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An interview is any communication between you and a potential employer that could potentially result in a job offer.
How you communicate to an employer is extremely important. It will make or break the decision to hire you or someone else. What and how you communicate will be the deciding factor for hiring and will determine what the employer believes about you. You must be prepared.
Prepared applicants have better interviews and experience easier interviews.
Did you know that there are 2 THINGS MORE IMPORTANT to an employer than quality and quantity of work? You cannot interview well until you know what they are. Don't go on until you do know: Employment Secrets!
Employment professionals report that most employers make up their mind within 6 seconds. There are several 6 seconds opportunities to have the employer decide to hire you: First contact. Introduction to the interview. Closing the interview. And following up after the interview, even if you have been told that they have decided to hire someone else.
During an interview, the most important thing is confidence. Confidence is contagious; lack of confidence is disastrous. If you are confident that you are the best applicant for that employer for the job, the employer will probably believe it also, and you will experience easy interviews. If you believe that you are not the best applicant possible, the employer will also believe it and easy interviews will be few and far between. What you believe about yourself is almost always what the employer believes about you. That being the case, it is extremely important to make sure you are in a good frame of mind before you ever start an interview. That comes only as a result of good preparation and practicing better interviews.
Before you ever interview with an employer, you should complete a number of preparation steps. In providing services to my clients, I have developed a checklist for the services that most people will need to receive before they are ready to interview. Here is my checklist:
1. Write a complete chronological list of all of your jobs, paid or not.
2. For each job, answer this question as many times as you can and as thoroughly as you can: what good things might somebody remember about you there? For each good thing that you can think of, answer the following questions:
. . a. How do you know that someone thought that you did something well? (Who said it?; Was a certificate were award involved?; Did you get a bonus or raise?; Or do you have a letter of recommendation?)
. . b. Can you quantify how good of the thing it was? (Was there a dollar amount attached?; If you improved something, how much was an improved - dollars or percent; Or how many people benefited?) (When using numbers, it is best to avoid numbers that end in zero, 5, or even numbers, as all of those numbers sound like a guess and are routinely discounted. For instance, if someone says that they increased sales by 15%, it will probably be rounded down to about 9 or 10; however, if they say they increased sales by 13%, it would probably be accepted at face value - 13%.)
. . c. Can you identify what was the result of the good thing you did? For example, the company could have had the best quarter ever directly as a result of a suggestion you made to improve production or services.
3. Now go back over your list of good things you have accomplished. Identify the ones that are the most impressive. Really work on the statements about each of those impressive accomplishments, polishing them like a gemstone. It should take at least three revisions. This is the primary ammunition you will use to interview well. It will make your next employer see the quality of an employee you were, are, and will be. Spend a significant amount of time polishing these accomplishment statements. Practice saying them until they become second nature. You will use these in every kind of interview you can imagine, formal or informal, during first contact, on resumes and cover letters. They will make you interview better, give you easier interviews and better interviews, and lower stress during interviews.
Need help developing or polishing your accomplishment list? Coach Paul can personally assist you.
4. Now that you have your accomplishment statements thoroughly polished, write up a short story for each statement that illustrates how each accomplishment occurred, and how it benefited your employer. Each story should take between 15 and 90 seconds. The story must be in writing because now you have to polish the story. One red-flag word in the middle of the story can cost you a job offer. There are some words that should never be used during an interview. The word "No" should never come out of your lips during an interview. Even if someone asks you if you have a problem with substance abuse, choose a different expression. "Absolutely not!", or "Never!" are much better to use. Examine each story for any possible negative connotation that somebody might be able to put into your story. I kid you not; one unpolished or unpracticed slip of the tongue, can cost you a very good job.
5. Obtain a list of common interview questions. These will be quite generic, and are questions that could be asked of any applicant in any field for any job. Most employers are looking more for the soft job skills than the specialty skills of your particular trade. For years I have been using a list of 12 questions that I obtained from the California employment office from one of their discontinued publications. These 12 questions, well thought through and practiced, can answer almost any of the other questions found on lists of 10 to 200 questions that I have found in all types of employment advice columns, books, and web sites. Here are the 12 questions:
Twelve QuestionsWhat we need to do for each of these question is write down the best answer for YOU. Please do not use any answers that are "the perfect answer" for any of these questions. We all can recognize a canned sales pitch when we hear it; so can an employment interviewer. Take the time to answer each of these questions about you, making sure that each answer presents the truth in the very best light possible. Make sure that none of your answers imply that any of your previous employers were less than wonderful.
6. Now practice your answers verbally. Have someone read the interview question, and you provide the answer in a relaxed, unhurried, manner. Smile when you talk to the boss. Convey confidence. Once you have practiced enough so that you can answer all of the questions without hesitating or stammering, you can change the wording slightly because you thoroughly understand and know the answers, not just have them memorized.
7. Videotape some practice interviews. (It takes more than a mirror to get a good look at yourself.) The video recording should be started before you walk in the room. Complete the full practice interview prior to reviewing the recording.
8. Review the recorded interview. For the first review turn the sound off. Since most employers make up their mind within 6 seconds of first contact, you will want to review how you walked into the interview room and how you performed at the the 6-10 seconds spot, the 30 second spot, and again at the 3 minute mark. Pause the tape at each spot and ask yourself whether you would hire yourself or not. If the answer is "no" at any time, you need to work on your accomplishment statements, accompanying stories, and have more practice.
As you review your recording, pay close attention to things like the clothes you wear, your grooming and hygiene, your posture, the gestures you use or do not use. These are the nonverbals that you can control in an interview. Since about 80% of all communication is nonverbal, it is extremely important to pay attention to these things.
After you review the recorded interview without the sound on, review it with the sound on.
Pause the tape at each spot and ask yourself whether you would hire yourself or not. If the answer is "no" at any time, you need to work on your accomplishment statements, accompanying stories, and have more practice.
Take notes on how you're doing. Note anything that you notice needs to be improved. Ask for feedback from others on how they think you did in this practice interview. Ask them to be totally honest; this is not the time to be diplomatic. Sometimes it makes it easier if they first tell you what you did well, then the items that still need improvement. Ask someone to give you a one-word adjective that describes what they see in you as a potential employee.
9. Once your practice interviews are of sufficient quality that you feel comfortable talking to employers, it is time to schedule some interviews. During your interviews, try not to focus so much on how well you're interviewing; concentrate on answering the questions your interviewer is asking. At the conclusion of each of your interviews, you should review how well you did. Make notes of anything that you forgot even though you had practiced, then practice those items even more. If you run into new questions that you haven't thought about or couldn't answer, take the time to study how you can answer those questions better. (Need help?)
Interviewing is a continual improvement process. Make sure you practice, practice, practice, practice.