Ace Your Next Job Interview - CareerAlley

Ace Your Next Job Interview - CareerAlley We may receive compensation when you click on links to products from our partners. When it comes to feeling nervous during a one-on-one conversation, interviewing for a new job ranks up there with going out on a first date. Part of the reason you might feel nervous during job interviews is the fact that you generally dont know what to expect during the interviews. Learn how to identify interview traps and you can make the job interviews more relaxing and economically rewarding. Youve probably heard it said several times already. Maybe your parents or grandparents told you that the way you dress can cause people to perceive you in certain ways, right or wrong. Its no different when you go on a job interview. As a tip, dress in business attire (e.g. clean suit). However, some employers may permit you to dress more casually. What you dont want to do is to dress provocatively or too casually. If youre ever uncertain about what to wear to a job interview, ask the recruiter who scheduled your interview whether you should dress in business attire or business casual. This goes without saying. Arrive to the job interview 15 minutes early. You never know; you might need the extra time to find a parking spot. Greet the interviewer with an authentic smile and a confident handshake. Look the person who is interviewing you in the eye when you meet her, but avoid staring. As tempting as it might be to ask about a companys time off and benefits policies (e.g. sick days, vacation days, retirement plans), avoid doing so. Keep in mind that your earliest questions may be perceived as topics youre most concerned about when considering the job. That said, if the interviewer communicates the companys time off policies with you, feel free to ask one to two questions about the policies that the interviewer has already discussed. Should a job interviewer point out types of work experience you might be lacking for a particular job, share community projects, college laboratory assignments, internships, etc. you worked on that allowed you to gain this experience. Interviewers should steer clear of questions that cause you to have to reveal your age, ethnicity, marital status, etc. But interviewers dont always do this. That said, if a job interviewer ask you about your retirement plans (a question that might be used to find out your age) let the interviewer know how much you are looking forward to working, including how much you enjoy completing projects aligned with the job youre interviewing for. Piggybacking on the previous tip, if a job interview asks you about your plans to expand or grow your family (a question that might be used to find out whether or not youre going to be taking maternity leave soon), again let the interviewer know how much you are looking forward to working the job. For example, you might respond, Ive loved working in this field for years. When I was in college, I was usually stayed at lab until they turned the lights off. Fulfilling the requirements of your job is more than work to me; its what Im passionate about. Someday down the road I might expand my family but even then, my lifelong passion will still be [whatever your career passions are]. Remember to ask the interviewer two to three questions about the company (e.g. company culture, recent major business projects that were reported on in the news). Let the interviewer know that you studied the company and thoughtfully chose it as a future employer. Should an interviewer ask you what youre expected pay is, ask the interviewer how much the job generally pays someone with your experience. Avoid pricing yourself out of an interview. If youre conducting a telephone interview (theyre more common today than you might think), conduct the interview in a quiet place at your home. Alert your family to the fact that youre doing a job interview so you wont get interrupted. Wear business casual attire and speak clearly, as if you are connecting with the interviewer in person. This can help your professionalism to come across in your voice. Before the end of the day, send the interviewer a brief thank you note. Include your name and contact information (e.g. telephone number, email address) at the bottom of the thank you note. If youre serious about landing your dream job, a job that pays well and a job that youre passionate about, you need to ace employer interviews. One way you can do this is to consider the aforementioned job interview traps to identify and avoid. Furthermore, and to help yourself stand out from the crowd, remember to send the interviewer a thank you note after you return home from the job interview. Post by Rhonda Campbell, an East Coast journalist and the owner of Off The Shelf radio and content writer for College.com. 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