Beginning this Wednesday, I will be addressing various interview questions on a weekly basis. My goal is to combine written advice with walk-through videos discussing things difficult to capture in text when discussing interview questions.
Before we begin though, it will be important to go over some key concepts that will follow us throughout the questions we will ponder.
Practice Interview Questions
Getting better at answering interview questions will often come down to how much you practice answering those questions. The process of practicing will generally include three areas.
1. Answering standard interview questions.
2. Answering behavioral/story related questions.
3. Practicing your tone/flow/voice mannerisms.
The best types of practice should recreate as much of the process as possible. If you don’t have a friend available, ask yourself questions while looking in the mirror. Make sure you are sitting down, as most interviews will take place with you seated. It also may be a good idea to record yourself answering questions, just to check on things like voice volume.
Be Confident During Your Job Interview
During your job interview, confidence should be shown in two ways. First, through your actual answers. You need to have done the research, and made time for practice – but if you did, your answers should show how much you know and leave no doubts for the employers. The second way you’ll show confidence, is through everything besides your answers. Your body language needs to show enthusiasm and confidence first and foremost. The employers will of course notice this before hearing your first answer.
A job interview is not the time to be timid, bashful, or modest. A job interview is your opportunity to say why you should be hired over anyone else who applies. In fact, a study was done by the University of British Columbia that found “narcissistic applicants are more successful in job interviews than equally qualified candidates who act more modestly.”
Be A People Person
Your resume will end up telling a lot of your story to a potential employer. The interview is really where you close the book on who you really are. From your resume an employer can see who you’ve worked for, where you went to school, what you learned, and your basic marketable skill set. Based off of this information, and maybe some references too, they can develop an overall picture of who you are as a worker. So then what is the interview for anyways?
As I mentioned, the interview gives you the opportunity to explain things from your resume that will fill in the employer about how you can help their company. But what an interview is really for, is seeing what kind of person you are. Each person’s expectations and wants/needs list will be different, but you must think on your feet! You need to be able to read someone adeptly and quickly enough to get a feel for what type of person they are. Now you of course won’t know their whole life story, but it will be important to get a general impression. If you’ll be working full time, that means 40 hours per week. For some people, they may spend more time with co-workers than family and friends. People will generally hire people that are nice to be around for extended periods of time.
In Conclusion
This is of course just the beginning of the information we hope to provide for you, the job-seeker. Check back here on a weekly basis to view our new interview question beginning on Wednesday. Please send any interview questions you’d like discussed to hirepowersnet@gmail.com with the subject line “Interview Questions”.