New Year, New Interviewing Skills
Recently I taped a segment for an upcoming HGTV show. The focus – interviewing successfully. It seems that this economy is requiring all of us to become interview pros. With a plethora of candidates to choose from, hiring managers are looking for reasons to weed people out.
To avoid this fate, it’s imperative that you Soul Search, Research and Job Search before your next interview. If you do, you’ll not only have more job offers but have more fun interviewing! Yes, fun!
Follow these tips to get beyond the interview and land the job:
-Soul Search and go after jobs that fit. Most people check the want ads or online job boards and choose positions that fit their past experience. But what if you didn’t like your last job(s)? If your heart’s not into it, don’t even waste the interviewer’s time. Spend that time instead on making a list of the skills you have that you WANT to utilize and the industries or fields that are of truly of interest. Even if you haven’t worked in a particular field before your skills can transfer so don’t be afraid to go after what you want. Not sure where to start? Try the Occupational Outlook Handbook which lists various careers across various industries!
-Research to target the right employers and positions. It sounds difficult but finding employers in a given field can be as easy as an internet search. Online job board Indeed.com lists job openings by industry as well as by location so you can see which industries are hiring and where. Once you’ve found a potential employer go to their website and learn as much as you can about the products/services they make, the # of employees, how long they’ve been in business, recent news about them and corporate goals and objectives. This will help you not only target the right employers for you but also help you answer the dreaded interview question – What can you tell us about our company?
-Job Search with the right attitude. It’s not enough to just dress the part, have a copy of your resume, be on time and prepared for the standard “why should I hire you” question. You’ll need the attitude “x factor” to land the job. That means, being someone the interviewer wants to work with and better yet, someone the interview can’t imagine not having on the team. To do that takes presence. You need to relax in the interview and approach the situation as if you’re making a new friend – a friend you’ll want to keep whether or not you get the job. Understand your “new friend’s” biggest challenge that he/she would most like the person hired into this position to solve. Offer ideas and support to the interviewer (and even follow-up with relevant articles) on that problem to demonstrate that you are already a resource even before being hired.
By Soul Searching, Researching and Job Searching you can get better interview results and not only land a job but also a job you can be excited about! With the Wall Street Journal recently reporting record job dissatisfaction, it’s time we all did our part to reverse this disturbing trend!
Share your favorite interview tips below and post any questions you have about how to interview effectively. You can also check out my free video on How to Ace the Job Interview. I look forward to your comments! You can also tune in live Tuesday Jan 12th at 3:30pm EST to SIRIUS 112 / XM 157 where I’ll be answering career questions live at 1-866-675-6675!