Preparing for a Job Interview
Printed Page 411-414
Preparing for a Job Interview
If your résumé is successful, you will be invited to a job interview, where both you and the organization can start to see whether you would be a good fit there. Job boards on the Internet can help you prepare for a job interview. They discuss questions such as the following:
- When should you arrive for the interview?
- What should you wear?
- How might interviewers interpret your body language?
- What questions are you likely to be asked?
- How long should your answers be?
- How do you know when the interviewer wishes to end the interview?
- How can you get the interviewer’s contact information so you can write a follow-up letter?
For information about letter formatting, see Ch. 14.
Figure 15.7 shows a job-application letter.
Preparing for a Job Interview
For every hour you spend in a job interview, you need to spend many hours in preparation.
- Study job interviews. The hundreds of books and websites devoted to job interviews cover everything from how to do your initial research to common interview questions to how to dress. Although you can’t prepare for everything that will happen, you can prepare for a lot of things.
Read more about research techniques in Ch. 6.
- Study the organization to which you applied. If you show that you haven’t done your homework, the interviewer might conclude that you’re always unprepared. Learn what products or services the organization provides, how well it has done in recent years, what its plans are, and so forth. Start with the organization’s own website, especially corporate blogs, and then proceed to other online and print resources. Search for the organization’s name on the Internet.
- Think about what you can offer the organization. Your goal during the interview is to show how you can help the organization accomplish its goals. Think about how your academic career, your work experience, and your personal characteristics and experiences have prepared you to solve problems and carry out projects to help the organization succeed. Make notes about projects you carried out in courses, experiences on the job, and experiences in your personal life that can serve as persuasive evidence to support claims about your qualifications.
- Study lists of common interview questions. Interviewers study these lists; you should, too. You’re probably familiar with some of the favorites:
- — Can you tell me about yourself?
- — Where do you see yourself in five years?
- — Why did you apply to our company?
- — What do you see as your greatest strengths and weaknesses?
- — Tell me about an incident that taught you something important about yourself.
- — What was your best course in college? Why?
Read more about communicating persuasively in Ch. 8.
- Compile a list of questions you wish to ask. Near the end of the interview, the interviewer will probably ask if you have any questions. The interviewer expects you to have compiled a brief list of questions about working for the organization. Do not focus on salary, vacation days, or sick leave. Instead, ask about ways you can continue to develop as a professional, improving your ability to contribute to the organization.
- Rehearse the interview. It’s one thing to think about how you might answer an interview question. It’s another to have to answer it. Rehearse for the interview by asking friends or colleagues to play the role of the interviewer, making up questions that you haven’t thought about. Then ask these people for constructive criticism.