing it. Demonstrate that you understand what the company is all about and don’t parrot the words back in regards to what you know, use your own words.
4. Tell Relevant Stories
Prepare for tough questions by having a few relevant stories as examples. They’re going to be probing you for information and your job, if you want to be hired, is to answer those questions. Their goal is to understand your personality, is it a good fit? What about your work ethics? The answers to these and other questions are going to be analyzed and examined carefully. How do you handle stress? What about intellectual challenges and other conflicts you may encounter? What kind of person will your stories make you sound like?
5. Be Enthusiastic
Put forth the effort. Smile, look enthused. Even if you’re not feeling your best, even if your self-esteem is at an all-time low, be sure that you smile and make eye contact. Don’t work too hard to sell yourself and always portray confidence, even if you don’t feel it. It’s amazing what pretending to be confident can do for your interview. It may make or break a job offer.
If you’re nervous, or you don’t have any confidence, it’s going to show through. Practice. Set up the proper boundaries. Focus on being at ease regardless of the situation. Show that you can remain calm and unphased if you’re under pressure. A little bit of practice in these traits can go far in helping you to win the deal. Smile and focus on the task at hand and you’ll go far and Bristol Associates can help.
6. Prepare A Few Questions
Ask some thoughtful questions. Make sure that they are about the company, the role you’ll fulfill and demonstrate that you’ve been doing your homework. Don’t ask, “Will I have to?” questions, instead, ask like this: “Will I have the chance (or opportunity) to do XYZ?”. This makes it look like your more enthusiastic.
7. Don’t Vent
Hold back anything negative about your old boss. This can be challenging but it’s vital. This isn’t the place to tell them how bad your former (or former to be) boss is. It could work against you. You’re not yet friends, you’re not yet on the team. Save it.
Always remember that what you say and do during an interview is confidential, your words, actions, and deeds are all working to get you the job. Don’t sabotage it.
