Saturday, November 14, 2009

Preparing for a Job Interview

Surely, it matters that jobs are increasingly hard to find, but, even if they were plentiful, when you walk into a job interview you must be prepared.

How well or poorly you do depends in large part on how you approach the process. Looking for a job is a job. The people who do best in the process are often the people who have worked at it the hardest.

When it comes to the job hunt your youthful insouciance is not your friend. Often when you do not work hard enough what you think of as a cool and calm demeanor will look like: I don't give a damn; or else, I'm too good for this job.

You want to look confident and in control, but that can never happen if you decide to go into the interview unprepared, thinking that you can wing it.

I may be exaggerating somewhat when I say that when it comes to a job interview there is no such thing as over-preparation. At the least, the greatest risk is not that you over-prepare, but that you under-prepare and appear not to be taking the process seriously.

If you do not take the interview seriously, your interviewer will not take you seriously.

So, I have tried on this blog to provide my own advice on how to prepare for an interview, coupled with links to other articles and posts on the topic. Link here.

Today I am linking yet another article on what can go wrong in a job interview, coupled with some advice about how to make things go right for you. It's from the Wall Street Journal, so, in principle, it should be taken seriously. Link here.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Know your strengths and weaknesses. Think of how your skills or personality can benefit the company, and reveal them when you get the chance. This is one of the keys to success when preparing for a job interview.