How to Ace Your Next Job Interview

Lynda Spiegel

Career Coach with Job Search Strategies that Get You Hired! Resume + LI Profile Writer l WSJ Expert Panel l Speaker

How To Ace Your Next Job Interview

Feb 8, 2016

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co-authored by Anders Liu-Lindberg and Lynda Spiegel

You’ve made it! You’ve been applying to jobs for which you had a reasonable expectation of being a good fit, yet worried that your resume or cv ended up in a black hole, despite following all the tips you could find on writing applications (like these from one of Anders’ previous posts). Now you’ve finally been called for an interview. You’re feeling pretty good about your chances. After all, who’s going to turn you down once they meet you and see how awesome you are?

Realistically, only one person is going to get the offer, so despite your awesomeness, it might not be you. The first round interview is likely with HR, and you probably are competing with up to ten others. But don’t despair! We suggest the following 9 strategies that will improve your chances of rising to the short list of candidates that essentially come down to the preparation that will build your self-confidence.

If You’re Not Prepared, You Might as Well Stay Home

· Do your due diligence. Research the company in-depth both on its website, but also find out what others are saying. Set up Google Alerts so you’re notified anytime your target company is mentioned in the news, or subscribe to a RSS feed. Be knowledgeable about upcoming projects, initiatives and challenges the company is facing so that you can position your skills as relevant to their needs. Additionally, Glassdoor.com provides feedback from current and former employees about their experiences. Don’t rely on one source; make sure you explore the company from multiple sources.

· Try to identify who will be interviewing you – an in-house recruiter/HR or the hiring manager. The interview that counts is with the hiring manager, but getting past the company’s gatekeeper is a critical first hurdle. The trick to this is to subtly suggest that you have network connections with the hiring manager. You’ll find this out easily by researching on LinkedIn (don’t be concerned that the interviewer sees that you viewed his or her profile; It’s commonplace preparation, but you can always set your profile to anonymous prior to doing your research). Consider getting in touch with the hiring manager prior to the gatekeeper interview to let him or her know that you’ll be interviewing soon. Get yourself on the right person’s radar.

· Prepare your narrative by developing your value proposition/professional branding statement. Introduce yourself, your key strengths and weaknesses, aspects of your experience that you want to focus on, and so forth. Showcase the important details so you can sell yourself with confidence. If you’re stretching yourself too far from the truth the interviewer will most often see right through it and mentally cross you off the short list before the interview has ended! Be ready to respond to the inevitable question, “Do you have any questions for us?” with one or two questions that position you as the ideal candidate. Since you’ve researched upcoming initiatives, ask how the position you’re interviewing for will impact one of those strategic initiatives. Don’t get too rattled by off the wall questions – there are ways to handle those. Check out an earlier post Lynda wrote on how to handle tough interview questions.

Win Them Over With A Smile

· Control your nerves and trust your preparation. Adopt a Zen-like detachment from wanting the job and stay in the moment by focusing on your interaction with the interviewer. Start with a smile and a firm handshake.

· Believe in yourself. Interviewers can smell your fear, so don’t be fearful. View the interview as an interesting interaction between you and the interviewer during which you explain why they should hire you even you’re not an exact match with the job description.

· Expect that you won’t get to finish all your sentences. This is not like an exam in primary school where you could sit in front of the teacher and more or less read up from your notes. This is going to be a back and forth conversation where the interviewer will have just as much to say as you do. You won’t always get your two minutes to finish the self-introduction or explain how you excelled at managing a big account in your previous job. So be ready for a change of pace kind of conversation and while you don’t want to be rude and interrupt the interviewer you should certainly make sure to throw in a question here and there in the middle of the interviewer talking.

· Ask intelligent questions. Asking good questions shows you’ve invested time in preparation, and that preparation is a good indicator of your interest in the job. Here’s what you don’t ask at the first interview: questions about compensation or benefits. Ever. First determine if the company is a good fit for you, just as the interviewer is determining the same.

The Insufferable Wait

· Now comes the worst part: waiting to hear back. Your friends and family will ask you how the interview went, but realistically, you don’t know. You may have felt good about it, but interviewers are practised in not revealing too much up front. There really isn’t much more you can do but to take comfort in the fact that you did your best.

· Email a thank you note. Not just a thank you for the interviewer’s time; reiterate some key points made in the interview. Maybe you learned something new about the company and their challenges for which you want to propose a solution. Mention a key point that you didn’t have time to pose. Keep it short and don’t expect a response. If you don’t hear anything after a week, it’s acceptable to send a follow-up email restating your interest and asking for status of your candidacy. If you’re met by silence after several more weeks, it’s time to move on.

· Start your efforts to land your next interview or if you weren’t actually looking then put all your energy into doing a stellar jobat your current work. Who knows, maybe this is actually where your next great opportunity will come from.

· Landing your next job can be a long and tough journey especially in today’s job market as Anders has previously written, but there are many things you can do to stay in charge of the process; we hope our tips get you off to a good start. We each offer suggestions to other challenges you’ll face in your job search, and we’d love to help! Contact Anders if you are located in EMEA and points east, or Lynda if you are in the U.S. or Canada. We would appreciate a like, comment or share to spread the word. One last thing. Let’s connect and help each other achieving success in our careers!

· If the interviewer is gracious and contacts you to let you know that you didn’t get the job, try to get feedback as to why. This can be difficult as by spilling too much of the wrong feedback can leave the company liable for discrimination in hiring issues, but sometimes you’ll luck out and catch some decent feedback. It’s all good towards being successful next time.

Would you like some help preparing for interviews? I'm Lynda Spiegel, founder of Rising Star Resumes, a career coaching and resume writing service. With 15+ years’ experience as a human resources professional, I leverage my experience to help professionals in a variety of industries achieve their career goals. Bragging rights earned as a Wall Street Journal Expert Panelist. Email or in the U.S. or Canada call (718) 897 – 5074