Job Interview Tips

Do Your Research

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Once you have a phone screen or in person interview scheduled with a company, research that company!

1. What is the companies product(s)?
2. Who are their competitors?
3. What makes this company unique? What are they proud of? What is their selling "pitch"?
4. Company history
5. Press releases and news articles

Be prepared to explain what it is about the company that appeals to you, and why that inspires you to want to work there.

Interview Questions

Be prepared to answer some of the more common questions...

Why did you leave X job?
What did you do between X job and Y job. You have an 8 month gap on your resume.
Why do you want to work here?
What are your salary expecations?
When would you be able to start?
What are your strengths?
What are your weaknesses?
What is your management style?
How do you like to be managed?

Phone Interview Tips

• Do not let your children answer the phone during your job search. They may not take a message in the appropriate way.
• Screen your calls. Let your voicemail answer your calls, even when you are home. Why? If a recruiter calls from a company, they may want to do a phone interview with your right then and there. You will be caught off-guard, and you may need to do your research prior to the interview. If you screen your calls, you can do your research and then return the call to either do the interview at that time, or schedule a day and time for the interview.
• Make sure your voicemail sounds professional. Do not have your cute kid leave the voicemail. Do not have music playing in the background.
• When you have the phone interview, make sure your family will NOT interrupt you for any reason.?
• Do not have barking dogs, music, children or any other distracting noise in the background.
• Be prepared to discuss your salary expectations.
• Do not use a cell phone or cordless phone. You may have bad reception, or lose electricity. This happened to my friend Michelle. It was stormy and her block lost electricity right in the middle of her phone interview (using a cordless phone). Phones with cords are very cheap, and you can buy them at any Wal-Mart. It is worth your investment.

How To Dress ( for your on-site interview)

Ask the recruiter or interview coodinator what is the most appropriate dress for that company culture. I always recommend...DRESS TO IMPRESS! At a lot of companies, someone interviewing for an engineering could get away with dressing very casual. In fact, if they wore a suit to a very progressive company in Silicon Valley, the interviewers may just to the conclusion that person is not a cultural fit...too conservative...not creative enough.

Interview attire should be based on company culture and position. If you are in sales, you should always wear a suit. If you are an engineer, nice slacks and a button up shirt is good. If you work in finance, HR, IT, at the very least, dress slack and button up shirt for men and dress slacks or skirt and nice blouse or sweater for women.

What to Bring

• Extra copies of your resume (10 copies), in case you have 10 interviewers.
• Reference list to give to the recruiter or hiring manager. Include name, phone, email, their work relationship to you, their title at that time.
• Detailed information of every place you have worked. You might fill out a company application (even if you have a resume), and you will need to know specific dates worked, supervisors name, supervisors phone number, etc.
• Breath mints. A small note pad to write down the name and email of each interviewer if they do not have a business card handy.
• Directions to the interview location.
• A contact phone number, in case you get lost, stuck in traffic, etc. Don't forget your charged cell phone.

Interview Thank-You Letter

Be sure to either mail or email a thank-you letter to each person who interviewed you. Need ideas for your thank-you notes? Thank-you-note-samples.com gives some great templates and suggestions!