First things first: If you landed a job interview then take a moment to celebrate! Now, don’t go overboard, as you’ll want to be sharp when it’s time for your interview. Remember that fortune favors the prepared. If you utilize the following three interview tips then you’re setting yourself up for success.
Interview Tip #1: Perform Your Due Diligence
Companies love to boast about their culture these days, and why shouldn’t they, as a positive company culture creates lower turnover, and better team chemistry. This means that hiring managers not only have some pride in the culture they’ve created, but they’re protective of it, and seek employees who will embrace it.
How to prepare for an interview: Check a company’s website and social media
The first place to start is the company’s website; specifically their “About Us” page. This will provide an overview. If you want to learn about what a company is into right now, check their most recent social media posts. Click the “News” tab on Google when you type in the company’s name to search.
There are several ways to use this research, and while it’s great if you can manage to bring up what you learned organically, be sure to give the company a plug as to why you want to work there. Bringing up a story you saw on their social media, an article on their website or even a tagline that they always use shows you’ve done your homework.
How to prepare for an interview: Research your interviewers
You should also perform research on the person or people that you’re interviewing with. A good place to start, again, is the company’s website. Look for staff bio’s of their employees or senior leadership. Another interview tip is to use social media, such as twitter and LinkedIn to learn about your interviewers. Don’t worry about the fact that they’ll be able to see that you looked. Interviewers expect this (just don’t ask them to connect until after a decision has been made).
Use this information to connect on something personal or a mutually shared professional relationship from your past.
Interview Tip #2: Prepare Actual Scenarios
There are scores of Interview Q&A articles out there. Without being telepathic, you cannot know exactly which interview questions your interviewer will choose. In fact, good interviewers pride themselves on preparing unorthodox questions in order to get authentic responses from candidates.
No matter what questions they fire your way, we guarantee they will want tangible examples from your education or work history that illustrate the skills they seek.
How to prepare for an interview: Show, don’t tell (give examples)
The old adage is true: show, don’t tell. To say “I’m very organized,” isn’t showing the interviewer anything. Rather, telling a story, such as describing how you organize information and how your organization saved a project, you deliver a powerful message about your organizational skills.
The same is true for conflict. Interviewers will want to know how you go about conflict resolution. By telling a story about a problem that arose, how you were able to compromise or work with your team to solve the problem, shows that you can work under strain.
Again, fortune favors the prepared, and a big reason for that is that familiarity with the company and its people will give you confidence. This way, you’re not walking into a mysterious environment to have an important conversation with a total stranger.
Interview Tip # 3: Prepare Your Own List of Interview Questions
One unanticipated result of strong interview preparation is that you might determine that you don’t want the job. You should prepare for that exact scenario, and the best way to do that is come to your interview with questions that really probe them. AMS encourages these kinds of questions, as they have a secondary effect of impressing the interviewer
How to prepare for an interview: Don’t ask cookie-cutter questions
A good interviewer will leave time at the end for Q&A (if they don’t, perhaps they don’t value your questions), and this is your chance to test the waters and decide if you really want to work there. So make a list of what you want out of this job, and then think of a question that will answer if what you want is what is provided. We’ll break it down below:
What you want: It’s important that I have room for advancement.
Interview question to ask: What is the pathway to senior leadership for my position?
What you want: My goal is to become a marketing expert.
Interview question to ask: What kind of training and resources do you provide for this position?
What you want: I value a team that is close and has fun.
Interview question to ask: What type of company outings, get-togethers or team building activities have you done recently?
How to prepare for an interview: List 5-10 interview questions
Notice how all of these questions are open ended? Serving up questions with “yes” and “no” answers is conveying that you’re not that interested, and you won’t learn as much. But be careful not to waste your time by coming up with more than 5-10 questions, as you likely won’t have time to ask all of them.
In fact, that’s what you should hope for, as one question could lead to an entire conversation. That means you should be prepared to think on your feet, and ask follow up questions. Not only do you gain more insight, but you show that you’re listening, as you respond to the interviewer’s answers.
Preparing for a job interview is a tough process, but if you follow interview tips such as performing your due diligence, preparing scenario stories and a list of interview questions then you’re in a great position to land the job. As always, trust your professional staffing agency, AMS Staffing, to provide the newest job listings available in your area today!
