What To Do When Granted A Job Interview

It is what you have been waiting on – you get a phone call that ACME Company is interested in bringing you in for a face-to-face job interview.  How exciting right?  You have been scouring job boards, making contacts and networking and someone finally saw your resume and BIT the BAIT.

Now it is time for you to turn it ON and turn it UP.  Do NOT, and I mean this, do NOT try and wing it.  It more than likely will not go well for you.  But no worries, GuideStar Professional Connection can give you some quick and tried and true tips to best prepare for your grand showing.

When scheduling the interview make sure you:

1.  Clearly understand the date and time of the interview
2. Possibly receive an itinerary
3. Get directions to the interview location
4. Get the name and working number of the interview contact person
5. Find out who you will interview with
6. Prepare your questions for the interviewer(s) – remember you are interviewing them as much as they are interviewing you.

These are some basic steps you should complete so you show up and SHINE on the day of your interview.  Now you must prepare for the actual interview.  There are a series of steps I typically take to prepare for an interview I want to share with you.

1.  Request an itinerary with a list of interviewers – research the interviewers.  I typically look them up on LinkedIn, see if we have any common contacts and possibly read their resume and background online.
2. No brainer, research the company online.  In this day and age of technology no one should ever go in COLD not knowing anything about the company, what they do, their products, their history and current events.
3. Contact someone at the company you are well acquainted with.  Let them know you plan to interview there and ask them for information about the company such as corporate culture, their impression of the organization and any feedback on the Department you will be interviewing to join.  This can be vital and precious information to learn.
4. Polish up on my responses on typical interview questions to make sure they are rehearsed but not so rehearsed they sound rehearsed.
5. Practice your elevator speech – be able to summarize your experience and resume briefly to the interviewer(s).

Here are some other great tips I found by The Undercover Recruiter.

How do you prepare for an interview?