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What tips and suggestions do you have when going to an interview (for college, jobs, etc.)

#jobs #interviews #job-search #job #career

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Doc’s Answer

Zemira ultimately, the key to effective interviewing is to project confidence, stay positive, and be able to share examples of your workplace skills and your qualifications for the job. Take the time to work on your interview skills so that you can develop effective strategies to use in all of your interviews. With some advance preparation, you'll be able to nail the interview and showcase the experience that makes you the ideal candidate for the company's next new employee.

DO YOUR HOMEWORK
Research the employer and the industry, so you are ready for the interview question, "What do you know about this company?" If this question is not asked, you should try to demonstrate what you know about the company on your own. You should be able to find out a lot of information about the company’s history, mission and values, staff, culture, and recent successes on its website. If the company has a blog and a social media presence, they can be useful places to look, too.

DEVELOP A CONNECTION
In addition to indicating what you know about the company, you should also try to develop a connection with your interviewer. Know the interviewer's name, and use it during the job interview. If you're not sure of the name, call and ask prior to the interview. And, listen very carefully during introductions. Ultimately, building rapport and making a personal connection with your interviewer can up your chances of getting hired. People tend to hire candidates they like and who seems to be a good fit for the company's culture.

BE PREPARED
Review the typical job interview questions employers ask and practice your answers. Strong answers are those that are specific but concise, drawing on concrete examples that highlight your skills and back up your resume. Your answers should also emphasize the skills that are most important to the employer and relevant to the position. Be sure to review the job listing, make a list of the requirements, and match them to your experience. While it’s important to familiarize yourself with the best answers, it’s equally important to listen carefully during your interview in order to ensure your responses give the interviewer the information they are looking for. Also, have a list of your own questions to ask the employer ready. In almost every interview, you’ll be asked if you have any questions for the interviewer. It is important to have at least one or two questions prepared in order to demonstrate your interest in the organization. Otherwise, you might come across as apathetic, which is a major turnoff for hiring managers.

BE COOL
During the job interview, try to relax and stay as calm as possible. Remember that your body language says as much about you as your answers to the questions. Proper preparation will allow you to exude confidence:
• As you answer questions, maintain eye contact with the interviewer.
• Be sure to pay attention to the question so that you don’t forget it, and listen to the entire question before you answer, so you know exactly what the interviewer is asking.
• Avoid cutting off the interviewer at all costs, especially when he or she is asking questions.
• If you need to take a moment to think about your answer, that’s totally fine, and is a better option than starting out with multiple “ums” or “uhs.”

FOLOW–UP
Always follow up with a thank-you note reiterating your interest in the position. You can also include any details you may have forgotten to mention during your interview. If you interview with multiple people from the same company, send each one a personal note. Send your thank-you email within 24 hours of your interview. It's worth the extra effort, 80% of hiring managers said it was helpful or somewhat helpful to receive a thank-you note after an interview.

Good Luck Zemira

Doc recommends the following next steps:

Familiarizing yourself with the company
Preparing for your interview and preparing questions to ask during the interview
Knowing how to evaluate the company to decide if it’s a good fit for you
Managing your expectations with research to know exactly what it’s like to work for this company
Thank you comment icon Thank you Mr. Frick. Much appreciated. Zemira
Thank you comment icon Your Welcome Zemira. The real opportunity for success lies within the person and not in the job. Doc Frick
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Kim’s Answer

Hi Zemira!

Well, you already have lots of good answers, so, I'm going to fill in a couple pieces.

We, as women, tend to put ourselves down, being meek and modest. The interview is not the place for that! You need to exude confidence! Remove the words "just" and "only" from your vocabulary. Example: "I just waited tables." You need to believe in the importance of each and every role you had. A waiter does soooo much more than "just wait tables." Those are people you waited on, not tables! You had to know the menu, how items were prepared, have a good working relationship with the kitchen staff to be able to get special orders taken care of, etc. It's never "just" anything!

If you don't want to come across as bragging, you can say things like, "I never really considered myself all that smart, but, that's the one thing my friends and teachers always said about me."

Practice. Practice. Practice. Mock interviews. At school or with friends. My desk was near a guy who conducted mock interviews all day long. He had them start the "tell me about yourself" response like this: "My name is xxxxxx. I'm originally from xxxxxx. I recently graduated from XXXX with a degree in xxxxx , and I am here today to interview for the XXXXX position. " (or, if you want to be confident, ".....I'm here today because I want to become your next xxxxxxxxx.") We used to make fun of him, but, it's a good way to start talking and get over the nervousness before you actually start getting into the main part of your sales pitch.

The more you interview, the more comfortable you will become. The person doing the interview, if they are good at what they do, will do things to put you at ease, like, make small talk. Not all people are good at conducting interviews, so, if you have a bad one, don't beat yourself up over it.

Know yourself! Think back on your life experiences. You might be asked to provide examples. Times you worked on a team project that went good, and times that went bad. What was the difference? Examples of handling irate customers. Experience in working under a tight deadline. A lot of these things we just handle at the moment and move on with our lives, and put them out of our minds. So you need to do some digging.

Know this format: STAR. So, tell me about a time you had to handle an irate customer. The format for your answer is STAR.
S: What was the SITUATION?
T: What TASK did you need to accomplish?
A: What ACTION did you take?
R: What was the RESULT?
You need to tell a story, to put the listener in your shoes.
Depending on the type of position, you might want to use examples that highlight certain skills, such as teamwork, leadership, etc.

One final bit of advice. Starting now, save EVERY good letter, note, email, etc that you receive from anyone. Every performance appraisal. Throw it all in a folder. Why? I found myself in a position of needing to apply for jobs, and, had such a folder. I extracted quotes from each letter, including name, title, and date of who it came from, and reduced it to a one-page synopsis, double columned. I made it page two of my resume. Through this document, I was able to have other people attest to how "great" I was. And, the number of interviews I landed easily tripled. Most people today change jobs frequently. You never know when something like this might come in handy! And, I made tweaks to it, depending on what I was trying to highlight - sometimes it was legal skills, sometimes customer service.

Best of luck!
Kim
Thank you comment icon Thank you so much! I love this answer! Zemira
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Anthony’s Answer

Hello Zemira! I am happy to help answer your question. The primary piece of advice I can give you for any interview is to prepare. This may seem extremely simple but it really is the primary point for success.

Before you go into the interview, make sure you have done your research on the school and/or company. Make sure you have a general understanding of their history, including major changes or events that have had an impact on where they are at today. For jobs specifically, make sure you understand what the company does, who their competitors are, and what markets they work with. Often time in a job interview, you will get the question, "Why _______?" They want to know what has interested you in applying for a position with them, and it will be essential for you to have some knowledge about what they do. It is also beneficial for you to know who their competitors are and what they do because you can use this to your advantage when talking about what you can bring to the table as a candidate for the job.

You also want to make sure that you have prepared for the interview questions you will receive. If you are in college and are preparing for your first job interview, I would suggest that you go to your school's career center and complete a mock interview. This is a good opportunity for you to work on your interview skills and receive valuable feedback on where you can improve. As you go through interviews, you will pick up on common questions that get asked each time. Therefore, as you move forward with your career, you can start to prepare for these questions and develop a list of key points or skills that you want to highlight in your answers. I would also recommend Googling commonly asked interview questions to see if you can read how others have responded, or give yourself the opportunity to think through how you would respond.
Thank you comment icon Thank you Mr. Rizzo! Zemira
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Diego’s Answer

Number one, you should arrive with at least 15 minutes to spare if it's an in-person interview, if for some reason even after planning getting there on time, you are going to get there late, let the interviewer know either by phone or email ahead of time, and apologize. If it's a virtual interview, join on time and familiarize yourself with the video application used well in advance in case you for example, need to create and account to use it. Be also aware of your body language as I have been the hiring manager before and if your body language says you're not interested in the position, that really does say a lot. Maintain eye contact even if it's hard, maybe do a couple practice sessions with people you trust beforehand to feel more at ease doing it for the real interview.
Thank you comment icon Thank you! Zemira
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Simeon’s Answer

I'd recommend doing some practice interviews first. Have a friend ask you popular interview questions off of Google and have a video recording going so you can look back. It can be hard to describe everything that a video recording can capture, so it's incredibly useful. You'll be able to see some of your habits from finger tapping to "ums" to any other nervous tick that even your friend might not have noticed at first. Next, I'd develop a list of a few key stories that describe a few positive experiences on your part and a few turning around/learning from negative experiences. Make sure to include stories that highlight your interpersonal skills. During the interview, if you have a hard time answering a surprise question, redirect it to one of these stories to give you a solid answer.
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Ryan’s Answer

If you remember one thing about the interview process let it be this, "You never get a second chance to make a first impression". There are some very simple things to focus on before and after your first interviews.


1. Look up the person or people you're interviewing with before the call. How long have they been at the company? Where were they before that? Who do they work with or report too? Do you have any contacts in common? LinkedIn is a great tool to help you get the lay of the land before your first conversation.

2. Do some in depth research on the company and be ready to answer, "Why do you want to come to company X?" or "In your own words what does this company do?" Your answer should show the interviewer that you have spent time on the website or used their product. If they have an app, download it and set up and account. Don't say "well your stock price is going well so I want to join" that shows no effort or insight before the conversation and is not specific to the role you're applying for.

3. Appearances matter even during a pandemic where we're all working from home in pajamas. Wearing professional attire when you meet your potential employer tells them you're taking their time seriously and that you would be someone they're comfortable putting in front of a customer.

4. Be on time, in fact be 10 mins early. In pre pandemic days I usually find the office 15-20mins before an interview but wait until 10min before I check in. If you're going to be late...don't but if you have to be give the team as much heads up as possible.

5. Be honest. You should assume that before they offer you a job they're going to conduct some references checks and not just those that you provided. If you have misrepresented your achievements or role it could seriously affect your candidacy for the role.

6. Follow up. I expect sales reps that I interview to follow up with me the same way they would after a customer call. Don't just thank me for my time. Let me know that you heard what I was looking for in a hire and how your background and experience make you a great fit for the job. For instance when I was being interviewed at Twilio the hiring manager dug deep into my experience hiring and building teams. In my follow up I cited examples of teams I had built, how many people I hired and over what timeline.

7. Take any interview which may be interesting. Like anything being a good candidate during an interview takes practice. Don't waste peoples time but if you can get a conversation with a recruiter or hiring manager TAKE IT. If you feel its not a fit let them know at the end of the conversation but practice will make you less nervous and a smoother interview candidate.

8. Have several questions prepared about the role, business, opportunity, market size, etc. Most interviewers will leave 10-15min at end of call for your questions. Be thoughtful and show that you've put some time into thinking these through. Make them higher level and focused on business as a whole rather than just about your role. I'd much rather here "What to you think the addressable market in California is for this product?" than "What is my quota going to be?"


Hope that is helpful and wish you the best of luck on your job hunt.

Ryan
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Shaiju’s Answer

Hello Zemira!
For any interview, I would suggest:
1) Your appearance should convey that you are very serious about this interview. Always make sure to use formal dress, look like a professional.
2) Your resume is your first impression to the interviewer. Keep it simple - highlight all your academics achievements, technical expertise, any advanced certifications/trainings completed details matching the job profile. Remember that all the information mentioned in the resume should be true.
3) Research about the company and the job requirement - best place to get details about the company is from the company website itself. Also, do a google search on the company to understand what others are saying about the company.
4) Keep two copies of all important documents - resume, mark sheets, certifications etc.
5) Reach early- it will also give an impression about your punctuality as well as seriousness towards the interview
6) Be confident, maintain positive body language.
7) Research about possible interview questions - practice, practice, practice.
8) Answer politely and confidently. It is always polite to refer to the Interviewer as SIR or Maam. You can also address them their Surname
9) Please make sure you switch off your mobile :-)

Good luck!
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Alexis’s Answer

Before you go in for the interview, prepare your answers in advance!

Look up for the commonly asked questions such as "Tell me about yourself."

Then, look up on glassdoor to see the specific interview questions of the position from that company where other people who have already interviewed shared there.

Prepare your answer with frameworks like the one here (STAR method) so that your answer is succinct yet informative. It will also increase your credibility when you are able to link your answers back to your own experiences so think back at your own experiences in how you can answer the interview questions.

Good luck!
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Amy’s Answer

The first step is to prepare - preparation shows you are taking initiative and have a vested interest in the opportunity. I would suggest taking time to research the place you're interviewing with - if you can find ways to naturally bring up things you've learned, it will show the interviewer that you took time to prepare. Think of experiences you have had throughout your life that you can use as examples for handling a variety of different situations. Even if you are in the early stages of your career, there are always life experiences that you can relate to within the professional or education world. Find a trusted friend to do some mock interviewing with so that you have a chance to practice answering questions. You can often find sample questions on the internet for the environment you are interviewing with that will give you a good taste of potential questions. If your friend can video you during your mock interview, that can help you with adjusting facial expressions and hand gestures. Take deep breaths and just be yourself - authenticity goes a long way as long as you are staying professional. If you can find some common ground with your interviewer, use that to your advantage to make the experience more comfortable.
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Melissa’s Answer

Be genuine and be yourself!

Of course prepare, have a copy of your resume, letters of recommendation if available, and show up at least 15min early.

Google “interview questions” and think about how you would answer those basic questions. But also come with a list of questions yourself, they are interviewing you, but this is also a time for you to interview the job/school to see if it’s what YOU want.

Be ready to talk about yourself, your skills, what you bring to the table and what you are proud of. This is one of the times you can brag about yourself and it’s okay. You are selling yourself, and you the best expert on you!

Lastly, ask them if they feel you would be a good fit for the role, and if you are not, what would they suggest you could work on to prepare better in the future. Always learn from every interview, even if you don’t get the job or get in to the school, figure out what can you take from the interview experience to make you better for the next!!
Thank you comment icon Thank you! Zemira
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Esmeralda’s Answer

Interviews can be pretty scary! But I have a few steps that have helped me do well and hopefully youll find helpful!

1. Do research on the company you are interviewing for
- Always be prepared! Know the company based on their recent performance, ongoing changes, overall what the company does and who the CEO is. Also know in advance the position and what it requires for you to do. This impresses the interviewer on your knowledge of the company and how well you already fit in.
2. Prepare by asking yourself interview questions
-In usual interviews, they will ask behavioral questions. Just so they know the person you are and if they will work well with you
3. Know what questions to ask them
-Make sure you ask questions that aren't easy to answer if you just look the, up. Ask them about their experience, how theyll see the company in the long run....
4. Send them a thank you email!!
-This makes you stand out as a candidate and makes you memorable
Thank you comment icon Thank you Ms. Hernandez for the advice and tips! Much appreciated! Zemira
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Kalyani’s Answer

Nice question. Before going to any interview one point must be clear in our mind is what you have and what they are actually looking for, we often called is skillset match. Once that clear we can start our homework like reading for specific topics that probably ask. Then in depth reasearch of company before to interview is must. We must aware about current company news and detail information about company.
Third important is we should be very clear about our every "why?" if that why is clear nobody would stop us to pursive this job.
Try to not ready many unnessery stuff and try to be calm while interview.
Answer polietly.
Do you best.
Give 100% so that we will not regret afterwards.
At the end enterviewer is gonna decide to whom they want to hire but if you given best then one of cadidate hired can be you.
Dont wait for any best opportunity tske opportunity and make it best.
All the best.
Thank you comment icon Thank you very much! Zemira
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