10 Steps to a
Successful Job Interview
http://www.jobweb.com/Resources/Library/Interviews/10_Steps_to_a_02_01.htm
http://www.jobweb.com/Resources/Library/Interviews/10_Steps_to_a_02_01.htm
- Arrive
on time.
- Introduce
yourself in a courteous manner.
- Read
company materials while you wait.
- Have a
firm handshake.
- Listen.
6.
Use body language to show
interest.
- Smile,
nod, give nonverbal feedback.
- Ask
about the next step in the process.
- Thank
the interviewer.
- Write a
thank-you letter to anyone you have spoken to.
Interviewers' Favorite Questions...and Answers, By Barbara Mulligan
http://www.jobweb.com/Resources/Library/Interviews/Interviewers_92_01.htm
You’re wearing your best interview suit and facing
your best friend, who’s wearing the most inscrutable hiring-manager face she
can muster. You’ve positioned a video camera to record your moves. All is in
place for your mock interview. “Tell me about yourself,” your
friend/interviewer intones, adjusting her glasses and gazing steadily into your
eyes.
What should you tell her? What would you tell a real
recruiter or hiring manager? “Don’t tell me where you were born and raised,”
says F., assistant director of career services at XX University and a veteran
of countless mock interviews with students. “Don’t tell me that you were a
cheerleader. Focus on your academics and experience. Ask yourself,
‘what are the top five things I want this person to know about me?’” F.
says that while many recruiters ask questions that are a bit more pointed than
“tell me about yourself,” it’s still likely to come up in many interviews and
it’s best for students to prepare for it. What other kinds of questions do
recruiters ask?
Following are 10 more, plus ideas for how to answer or
the kinds of competencies the interviewer is seeking, courtesy of F. and three
experienced campus recruiters.
1. What do you see yourself doing 5 years from now?
I want to hear something related to the job,” says
Haley Smith, college relations manager for XXX Co. Inc. in Dallas, Texas. “I
don’t want to hear ‘I want to be an astronaut’ or ‘I want to win the Academy
Award.’” Smith says the question is designed to help the interviewer know if
the job seeker will be happy in that position, or if he or she wants to work in
it only as long as it takes to find something “better.”
2. How do you make yourself indispensable to a
company? “We are looking for
both technical and interpersonal competence,” says D. Brooks, recruiting and
advertising manager for X Co. in S, Washington. Brooks explains that students
who know what working for a company entails answer this question best.
3. What’s your greatest strength? “Don’t just talk about your strength—relate it to the
position,” Ferguson says. “Let them know you are a qualified candidate.”
4. What’s your greatest weakness? “Say something along the lines of, ‘I have difficulty
with this thing, and these are the strategies I use to get around it,” Ferguson
says. “For example, you could say, ‘I’m not the most organized of individuals,
so I always answer my e-mails and phone calls right away. I’m aware of the
problem and I have strategies to deal with it.”
5. Tell me about a time when your course load was
heavy. How did you complete all your work? “We generally are looking for an answer like, ‘Last
semester I was taking 21 credits, so I made sure I had a day planner and mapped
out all my assignments,’” says Felix Martinez, senior staff recruiter at XX in
Illinois. “We’re looking for a plan-ahead kind of individual, not someone who
just flies by the seat of his pants.” Martinez says recruiters at XX use the
STAR method of interviewing, which involves getting the interviewee to describe
a situation that includes a task that needed to be accomplished, the action
taken to accomplish the task, and the result of that action. “We actually tell
the candidate, so they’re aware of what we’re looking for,” he says, adding
that the approach can help candidates focus on their answers.
6. Tell me about a time when you had to accomplish a
task with someone who was particularly difficult to get along with. “I want to hear something that shows the candidate has
the ability to be sensitive to the needs of others but can still influence
them,” XX says, adding that he’s heard plenty of wrong answers to that
question. “Don’t say ‘I just avoided them’ or ‘They made me cry.’”
7. How do you accept direction and, at the same time,
maintain a critical stance regarding your ideas and values? Good interpersonal skills can help you understand how
to walk that fine line.
8. What are some examples of activities and
surroundings that motivate you? “Most of our technical disciplines are teamwork professions &
require getting along with & motivating other people,” Brooks says
9. Tell me how you handled an ethical dilemma. “Suppose you worked at a bank and a long-time customer
wanted a check cashed right away but didn’t have the fund balance in his
account to cover the check,” Martinez says, explaining that if the bank’s
policy prohibited cashing checks in that manner, the teller would have a choice
of violating bank policy or alienating a good customer. M. says the best way to
handle such a situation would be to go to a supervisor, explain the situation,
and ask for advice.
10. Tell me about a time when you had to resolve a
problem with no rules or guidelines in place.
“I’m looking for a sense of urgency in initiating
action,” XX says, explaining that the question probes a student’s ability to
overcome obstacles.
