Secrets to Honing Your Job Interview Skills
Many people believe that job interview skills are the
sort of thing that a candidate either has or doesn’t
have on the day of their interview. These people also
believe that job interview skills are somehow
connected to being smooth, with smiling and being
confident during the interview. Though there is
nothing wrong with being confident or easy to talk to,
most employers are less interested in hiring a
personality than they are hiring a person with the
skills and temperament to perform on the job
immediately. Conveying those qualities to the
interviewer is a skill that someone cannot simply walk
into the interview and turn on. Rather, they must do
the work ahead of time to not only develop the
required skills for the job, but the ability to
showcase them to the interviewer at the appropriate
time.
The most effective job interview skills actually
manifest themselves before the interview. Researching
the target company, for instance, is a skill that is
much more valuable than the ability to come in and
schmooze with the interviewer. The candidate who can
do the reading and investigation into the target
company and determine what the company is looking for
in their hire has an extreme advantage over the person
who simply walks in and starts answering questions.
After all, the candidate who finds out ahead of time
what the company requires and expects can begin
preparing his or her responses to reflect those
corporate priorities from the very beginning of the
process. In fact, that candidate could formulate a
number of job interview answers which give the desired
impression and have them ready to go on command in the
interview.
More Job Interview Skills You'll Need
Another set of job interview skills is the ability to
apply your experience and history and turn that into
selling points. If an interviewer asks you if you are
good with details, saying “yes” answers the question,
but it doesn’t do so very convincingly. Everyone that
is asked that question would say yes, whether it was
true or not. Saying “yes” and then giving a relevant
example of when your attention to detail created a
positive result for the company not only answers the
question, but also provides strong proof for the
answer.
The good news is that all of these job interview
skills can be learned with practice. If you have a job
interview coming up, get a head start as early as
possible on your research and story creating. Then,
when you believe that you have a good idea what the
interviewer will ask, and those you would like to
answer, go through those questions with a friend. If
possible, record your answers on videocassette or
camera so that you can go over them later. Note the
areas where you were hesitant, unsure or forgot to
keep selling yourself to the interviewer. Those are
the areas where you can practice your interview skills
more intensely. Another good way to strengthen your
interview skills is to interview. If you have a dream
job, don’t apply to it first. Go to a couple of other
companies first and practice the process. By the time
you’ve gone through the process a couple of times, you
should be ready for the big interview.
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