If you are called in for a job interview, you have a unique opportunity to showcase your skills, personality, and training. In theory, an interview is your chance to persuade an employer to hire you instead of any of the other candidates for the position. If this is a position that you really want, it is important to make certain that you do as many things right as possible to increase the odds of being hired. A few tips for interviewing may help you overcome any competition that you face for the job.
Focus on weaknesses in your work history when preparing for the interview questions.
While you never want to focus on your weaknesses during an interview, you need to be prepared to answer questions regarding them in the interview. Being ready with answers will allow to respond more completely and keep you from becoming rattled by the questions. Items like gaps in your work history or too many short-term jobs will often be probed in an interview. You also need to be ready to justify why you left some jobs.
Keep a positive appearance going.
This does not mean a perpetual smile. While smiling is a good thing, it may not always be appropriate depending on the topic being discussed. However, you should stay focused and interested about each step of the process. Work hard to keep from appearing stumped by questions. If you need some additional guidance to answer a question, avoid frowning and just ask for the question to be rephrased. Interviewers know that some questions can be a bit ambiguous and may need to be clarified for a good answer.
Do not become too relaxed with your posture.
A job interview is not the time to sit back and put your feet up. Sit upright and lean slightly forward toward the interviewer. This will allow you a better opportunity for eye contact. You will appear engaged in the conversation. By leaning toward the other person, you lessen the distance between you. This will often shift the body language advantage to you if the interviewer has issues with needing a lot of person space.
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Offer to shake hands at the beginning and end of the meeting.
Provided that you are not in possession of a dead-fish handshake, this will give the interviewer a positive image of you at the start and end of your time together. Always be aware that not everyone likes a handshake. So, offer the handshake at the beginning. If it is declined or half-hearted, forego a handshake at the end unless your host offers first.
Try to not focus too much on money and benefits.
Everyone expects to get paid for working and would like a nice benefit package. While these types of questions are appropriate at a job interview, too much emphasis on them is considered a negative during an interview. Hold these questions until near the end of the interview. If they are not covered by the end, you can include them in with other questions that you may have about the company or the position.
Do not give too much information in your answers.
When you talk too much in an interview, it is easy to introduce topics that will work against you. Give concise but relatively complete responses. If more information is desired, more questions can be asked.
Stay away from your personal life as a topic.
Keep your romantic life, drinking habits, and other tidbits of personal information to yourself. Even if the interviewer is entertaining you with his or her own personal adventures, refrain from reciprocating unless it matters to your potential new position. If these topics do not hurt you in the interview, they may come back to bite you after you are hired.
Thank the interviewer for his or her time.
The person interviewing you is investing an hour or more of time to talk to you. There is the time required to read your application and other information before the interview. The interview itself. After the interview, additional notes have to be made about the outcome of the interview along with hiring recommendations based on the discussions with you. Make sure that you tell the person that the time invested by them in the interview is appreciated. Remember that the individual in front of you may not have the power to hire you, but they almost always have the power to keep your information from getting to the people who do.
Read also: Best Practices for a Job Interview
Extra: What to bring to your job interview
(Surce Contessa)
Thanks for readin and best of luck!
Jake