Expert Interviewing Tips – Part 1

Till now, the hiring manager has just about read your cover letter and has got a fairly good idea about your credentials from your resume. The interview stage is where the recruiter will determine whether or not you are actually suitable for the position, and your role is to impress the employer. A number of styles and techniques will be employed to interview you and it is crucial to your success that you are mentally prepared for anything that comes in the forefront.

1. Self-assessment:
Remember that one of the first things that you should take care of before sitting for an interview, is to understand yourself. It is highly essential that you dedicate a good amount of time to think and to write down your short and long-term goals, as well as your priorities and interests. You need to be absolutely sure that this is what you want and where you want to go. Secondly, be very clear about your capabilities, strengths, and skills. Hiring managers wish to understand to what extent you can contribute to the growth of the company, so you should mentally prepare a list of your abilities which can utilized to add value to the company you are applying for. Understanding yourself will build up enough confidence in you to face the interviewers.

2. Research the company and the position:
To know the company you are interviewing for, is tremendously important not only for the sake of your actual performance but also for building up on your confidence level. You need to do a good amount of research about the company’s goals, business strategies, the requirements of the position being applied for, and so on, in order to enable you to answer questions like ‘Why do you wish to work with us?’ or ‘Why did you chose our company to apply for this position?’. Your knowledge about the company and the position even before you have been hired, would demonstrate your immense interest in the company. Hiring managers will get a feeling of your seriousness and this is when they actually begin to consider hiring you. It is actually a normal human tendency – you are generally more interested in the person who shows interest in you rather than those who don’t. Use this fact to your benefit.

3. Study your resume:
You worked hard to craft a stunning resume and you got the interview call. The next stage is where the actual game starts and you need to do everything within your power to get recruited. Since you did your best to highlight skills and unique abilities on the resume, you have to now support them at the interview. Remember that questions that come from the interviewers are generally based on what you have mentioned on your resume. Before the interview, you must do a thorough study of your resume and try and generate as many questions as possible for you to answer. If there is anything that requires further explanation or discussion, prepare that mentally. Potential employers will want to link the person portrayed in the resume with the one in front of them – that is ‘you’. The worst thing that could happen is if the two don’t match!

Although it may seem to many people, interviewing should by no means be seen as a frightening process. You need to understand the concept in depth, keep your winning cards at hand, and play your role in the best possible manner. Keep visiting our website and we will be back with more interviewing tips every week. We would appreciate your feedback and any suggestions which you could provide on feedback@hound.com.