How to face an Interview
Tips for facing an interview
Do you happen to be one of the millions of people have lost their job because the economic crisis and are now on the lookout for a new job. Well surely there are many new job opportunities that are waiting to be tapped and a good combination of a perfect CV and cover letter should open the door to great job opportunities for you. Having said that many times lack of interview preparation can result in one not being able to nail the job. We happen to work extremely hard on searching jobs and sending a cover letter with the job application but do not lay similar emphasis on preparing for an interview.
Before we discuss about the ways in which one can have a successful interview and share light on tips for a successful interview let’s understand what an interview is. An interview happens to be a discussion between two people or a group of people wherein the interviewer will ask job related questions to the interviewee. The main objective of an interview is to seek answers and obtain information from the candidate. Through the interview the employer is trying to evaluate the employee for a job that lays vacant in their company, firm, or organization. The employee will put forward a series of questions, these questions can be both job relevant and off the topic.
There are many ways in which you can find career and interview guidance. Firstly you can go to the Office of Career Counseling, the people at this office have all the experience and know how to guide with your job interview related queries and shall offer much needed information and handy interview tips. After speaking with the people at the Office of Career Counseling if you still are not completely confident of having a successful interview and think that you require further help then attending an interview tips and interview guidance workshop may prove adequately helpful. Apart from this you may also want to consult a career counselor. Career guidance workshops have different kinds of courses what help a person build confidence in him/her about one’s ability to face an interview. Such workshops also from time to time conduct mock interviews within the campus so that they can evaluate the progress made.
There are many types of interviews that are conducted these days each to evaluate whether or not a particular candidate can achieve a certain benchmark to make it to the next round of interview. Typically an organization or a company will have 2 to 3 rounds of interview but the number of interviews depends entirely on that company. Usually the first interview that a company will conduct is a phone interview. Once you have sent your resume and a cover letter the company or the agency that is conducting the interview shall give you a call and ask you some questions. When a company is conducting mass recruitment then they may choose to conduct walk interview. In such a case the company is more likely to place a local in the newspaper and will mention the venue and timing for the interview. Some of the common interview types are behavioral interview, screening interview, competency based interview, panel interview etc.
Also there some job specific interviews, when a news or media company is seeking candidates for the post of a journalist then they will conduct a journalism interview. This is so that they will only call upon people with past experience in the field of journalism and conduct the interview completely on the basis of evaluating the candidate’s strength and weakness in the field of journalism. These days there are many different kinds of interviews that are conducting making it tougher for the average candidate to progress to the next round of interviews. Some of the new interview tips that you are likely to come across are campus interview, case interview, exit interview and webcam interview.
In recent surveys conducted to understand why first timer interviewees’ and those who have lost their job in recent times have failed to find a new job inside 3-6 months has revealed that students as well as those hunting for jobs (a) do not search about the company and therefore their answers are inaccurate and they do not understand the company’s philosophy or industry trends. Since they do not know about the company they cannot also foresee career growth prospects; (b) since they did not prepare to face the interview they do not have proper answers to questions posed or any questions they would want to ask of the interviewer or interviewers; (c) many of such interviewees are low on communication skills, lack the ability to market themselves and highlight their skills and strengths.
So how can someone with such short comings prepare for an interview successfully? Well, there are many interview tips that all candidates can use. The key is to understand your own short comings and address those issues by using the best interview tips. If you have had the opportunity to experience an interview through an H-4 college program then your understanding of an interview process will be quite clear.
The first interview tip is always preparing for an interview, without preparation you will find it tough to have a successful interview. Preparation has to be done in various ways, find just about every piece of information available regarding the company you have the interview with. Additionally you will have to conduct self evaluation steps, evaluate your skills, knowledge, how you will present yourself and how you will highlight your skills. Once you have done your homework it’s time to relax and if possible sleep early and sleep well. If you can remain fresh and feel energetic the next morning and feel confident about the interview then just that positive vibe will have a great effect on your entire approach to the interview.
Another interview tip you should be very careful of is that do not give ‘Yes/No’ for an answer. The interviewer is not asking to objective type question where you can put a tick. Answers should be specific, to the point yet when it is necessary to elaborate you must. The interview format can vary from company to company; the format or the questionnaire depends completely on the interviewer. The interviewer can have list of questions or can ask questions related to your previous job and past work experience. Therefore it’s important that you be prepared in every possible way.
You can also have to face a situation based interview wherein the interviewer will ask you about a particular situation and what kind of action you would initiate to resolve the crisis. Such questions typically start with ‘what would you do if….?’ Or ‘if you were asked to takeover….? Or ‘if you were asked to take charge as ….? The motive behind such questions is to see what your steps would be. Are you able to remain positive and tackle the situation? Your response can evolve around a similar situation that you have handled previously or what would you do.
When the interview session is over you must remember to thank the interviewer for calling you for this interview. If the interviewer has not asked you regarding the salary for the job or what salary you are expecting then don’t discuss it. The interviewer will tell you when you can expect to hear from the company, the company will send you a letter asking you to make yourself available for the next round of interviews.
Make sure that you send a thank-you letter to the company.
Do you happen to be one of the millions of people have lost their job because the economic crisis and are now on the lookout for a new job. Well surely there are many new job opportunities that are waiting to be tapped and a good combination of a perfect CV and cover letter should open the door to great job opportunities for you. Having said that many times lack of interview preparation can result in one not being able to nail the job. We happen to work extremely hard on searching jobs and sending a cover letter with the job application but do not lay similar emphasis on preparing for an interview.
Before we discuss about the ways in which one can have a successful interview and share light on tips for a successful interview let’s understand what an interview is. An interview happens to be a discussion between two people or a group of people wherein the interviewer will ask job related questions to the interviewee. The main objective of an interview is to seek answers and obtain information from the candidate. Through the interview the employer is trying to evaluate the employee for a job that lays vacant in their company, firm, or organization. The employee will put forward a series of questions, these questions can be both job relevant and off the topic.
There are many ways in which you can find career and interview guidance. Firstly you can go to the Office of Career Counseling, the people at this office have all the experience and know how to guide with your job interview related queries and shall offer much needed information and handy interview tips. After speaking with the people at the Office of Career Counseling if you still are not completely confident of having a successful interview and think that you require further help then attending an interview tips and interview guidance workshop may prove adequately helpful. Apart from this you may also want to consult a career counselor. Career guidance workshops have different kinds of courses what help a person build confidence in him/her about one’s ability to face an interview. Such workshops also from time to time conduct mock interviews within the campus so that they can evaluate the progress made.
There are many types of interviews that are conducted these days each to evaluate whether or not a particular candidate can achieve a certain benchmark to make it to the next round of interview. Typically an organization or a company will have 2 to 3 rounds of interview but the number of interviews depends entirely on that company. Usually the first interview that a company will conduct is a phone interview. Once you have sent your resume and a cover letter the company or the agency that is conducting the interview shall give you a call and ask you some questions. When a company is conducting mass recruitment then they may choose to conduct walk interview. In such a case the company is more likely to place a local in the newspaper and will mention the venue and timing for the interview. Some of the common interview types are behavioral interview, screening interview, competency based interview, panel interview etc.
Also there some job specific interviews, when a news or media company is seeking candidates for the post of a journalist then they will conduct a journalism interview. This is so that they will only call upon people with past experience in the field of journalism and conduct the interview completely on the basis of evaluating the candidate’s strength and weakness in the field of journalism. These days there are many different kinds of interviews that are conducting making it tougher for the average candidate to progress to the next round of interviews. Some of the new interview tips that you are likely to come across are campus interview, case interview, exit interview and webcam interview.
In recent surveys conducted to understand why first timer interviewees’ and those who have lost their job in recent times have failed to find a new job inside 3-6 months has revealed that students as well as those hunting for jobs (a) do not search about the company and therefore their answers are inaccurate and they do not understand the company’s philosophy or industry trends. Since they do not know about the company they cannot also foresee career growth prospects; (b) since they did not prepare to face the interview they do not have proper answers to questions posed or any questions they would want to ask of the interviewer or interviewers; (c) many of such interviewees are low on communication skills, lack the ability to market themselves and highlight their skills and strengths.
So how can someone with such short comings prepare for an interview successfully? Well, there are many interview tips that all candidates can use. The key is to understand your own short comings and address those issues by using the best interview tips. If you have had the opportunity to experience an interview through an H-4 college program then your understanding of an interview process will be quite clear.
The first interview tip is always preparing for an interview, without preparation you will find it tough to have a successful interview. Preparation has to be done in various ways, find just about every piece of information available regarding the company you have the interview with. Additionally you will have to conduct self evaluation steps, evaluate your skills, knowledge, how you will present yourself and how you will highlight your skills. Once you have done your homework it’s time to relax and if possible sleep early and sleep well. If you can remain fresh and feel energetic the next morning and feel confident about the interview then just that positive vibe will have a great effect on your entire approach to the interview.
Another interview tip you should be very careful of is that do not give ‘Yes/No’ for an answer. The interviewer is not asking to objective type question where you can put a tick. Answers should be specific, to the point yet when it is necessary to elaborate you must. The interview format can vary from company to company; the format or the questionnaire depends completely on the interviewer. The interviewer can have list of questions or can ask questions related to your previous job and past work experience. Therefore it’s important that you be prepared in every possible way.
You can also have to face a situation based interview wherein the interviewer will ask you about a particular situation and what kind of action you would initiate to resolve the crisis. Such questions typically start with ‘what would you do if….?’ Or ‘if you were asked to takeover….? Or ‘if you were asked to take charge as ….? The motive behind such questions is to see what your steps would be. Are you able to remain positive and tackle the situation? Your response can evolve around a similar situation that you have handled previously or what would you do.
When the interview session is over you must remember to thank the interviewer for calling you for this interview. If the interviewer has not asked you regarding the salary for the job or what salary you are expecting then don’t discuss it. The interviewer will tell you when you can expect to hear from the company, the company will send you a letter asking you to make yourself available for the next round of interviews.
Make sure that you send a thank-you letter to the company.
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