Tuesday, July 10, 2007

Boosting Your Job Chances

A while back, in response to a post with scenarios that could damage a job applicant's chances in an interview, one of my readers suggested a post on what applicants could do to boost their chances.

Here are a few of my thoughts on the subject. Please feel free to add to the list.

  1. Do your homework. Employers don't expect you to know arcane aspects of their business but they do expect you to know what sort of business they're in. You'd be surprised at how many people apply for jobs and, worst yet, stroll into interviews without having done a basic Google search.

  2. Have a friend or professional put you through a mock interview. Get someone who is familiar with the interviewing process, who can fashion likely questions (that rules out Uncle Bo), and is willing to give you some frank feedback on your answers.

  3. Prepare for the simple questions. Some candidates spend hours prior to the interview crafting answers to difficult questions only to get stumped by softballs such as "Why do you want this job?" and "Why should we hire you?" Be able to answer the basics.

  4. Be prepared to cite specific examples of your achievements and at least one example of a project you would handle differently. You may not be asked for the latter but the former will significantly boost the power of your responses.

  5. Go into the interview with the goal of clarifying how your skills can assist the employer. Stay away from mentioning how the employer will help you. The interviewers are not interested in how they can help you. They want someone who can help them.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thank you for the list. To add, one thing I have done for jobs I really wanted is this: I told the interviewer I really wanted the job. I guess he was used to people playing coy, because he was suprised and said he was impressed. I got the job, too.

Anonymous said...

Ask them a lot of questions. People love to hear themselves talk.