Interviewing
Many studies have shown that interviewing does not provide the company with the best candidate for the job. Does that mean that interviewing is bad? No, it's more that most interviewers are not that good. Very often, you'll be interviewed by a recruiter who doesn't know that much about the job, a human resource professional that knows about the company but not about your specialty, or by a hiring manager who knows their area but hasn't been trained in interviewing techniques. Plus, interviewing often ends up being subjective and coming down to what kind of connection you have with the interviewer. That being said, there are several things you can do to increase your chances of a successful outcome in your interviews.
1. Research the company beforehand. If you come in to the interview knowing about the company through research on their website, perhaps through talking to people who've worked there, etc., you will come across like a professional who is serious about finding a good match with an employer.
2. You should do as much listening as possible in the interview to find out what the employer is looking for. The more you know about what the employer wants, the better you can tailor your responses so that they fit in with the employer's vision for the position. This doesn't mean you should lie or exaggerate. However, knowing more about what qualities are important to the employer will help you determine which aspects of your experience, personality, vision for your career and vision for how you can help them to emphasize. For example, if an employer is most concerned about finding someone with good people skills, you'd be better off talking about how well you work with people and how you like working with others than you'd be talking about your great computer skills (although it would be important to talk about computer skills too if the employer's interested in that).
How can you find out what things the employer values? If you're asked an open-ended question like "Tell me about your experience with this kind of work," you could respond with a question like "I have a wide range of experience. If you could tell me what qualities are important to you when considering someone for this position, I can better address specific ways that I'm qualified."
3. Most interviewers will give you an opportunity to ask questions about the position or the company. Depending on how much structure there is to the interview, you could bring up the topic yourself or the interviewer may ask if you have any questions at the end. This would be a good opportunity for you to ask questions to determine if you think the position would be a good long-term fit for you. Questions could include asking the interviewer what they think of the company. Or asking what the co-workers are like. In addition to these questions providing you with information, they illustrate to the interviewer that you are serious about finding a good match and they will be more likely to see you as an honest, straightforward person they can feel comfortable hiring.
© 2009
