Ten Things I Wish I Had Known Before My First Interview  

By Joe Hodowanes
Career Strategy Advisor
www.jmwanes.com

You can increase the probability of being invited back for subsequent interviews and receiving a formal offer by reviewing and practicing these 10 steps:

1. Be prepared.  This cannot be overemphasized.  Your degree of preparation speaks volumes about your interest level and conscientiousness.  In addition to increasing your confidence, solid preparation will help you to give articulate answers and ask pertinent questions.
   
   In order to make the best case for your candidacy for a particular job, you must be prepared with information about yourself and about the job, company and field.  It is difficult to make a case for a match if you only have information about one side of the equation.
   
   
2. Keep this concept firmly in mind: If you don't know your prospective employer's problems, you can't project yourself as the best candidate to solve them.
   
   
3. Interview companies for your job -- don't let them interview you.  In the final analysis, you don't "get a job" -- you "pick one."  For most job seekers, this is an important attitudinal distinction.  Many of us forget that the decision to accept a position is far more critical for us than it is for the employer.  If they make a mistake, they just go through the recruiting process again.  You, on the other hand, have invested an amount of your professional lifetime that is gone forever.  Viewing it that way, your "selection" takes on a different perspective.
   
   
4. Know how to listen.  This is your most valuable interviewing skill.  By listening carefully, you communicate respect.  You can focus single-mindedly on the questions and how they are being asked, as well as any hidden meanings that might exist within them.
   
   
5. Keep interviewing.  Many candidates tend to let up a little on their job search efforts after scheduling one or two interviews.  If you let up and an expected job offer does not materialize for one reason or another, your pipeline is empty.  Weeks could go by before you are able to set up initial interviews with newly targeted companies.  In the meantime, you could face erosion of your precious cash reserves, not to mention your confidence, self-esteem and morale.
   
   
6. Try using props during interviews.  Props are work samples and other documents that display your talents, reveal your style and make you a more memorable candidate.  For instance, fashion models, graphic artists and ad agency people typically present props and portfolios.  And carpenters show "before and after pictures" of recent projects.  Whenever possible, work these props into your discussion, but never force them on the interviewer.
   
   
7. Try to be the last applicant interviewed.  Statistics prove that the person interviewed last has the best chance of being hired.  Why?  Because the last interviewee benefits from all previous applicants seen by the hiring managers, who can then crystallize their thinking and further define the position in their minds.  Of course, you are not aware of this.  You only remember your great interview.  Since you do not want to appear pushy or desperate, you wait as the hiring authority meets other candidates.  But as time goes by, you get further and further away from their new requirements.
   
   When contacted by a company representative setting up an interview, simply ask the available times.  Once you have heard them, select a time that will make you one of the last applicants to be interviewed.  As soon as a firm time is established, start researching the company and analyze what the hiring authority considers important.  You will increase your chances of getting the job and having things go smoothly once you're in the position.
   
   
8. Answer questions candidly and articulately.  Candor creates trust, not suspicion.  A large component of many interview questions is the search for reassurance.  Hiring is difficult and mistakes are costly.  So interviewers crave reassurance that you will fit into their organization and solve the problems you are being hired to address.  They want their confidence level to be raised.
   
   Most us have flat spots in our past, and some of the more successful people among us have been through major failures.  These flat spots and failures can build strong and insightful individuals.  Whether an interviewer sees this depends on how you answer the questions.
   
   
9. Continually build common ground.  When the initial interviewer says you are being advanced to the second interview, try to find out the second interviewer's business philosophy and any other information on that person.  Ask a question like: "Does this person feel the same way about (insert your key issue) as you do?"  This will help you find common ground with your next interviewer.  It would be wise to continue using this technique for each successive interview.
   
   
10. Write down the questions you personally would find most difficult to answer.  Practice answering these questions, using either a video or audio tape player to record what you say.  Listen for ways to make your answers more precise and effective.  Additionally, get 3x5-inch index cards and write out interview questions.
    
11. Place yourself in the interviewer's position.  What kinds of questions would you ask an applicant for this job?  What would you be looking for?  Repeat the process until you are completely comfortable with what you hear.  This flash card and recording process is time-consuming, but it gives you poise and self-assurance.
    
    
12. Don't suffer from negotiating impairment syndrome.  Unfortunately, many job seekers relinquish their negotiating rights for such poor reasons as:

• The company said the salary was nonnegotiable because the starting pay was already budgeted.
• I didn't want to offend my new employer by holding out for more money.  Besides, it seemed to be a fair offer.
• I can't ask for a higher-than-offered salary right now; I just came out of a bad situation (bankruptcy, termination or divorce).
• I'll wait until I've had a chance to prove myself.

      All of these responses have a "yes, but" quality.  For example:

• Yes, I would have negotiated, but I'm currently unemployed.
• I'm a career changer.
• I don't have a college degree.

Job seekers who give "yes, but" excuses for accepting less than they're worth suffer from negotiating impairment syndrome, which is characterized by a discounting or outright denial of opportunities to negotiate for more money.

Remember your last job interview?  Did you leave feeling confident that you would get a call back?  Or did you say to yourself, "I know ... don't call us, we'll call you"?  Follow the above guidelines before you go on your next interview, and you could land the job of your dreams.

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