Corporations are eager to grow, and hiring the right employees is one of the most fundamental ways to achieve that goal. While there is nothing wrong with resumes, there is growing sentiment that it’s an outdated way to represent the skills and talents of a potential employee.
In addition, organizations want to recognize the full potential of individuals, rather than simply judge them based on a first impression.
An interview is an ideal way to know more about the individual and how well they interact with others. It’s easy to see how someone who cannot maintain eye contact and doesn’t dress appropriately for a job interview might not be the best fit for a company’s culture. Furthermore, genuinely understanding more about someone’s strengths and weaknesses make the whole hiring process a lot more effective. Here are some great job interview tips that you should always keep in mind.
It’s A Two Way Street
Interviews can be imposing and intimidating, but at the end of the day, it’s just two people talking. If you can reframe the interview as an actual conversation, you might find the entire experience a lot more comfortable than you expected. There’s also nothing wrong with smiling in an interview, or even the occasional joke. However, be forewarned: Don’t try to be funny. Nothing kills the atmosphere in the room faster than a limp punchline from a forced joke, and it can easily set the rest of the interview off-course. Allow yourself to relax and your natural good-humor will reveal itself when it’s ready.
If you ask intelligent questions about the company, it can tell the interviewer several things. First, some interviewers will be impressed if you know certain aspects of the company already enough to ask about them. Secondly, you’ll let the interviewer know that you are naturally curious. Companies often benefit from hiring independent thinkers. Steve Jobs, one of the most legendary tech entrepreneurs in the world, once said: “It doesn’t make sense to hire smart people and tell them what to do; we hire smart people so they can tell us what to do.”
Getting Too Personal
Interviewers are definitely interested in you, but their interests lie more in how you will provide value to their company. If you are going in-depth about your personal life or bemoaning your last job, it may come across as a little unprofessional. There are questions that will undoubtedly require you to think about your work experience, but that doesn’t mean that you should ramble on about your deepest passions or reflect on the past to the point where the entire conversation has shifted away from the point of the interview.
Another issue that arises when you begin speaking about your personal life is that you might be showing that you can’t focus on the interview. This might lead the interviewer to question your capacity to dedicate yourself to certain tasks or goals, as well. You should be focused on the job, its requirements, and explaining how you are the best person to step into that role.
Understand The Blueprint
There are many different approaches to interviews. Executives and recruiters might switch things up from time to time, but the truth is that there is a general idea of ‘common job questions’ that employers often use, such as, “Why should we hire you?”, “What are your greatest professional strengths?” “What do you consider to be your weaknesses?”. However, delve a little deeper to find out the interview questions that apply to your particular sector. If you fail to prepare, you prepare to fail, and stammering out an ill-conceived answer to a question that caught you off-guard is a sure-fire way to ruin your job prospects.
Practice
The best way to develop your interview technique is to practice it with a friend. It’s even better if they can improvise to keep you on your toes. With practice, you’ll be able to hone in on canned answers to the more common questions and get used to thinking on your feet when you get a question you didn’t expect.
You could also consider recording your practice interview and reviewing it yourself to make sure that your answers are up to scratch. This is a great way to establish which answers need improvement, and which questions have you more stumped than others.
Remember, an interviewer is trying to find out whether you are capable of the job and what aspects of your personality indicate whether you can gel and collaborate well with the other employees. Do not lose sight of that. Keep your answers on-point, speak with confidence, maintain eye contact (without boring a hole into their forehead), and you can look forward to a successful transition to the next chapter of your chosen career path.