Job Interview

The job interview is a process in which you control your own destiny. It is your greatest opportunity to prove yourself to a company and show that you are the right person for the position.

The interview is the crucial step in the job search selection process with the highest return on investment. The little time spent interviewing, if successful, has a greater chance of landing you the position than any other step in the job selection process. It is your moment to shine, and you want to be well polished.

I. Job Interview Tips

II. Preparing for the Interview

III. Job Interview Questions

IV. Job Interview Answers

V. First Interview

VI. Second Interview

VII. Unique Types of Interviews

VIII. Job Interview Follow up

IX. Job Interview Help

Some job selection strategies will recommend doing exhaustive research on a job, finding the one that you think would be your dream job. After spending countless hours doing the necessary research and finally understanding more about the job than most of the staff, you are told to go and seek a job interview. Once in the job interview you would clearly be able to impress an interviewer with your knowledge of the job and would theoretically be a great selection.

The best approach is the direct opposite. The research is critical and the interview is critical, but you should reverse the order in which you do them. You should already have the interview scheduled before you go and spend hours doing research on the job. The reason is simple. Why do research and potentially waste your time if the chance exists that you might not even be able to get the interview?

You should already know the type of position that you are interested in and the jobs in certain regions that have those positions. First, try to secure the interview, and then conduct your research. The objective is not to memorize every little fact about the job, but only to have a good general understanding about the job, the job as a whole, and the particular division or department to which you would be applying. The goal is to be able to ask intelligent questions that show you know something about the job and have "done your homework." A bad question asked by someone that has done exhaustive research is much worse than a good question asked by someone that has done minimal research. You aren't getting graded on your research. No test will be asked beyond your ability to carry on a basic conversation.

A great source of job interview information in your research is the internet. First, go to the job website. Look for the programs to be posted and anything else you can quickly determine. Then go to a local newspaper site and read any recent news or articles on the job. Check out their recent job reports and read the message boards where students exchange information on the job. If you have any questions, it might be worthwhile to post a question on there and see if you get any responses. You will be able to find out a lot of background information on their internal culture. Finally, conduct some random searches using a search engine such as www.google.com and see if you can find anything interesting on the Internet. If you can't find something specific about the job, then find what you can about the surrounding area.

All of these sites are great sources of information that you can use for research in the comfort of your home or job. The goal is to find out information that you can translate into questions, such as, "I noticed that your profitability was higher this year than the last. Do you think this was result of your implementation of lean manufacturing?"

Asking these questions will differentiate you from any other interviewers that haven't done any research. Also, just conducting the research isn't enough. You have to know the proper way to use that research. You can know all the facts in the world about a job, but still leave the interview without the interviewer realizing it. But don't use your knowledge as an opportunity to show off. This isn't your chance to regurgitate all of the numbers from last year's stats. You want to come across as well informed, not well rehearsed.

Even if the position that you are interviewing for is a specialist position, such as an engineering draftsman, don't think that knowing a basic surface knowledge about the job is not important. You want to give the interviewer the impression that you care about the entire company, not just that one position. The company's profitability doesn't just affect the CEO. Even the lowliest employee is impacted by the overall business environment and company performance.

Often at the end of a job interview, the question may be asked, "Well, is there anything else that you'd like to know about the job?" This is an excellent opportunity for you to ask a couple of your prepared questions, showing that you are knowledgeable about the job and have done your research.