Preparing for a Job Interview: A Life Changing Experience
Interviewing for a job is an experience that has the potential to change your life. It can be stressful, exhilarating and rewarding all at once. You may find yourself in a role that you never anticipated, or a position that you've been dreaming about for months. You may also find yourself at the interview being left feeling like life is passing by without you ever getting what you want. It's important to handle interviews well from both sides of the table, because there's no time to make mistakes when it comes to career advancement and your financial stability after graduation with student loans and loans accumulating quickly.
The most successful job interviews I've been in so far have been with a diversity of unique individuals, which has provided for enough viewpoints and things to consider in order for me to learn what makes a successful interview go smoothly.
In the last few months I've taken on different roles that require me to have consistent contact with individuals from all over the country. I've interviewed people at their homes, over video chat, and even in hotels for companies that are expanding all over the country.
However, perhaps the most nerve-wracking interviews I've attended were these phone interviews. You'd call a number, talk with someone on the other end of the line and they ask you questions about yourself and your background. After the call they may or may not get back to you with an offer to have an interview in person. If you do get a chance to meet with someone, then the interview process can vary a lot depending on what's going on in the company and what exactly they're looking for. But there's no magic bullet or fool proof way to get a job, it all comes down to being prepared and knowing what you have to offer that meets the needs of the company.
Having done several interviews now, I thought I'd share some things I've learned from my experiences that could help make your next job interviews go more smoothly:
1. Know your background, but don't memorize it.
I know this sounds weird, but it's important to understand your work history and what you've been up to. It's also important that you know who you are and what kind of person you really are (the kind of person the company would want to hire). I once had an interview where I had a thorough knowledge of the company and its products and services, but when asked about my strengths, I drew a blank because I hadn't considered myself enough in the past. Being prepared means more than being able to answer questions about yourself. It means being honest with yourself when it comes down to describing how your skills can help a specific business or organization flourish.
2. Dress to impress, but don't stand out.
I've obviously not been in a lot of interviews, but so far it seems like everyone is pretty similar in terms of dress style, with a few exceptions. One thing I've noticed is that when you step out, you want to look professional. That means wearing clothes that are appropriate for the work environment and fit your personality well. It also means dressing for the company or business's culture or whichever culture you're trying to emulate if you're interviewing with a company who's not in line with your personal style.
If there's anything obvious to consider, it would be that you need to be clean and have everything together when it comes down to your grooming habits and general appearance.
3. Be yourself.
Despite what a lot of people say, write a cover letter and resume, you don't want to be anything but yourself during your interview. There's no reason to act like someone else because it's counterproductive to being hired for the position. You may be told to "be yourself" when getting interviewed, but this can't really be accurately conveyed without you actually knowing who you are, so it's not likely anyone will know what exactly that means unless they're looking for someone who is honest and upfront about their own personality and values.
4. Trust your gut feelings, and follow them if there's any doubt about anything the company does or says during the interview process.
I know it's not always easy to trust your gut, especially after getting paid $25,000 a year to interview with a company. But there have been times where I've gotten the sense that something wasn't quite right about an interview or even the company itself. This has led me to feel like there was nothing I could do about it and just go with my instincts. It may be hard to follow your gut feelings, but it can be worth the risk of not being exactly what the company is looking for, because you'll be able to walk away from the experience knowing that you did everything in your power to help yourself get hired and give yourself the best opportunity at success in whatever type of position or field you want.
5. Be smart and stay informed.
If you're interviewing for a position in the financial sector, is it okay to ask about your potential salary when applying? If you're a web developer looking for a position with an award-winning news agency, does it make sense to ask if the company supports or even allows remote work?
There are just some general questions that you may have about a company's policy and history that are likely asked in most interviews. If you've done research and looked into what the company is all about, then this should be something obvious to prepare for and research beforehand. It's important not only to know how much money your job will pay, but what else is at stake in your career at that point in time.
6. How important is it to get a job?
This is the hardest question I've ever asked myself during the process of getting an interview. When writing my cover letter and resume, I'd always assume that I wanted to get a job if the outcome was positive. But as time passed, and I found myself not receiving calls back from potential employers, it was harder and harder for me to think about what my next step should be if there was no job offer in sight.
I've only ever had around 3 interviews that didn't lead to an offer of employment, so all together it's only been around 5 offers that fell through before they even gave me the chance to start at their company.
As hard as it may be to just not worry about getting a job, and as much as I put pressure on myself to keep my resume up to date, I've had a lot of peace of mind knowing that I'm doing the best that I can in preparing myself and accepting the positions offered. Positioning yourself in the position you want is more important than having a job right now.
7. If you don't hear anything by April or May, it's probably because they're not interested.
If there's one thing that I've learned through all of my experiences with job searching, there's no reason to continue applying if no one is even looking or calling you after 3 months. You may be applying for positions that aren't even what you want in the first place, but it's good to know that there's a possibility that you'll never hear back, and this should help inform your decision as to where you should go next.
8. It goes without saying, but just because someone is hiring doesn't mean you have to take the job.
If it makes sense for your career progression, then don't feel like there's any need to get a job unless it fits in with what type of work environment and company culture best suits you. Going into an interview with the mindset that you'll be working in 20 years is not how I want my life to be.
Conclusion
Job searching is hard and it can be bugging to have so many things to think about, but at the end of the day, you can take comfort in knowing that it's something you're doing for yourself and it doesn't need to be a lifelong burden. Once I started taking action in getting interviews and actively learning what companies were looking for, I began to realize how easy it was. You just need to be open-minded, motivated and be prepared.
I may sound like a broken record here, but if there's one thing I hope you take away from this post is that there really is hope even if you feel like you're out of luck.