There’s all sorts of advice out there about interviewing, and it’s pretty easy to get overwhelmed by it all. Of all the advice I’ve ever received, a few pieces really resonate with me the most. These are the three most useful tips I’ve ever received about interviewing:
They want to like you.
A simple piece of advice, but this one is often overlooked. Think about the last two people that have asked you for a favor — one of them that you’re close to, and another who is just an acquaintance. How much harder did you try to help out your close friend? Similarly, if you walk into the interview with a smile, a firm handshake, and an enthusiastic attitude, it will go a long way. Your interviewer might try harder to steer you back if you start getting off-track, or be more willing to ignore the less-than-stellar answer you provided to one of the questions. That said, being likable is not a license to screw up your interview. It’s just good advice to get you started off on the right foot.
They want to hear specifics
You’re in an interview, which means that you now have a chance to convince them, face-to-face, why you’re the right person for the job. Take advantage of it by using this opportunity to provide the interviewer with specific but concise anecdotes that demonstrate your skills and accomplishments. Explain your leadership style by describing how you handled the time that your group members weren’t pulling their weight. Or demonstrate your organizational ability by talking about that huge event you helped pull off, and explain how you did it. You should head into every interview with a bunch of these examples, at least a few for each skill/quality you want to highlight.
They want you to succeed
Yes, interviews are scary. Yes, they’re going to ask you some tough questions. But if you completely drop the ball, it’s a waste of both your time and theirs. So remember that your interviewer wants you to perform well! You’d be amazed at the number of people who see their interviewer as some sort of antagonist. Walk into the interview knowing that you’re both after the same thing and you’ll feel much more comfortable.
What’s the best interviewing advice you’ve ever received?
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One thing I heard from a professional speaker has always stuck with me, and I think it applies to interviewing. He said that the way he approaches a talk in the broadest sense is that: 1. he tells his audience what he’s going to tell them; 2. then he tells them, and 3. then he tells them what he just told them. I think in interviews you need to go in with a clear, core message to convey. You’ll say lots of things in an interview, but you want your interviewers to be able to remember those core things about you hours and days later. You introduce these core themes at the start of an interview (in answer to the “Tell me about yourself” questions. You reinforce these themes frequently throughout the interview. And you hit those themes again as you’re closing the interview. That’s one way that you can think about your approach to interviewing.
@Tom: I love that tip! Reinforcing the specific things you want an interviewer to remember about you is so important, and that is a great way to do it.
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