Videos 11 Tips for Limiting Mistakes During Job Interviews
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Making a good impression on an interview requires knowing how to keep the mistakes to a minimum; the following steps are aimed at helping you avoid the most common mistakes and to use this knowledge to your best advantage.
Steps
- Read the company's or organization's annual report and related documents. Know all about their latest ventures, financial situation, philanthropic endeavors, awards and achievements. In particular, know what they expect from staff and how they reward high performing staff.
- Do a search online for the company or organization. Few businesses stay offline, so even if it's just a Facebook page, you can find out information about your potential employer. Read through the website or related pages and soak up everything you can.
- Be knowledgeable about the company's or organization's products and/or services, expertise, and milestones. If there is a long history, read up on it.
- Avoid rote learning company facts. They don't want facts recited back at them; as you learn, think about how your job skills will match what you've learned and what you can do to help the company or organization achieve more of the goals its aiming for.
- Ensure that all documents produced by you are well typed, free of typos and organized.
- Carry everything in an ordered file or folder; this neatness and organization already reveals the level of your professionalism when the interviewer sees you refer to it or hand documents to them from it.
- Keep a pen, small notepad and a flash drive with your important documents in it in case they want a soft copy of anything.
- Take some time before the interview to run through some "practice questions." Plan to have specific examples of past challenges and successes you had, and gear your answer towards the job for which you are applying. For instance, if you are interviewing for a management position, be prepared to give examples on how you motivated people, or effectively led a group of individuals to achieve company objectives.
- For men: wear professional suits, slacks, and a formal shirt. Make sure your socks match your pants; alternately, match your shoe color.
- For women: Wear a suit with either pants or skirts.
- Don't neglect the shoes. People do look! Make sure they're polished and match the outfit.
- Use excellent grooming - comb or brush your hair neatly, clean your teeth, all the usual things your mom taught you.
- You may be the best in your field but also least punctual person in your region. However, your employer doesn't need to know this yet. If you do have a problem with always been late, raise this with your boss after you've landed the job and work out special dispensations for your night owl tendencies then. Societies that value punctuality do not place talent before being on time, so don't push your luck by being late to the interview.
- Always bear in mind that you're human and your interviewers are too. And basically, humans want to get along with one another. So, being affable and likable is a big part of selling yourself; your interviewers are trying to see if you are someone who will "fit in".
- If you don't know something technical, answer confidently that that area is not your field of expertise and you would like to gain knowledge on that in future.
- Answer all the questions politely and take notes if required.
- What are your strengths and weaknesses?
- Why do you think they should hire you? Tell them something unique about yourself.
- Why did you leave your previous job? What went wrong? Read How to answer an interview question about your previous job and How to answer an interview question about why you left a job for more information.
- Read How to answer ethical interview questions for details on curly question answers.
- Read How to answer a team player interview question for information on how to show your potential new employers that you are a team player.
- Read How to answer behavioral interview questions for details on these tricky queries.
- More ideas for great answers can be found in How to answer tricky interview questions, How to answer tough interview questions, and last but not least, How to answer a weird and wacky interview question.
- Remember not to brag or show off as it might kill the entire mood.
- And definitely don't roll your eyes and launch into a completely negative explanation about how your previous boss and co-workers were the worst so-and-so's you've ever had the misfortune to know; nobody will employ someone who is both so negative and so ready to dump on others!
Video
Tips
- Always have a good night's sleep before the interview day. Many times people get tense and can’t sleep properly. This will affect your concentration and ability to focus on the questions being asked, especially more conceptually driven ones.
- Keep your important papers and clothes ready well beforehand. You don’t want to waste your time on the interview day looking for what to wear. If you're attending a lot of interviews, have a special interview outfit set aside in the wardrobe and have it cleaned regularly.
- Without fail, always aim to arrive early; arriving before the specified time allows for hitches and nerves to be dealt with. Bad traffic and limited space in parking lot might kill your time and you have to be on time for the interview; running will leave you out of breath and filled with nerves.
- Never forget to turn off your cell phone. It is extremely rude and unprofessional when your phone rings or even vibrates in the middle of an interview. If you don't know how to turn it off, leave it in your car or pull the battery.
- Prep yourself well about the company and why you want this job. Interviewers usually ask what makes you think you are the right person to be hired. This cliched question should be answered originally though – you have to be very smart in answering it well and to link your wants to those of the company. It’s not only about your technical knowledge but also about your character, personality, leadership quality and your level of motivating both yourself and others.
- Don’t take rejection personally. Be professional and thank them for giving you the opportunity to interview you. Try to learn from your mistakes and each time you will do better than the last one. In some cases, you might be their second choice and for some reason, choice number one declines the offer. Courtesy extended during and after the interview will pay off big time here.
- Always answer every question. If the interviewers ask several questions in rapid succession, use your pen and paper to jot down the questions, then go back and answer them. This shows thoroughness and attention to detail - both highly desired traits.
- You are being evaluated from the time you set foot on the prospective-employer's property until you leave. Act accordingly.
- Some interviewers ask questions that reveal how you think. The answer may take hours or days to develop - they do not expect you to "know" the answer, but they do want to know how you would start solving the problem. "I don't know" is clearly the wrong answer here and should be avoided. If you don't know how to begin, jot down the question, tell the interviewers you'll think about it, meanwhile continue with the interview and let your subconscious work on it while you answer other questions. This shows the ability to multitask. When you have some thoughts about the question, revisit the question when there is a pause in the interview, or when they ask you if you have any questions. This demonstrates throroughness and organization.
Warnings
- If you're taking a group or panel interview, it is possible that one of them is going to play the difficult interviewer. This person might ask questions to puzzle you. Don’t be nervous and answer them politely and realize that there are deliberate reasons for the different interviewing styles before you. On the whole, interviewers try this technique to check how well you can handle reacting under pressure and to difficult scenarios.
- Sometimes interviewers take a break during the interview. Make use of that time and talk about something interesting like the economy or international relations. Show them your diversified knowledge on current world affairs. Don't simply sit there and twiddle your thumbs or complain about how this is costing you time to get back to your current job.
Things You'll Need
- Professional clothing
- Professional folder or file for carrying copies of everything relevant, such as extra copies of resume and extra copies of references
- Pen, notepad, flash drive
- Floss – a last minute check of the teeth can save an ugly smile!
- Address and phone numbers of the interview unless you already know it by heart or experience; nerves can cause you to forget otherwise
- Online research ability, company prospectuses, annual reports, etc.
Related wikiHows
- How to Make a Good Impression at a First Job Interview
- How to Prepare for a Behavioral Interview
- How to Go to an Interview
- How to Open an Interview
- How to Write an Interview Thank You Note
Article Tools
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