Interview Techniques

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Invest a good deal of time in preparation for your job interviews. Many first-time candidates won't do this and it damages their chances of getting a good position. They think, "Give me a copy of the want ads and I'll find something that will work for me." This attitude is typical of many young people, and its also one of the main reasons that they have trouble finding their first job.

Lack of interviewing smarts is a common area where many potential applicants fail. Many people start off wrong from the very beginning, hunting through ads and sending out dozens of resumes. The winners in the job hunting game don't send out tons of resumes and just hope for a few to yield results. This approach isn't worth your time, money, or effort.

Expert hunters know that you don't just keep firing randomly and hope for one of the bullets to hit a target. You need to target where you send your resume. Do some research about a company before you waste the postage. Determine which companies will be most receptive to your resume, that is your potential market. Now that you've determined your market, define your strategy.

Communicate with potential employers and establish some kind of rapport with them. Having a personal connection with the company will help you decide whether this company is going to work out for you personally as well as professionally. You may not be happy in an all work and no fun environment or you may need to be in a company with a less personal atmosphere. If you think a company/position is going to work out for you then send in your resume and hope for the best.

So you've got your interview scheduled and you now feel pretty on top of things. This is where a lot of people stop. But this is where the real game begins! If you had spent a ton of time wading through job ads you'd be too sick of the process to keep going. But since you've diligently targeted your resumes you should be able to concentrate on the next step, preparing for the face-to-face interviews.

Because we have limited ourselves to a few meaningful interviews, we need to make the most of our competitive skills. Most candidates have a lack of interviewing skills. This gives you an excellent opportunity to best your competition.  While they are busy looking through job ads you can be learning how to lead job interviews instead of just answer questions. Check out a couple books about interviews and interviewing tips from your local library. Believe me, they're worth the time it takes to read them. You can also find a lot of good tips online.

As a result of not preparing many candidates are turned down from positions even though they have excellent credentials. The bottom line: devote much of your time to developing your interviewing strategy as well as rehearsing your performance because this is where most of your competition will fail.