The job market is very competitive out there. With the influx of people searching for new opportunities, professionals underemployed since the Great Recession a few years ago it really requires everyone to bring their A game.
Bringing the A requires many things including:
- Preparation
- Sense of self
- Setting the bar
Let’s talk about these shall we?
Preparation
It isn’t enough to have a lackluster resume you whipped up in 5 minutes and call yourself prepared. If you are fortunate enough to be called in for an interview it is in your best interest to bring your best game all the time, every time. Make sure you Google the company prior to your big day. Note any key and current achievements or newsworthy event. Formulate some questions about them to ask when it is your turn to ask questions – remember this is your opportunity to learn as much about the company as much as they are trying to learn about you. It is a 2-way street.
Come dressed to impress. Yeah I know this term is cliché but the sentiment isn’t. If you are unsure of what to wear, go conservative and ask for forgiveness later. Make sure your personal appearance is neat and well kept. Do your best to thwart runs in your pantyhose that are visible or underarm sweat stains. You get the drift. Look polished.
Sense of self
Be sure you have a good command of what you do well and areas you are currently working to improve. Just showing up and hemming and hawing is not enough and will have the interviewer thinking about what they are eating for dinner that evening. You want them to meet you and leave with a sense of who you are and the value you have to offer their organization. That comes with self-confidence. By all means PLEASE do not get in their being cocky and overstating your accomplishments. No one likes a boaster or bragger but definitely know what you can do and make sure that exudes in the interview. Interviewers can smell a timid person a mile away and some will use that chance to eat them alive. Don’t get eaten!
Setting the bar
No matter where you go or who meets you during the interview process, set the standard the other candidates have to compete to challenge. Don’t make it easy for anyone else the interviewer sees. Be thoughtful with your response to their questions, be genuinely interested in what the interviewer is saying, calm your nerves and be natural and be sure to look your interviewer in the eye and provide them with a self-confident smile and attitude that makes you endearing. AND if you are highly knowledgeable in the subject matter or their business practices – you will have them eating of your hands…trust me. I know this from experience. Do what others won’t or don’t do to stand out like follow up after the interview with a Thank You letter. If you have been reading this blog regularly you KNOW how strongly I feel about that.
It is tough out there and competition is stiff. It is up to you to figure out the best way to stand out from the crowd so you are chosen. Even if you do not think you are interested in the job or company – you can’t turn down an offer you never received so see everything through to the end and leave yourself with options and that is when you know you gave your A game.
Happy job hunting!
