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Interviewing advice:
Plan Ahead - Do your homework! Research the company and the position
you are interviewing for. Review your work experiences and everything
you have done on your resume. Be ready to support organizational
accomplishments with specific information targeted toward your goals.
Practice with a friend so you know how you act when under pressure.
Prepare answers to commonly asked interview questions. Doing so will
help you analyze your background and qualifications for the
position. .
Use the CCS office to your advantage. They have many different sessions
for mock interviews and resume advice all the time. It might sound
kind of weird to go in and fake an interview, but trust me; you will
be ahead of the pack.
During the interview try to remain as calm. Ask for clarification
if you're not sure what's been asked and remember that it is perfectly
acceptable to take a moment or two to frame your responses so you
can be sure too fully answer the question. It is better to ask then
answer incorrectly.
Always remember to speak clearly and have eye contact. Interviewers
know when you start fading and rambling. Also if you see the interviewer
start moving his eyes or fading, change subjects and talk about something
else.
POSITIVE attitude wins the interview. Interviewers recognize a strong
positive attitude and the willingness to do the work. Your resume
got you the interview so show them something else about you. Your
excitement and attitude are very important.
Make sure you go to the pre-night for any interview. They know who
was there and who was not.
Be ready to ask a lot of questions that have some meaning. You can
always ask the “tell me about your job and duties” type
of questions, but what wins more I think is if you do research about
the department and ask something specific about it. The interviewer
will know that you have taken the time to research their company
so in return they will care about their answer.
Never get discouraged about any of this stuff. If you do not get
an interview or job right away, oh well. Sometimes, you cannot control
what happens. Just make sure you did your best and that you are prepared.
There’s a thin line between selling yourself and sounding conceited.
Recruiters want to see that you believe in yourself and your skills.
However, too much of anything is not good. If you come across too
strong, most recruiters will get turned off. Your goal is to exude
a quiet confidence.
After you are done with an interview, make sure to email or write
them a thank you letter. This is great as long as it is professional.
Make sure you use correct format and grammar, otherwise you just
shot yourself in the foot.
Interview questions you might want to ask the company:
Can you tell me about the competencies necessary to perform this
job?
How is performance measured and reviewed?
What are the companies strengths and weaknesses as compared to the
competition?
What made you decide to work here?
With the major economic changes in the nation, how is your company
responding?
A Behavioral Reminder
Behavioral interviews are basically what is out there nowadays.
Questions such as “Give me a time when you had 10,000 things
to do all in one day and how did you solve it.” REMEMBER, these
questions are all there to do one thing and one thing only: see how
you process and think for certain criteria; listening skills, communication
skills, and project management skills. There should always be some
type of process when trying to answer one of these questions and
that is what the interviewer is looking for.
First of all you need to state the situation. Then the process
used to solve it and finally how it was put into action with a resolution.
That is what its all about. If you can do this in a free flowing
manner, you will be the ideal candidate!! Obviously it is not the
easiest thing to do, but that is why you need to practice. Think
of group situations with conflict, multitasking, morals, it could
be anything. If you want, start writing it out until you feel comfortable
enough to speak.
ANOTHER QUICK REMINDER
If you think everything is great because you talked about random and fun stuff,
turns out you could be wrong. The interviewer could have just decided that
you were not a good candidate from the beginning and just wanted to talk.
IT HAPPENS. Most interviews are over within the first five minutes. Information
such as your dress, grooming, handshake, your personal presence, your eye
contact, your articulation and your personality all can be figured in five
minutes. So be willing to talk business and try to stick with that. It is
okay to talk about other stuff every once and a while as long as the company
knows you and your skills.
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