How to Prepare for a Job Interview
Eight Preparation Tips for Employment Interviewing Success
Nov 24, 2008
Finding a new job in these challenging economic times can be very difficult. Finding a great job, one in which you can thrive and face each day with energy and enthusiasm may seem impossible. But it may be that your best opportunity for a job is also the job that is the perfect match for your skills and interests. When you do get a chance to interview for a great job, make the most of it by following this preparation outline.
Eight Preparation Tips for Job Interview Success
The eight preparation steps are briefly summarized below.
- Research the company - Learn all you can about the company, its products, services, and current financial information.
- Research the industry - Gain a general understanding of the industry and the role of this company within the industry.
- Research the job - Go beyond the job ad and research this type of job.
- Research the interviewer - The business and social networks provide terrific opportunities to get to know your interviewer before you meet him or her.
- Align yourself with the company, the industry, the job, and the interviewer.
- Clarify your strengths - The best alignment will be when your strengths match the needs of the job and you have some personal alignment with the interviewer.
- Link strengths to the job requirements, to the company and to the interviewer if possible.
- Visualize success - Mentally prepare yourself for success.
More on Each Employment Interview Tip
The company. Learn everything you can about the company, its history, its current financial information, recent media reports, and press releases.
The industry. Is this a mature or growing industry? Review industry association reports.
The job. Start with general information about this type of job, then look for specifics. Use your personal network of family and friends to identify people who work for the company and might have insider knowledge of the job and its environment.
Your interviewer. Find out all you can about this person. Use the social networks as well as your own personal network to find out as much as you can about your interviewer(s). The goal here is to be able to relate personally and establish common bonds of interests.
Alignment. Now that you know as much as you can about the job environment, it's time to put yourself into the best light as the best candidate. Your goal is to be a great match to this job.
Your strengths. What are you very good at? What talents/skills have helped you excel in the past? For more on strengths, see Career Advice: Use Core Strengths.
Align your strengths with all you've learned about the job and the company. Write out several sentences describing how your strengths fit the job needs perfectly. Be able to give examples of past accomplishments that demonstrate your strengths.
Visualize success. Now that you're as mentally prepared as you can be, it's time to bolster your confidence and elevate your energy. Do this with vivid, detailed visualizations of your successful interview. See yourself bonding strongly with the interviewer and notice the interviewer's energy lifting, as he or she quickly begins to shift from questioning you to recruiting you. See yourself confidently responding to questions and easily connecting your strengths and knowledge to the company's needs, concluding with warm handshakes and promises to be back in touch very soon. Replay this visualization several times each day and just before the interview.
If you've followed these eight preparation steps you've done all that you can do to prepare yourself, so relax and let the interview flow.
Related Article: How to Ask Behavioral Interview Questions
Source: This writer's professional experience interviewing job applicants.
