Once you get the call for the interview, the next thing that you should do is prepare for it.
You can never be over prepared for an interview. The more prepared you are, the harder it’ll be to make mistakes. It’s best to prepare yourself emotionally as well as intellectually for an interview.
Giving a great interview isn’t as hard as some may think, but not as easy as others do either. Here are a few things that must be done in order to prepare for your next interview.
Remember, during an interview, you’re a salesman. You’re there to sell yourself to your prospective employer.
You also want to market yourself in the most interesting way possible. Great preparation for the interview is your best bet. A salesman that is knowledgeable, friendly and positive almost always gets the close.
Do Your Research
It does not matter how much knowledge or experience you have about the position that you’re trying to get in a company if you do not have a clue who the company is or what they do. It’s disastrous to enter into an interview and not be able to tell your interviewer what their company is about.
How else are you going to tell them why you feel that you would be a good addition to their company?
A good and less time consuming way to get to know about a company is to visit their web site.
You can get all of the general knowledge about them in that way, including the names of key people and their job titles. More on that in a minute.
You need to sift through most of their web pages, including the pages that show samples of their work and/or products.
You may also look them up in the media files if there are any. Read the articles about them and absorb as much information abot them as possible.
Another thing that would be useful is to check out the area surrounding the company. It makes for a nice breaker during the interview. You can make a comment about a particular monument or resting place nearby.
A trickier method to get a little extra information about the company is to call them on the telephone and ask some general questions, without referring to yourself as a potential employee. It is a nice way to get the goods on upcoming promotions, etc..
Know Your Contact
When called for an interview, ask to whom you’ll be talking to. It’s nice to be able to greet your interviewer by name at the beginning of the interview without first being told who they are. It shows that you’re on top of things, and have prepared before hand.
You’ll also want to do some research on the person who will be conducting your interview. Learn what they do for the company and try to get some samples of their work or achievements within the company.
If you know what department you’re going to work in, you may want to get the names of your potential colleagues and superiors prior to the interview as well. This way you may get some information about their roles in the company and the types of work that they’ve done.
Mention some of the things that you have learned about your potential colleagues in the interview and about how much you look forward to working with them in the coming future. If you can, try to give an example of their work so that you will appear to be more sincere.
Now read more about Job Interview Preparation.
