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12
Feb
This morning I asked the Internet (via Twitter and Facebook) two things: one, should I wear a skirt or trousers to the job interview I have in an hour, and two, what was everyone’s number one tip for job interviews? Because I suck at them. I get flustered and drunk on my own pleading insecurities and then I think, “Do I have a bug on me?” and reach up to find a river of sweat sluicing down my cheek.
Fortunately, the Internet responded thoughtfully, as it will, sometimes, when it realizes you’re not fucking around. Here are the (serious) tips that I got. If you have any other good ones would you leave them in the comments? I’m sure we’d all be interested in what hard experience has taught you.
1. Ask interviewer, “what would success in this role look like?” Every time I’ve used it, they’ve said “wow, great question.”
2. Be ready to answer the “What are your weaknesses?” question with something that makes you sound humble but still awesome.
3. When they ask for weaknesses, also say how you compensate* (always late so I use a planner). *This does not have to be true.
4. Skirt. Practice your “tell me about yourself”, sit up straight, & at the end, ask if they have any reservations about you.
5. Flattering, stylish slacks. Tip: bring a portfolio. Reduces nervousness for you & impresses them.
6. Interview tip: be not so sure you want the job. Qs to figure out whether you do, make you sound interested; also, reduces stress.
7. If you want the job, tell them. Ask for it. So many people never actually tell me, “I want to work here. I want this job.”
8. Skirt for me, it makes me stand up straighter for some reason. And always blow your nose before you walk into the office.
9. Skirt or slacks depends on job. Slacks more conservative. Breathe, and compose your answers in your head before you speak.
10. At the end of it, ask for the job. At least ask for the next step in the process, even if you’re not sure you want it. Close!
11. Smile! And also? No swearing. At least those are the things I have to remember.
12. If it was me, DEFINITELY SLACKS. One thing I do is convince myself I don’t want the job. Not sure why this works, but it’s gold.
13. Keep the position in question in mind with every response you give. Make your answer relevant to the position you’re after.
14. #1 wear whatever makes you feel most like a rock star. Tip – do your homework, ask good questions and LISTEN.
15. Ask the interviewer about their own career arc. People love talking about themselves.
16. Remember that you are interviewing them, too. But keep focus on what you can do for THEM. Ask what your first projects would be.
17. Suit. And be honest, look them in the eye, focus on cans not can’ts.
I also asked my friend Pamela, who has interviewed a lot of people because she’s fantastically important and needs a rock solid staff, and she had this to say:
Remember to ask them what they like about their job and what they like about the office. I do a lot of interviewing and it is nice for people to ask that so I can pontificate about how great [the job] is. It is all about chemistry — that’s mostly what I’ve realized after lots of hiring. I want to like you and know that it isn’t going to drive me nuts to see you every day, that you have a sense of humor, but are detailed and will pay attention. I want the person to come and work for me and take over lots of work and do it well and make us all happy so I can stop interviewing people and doing two (or three) jobs.And sorry, have to say skirt. Think of it this way — your interview at an office is in everyone’s mind THE MOST dressed up you will be in that office. Short of going on a day when there is a blizzard (unlikely in your case) or a typhoon I’d go for a skirt. Don’t take any of it personally though. Remember — from the interviewer’s point of view it is all about them, not you at all.
Okay! My interview is in an hour, I’ve memorized the company’s web site, I’m about to iron my skirt, and I just ate an entire bag of Orville’s microwave kettle corn and I’m about to be sick.
- Published by Eden M. Kennedy in: Main
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31 Responses to “Interviewing Tips”
Best of luck!
Good luck, Eden.
I have been the interviewer more than the interviewee. And while I know what I look for, it hasn’t really help me to land any jobs. So, I’ll skip giving advice other than that you have already taken: skirt.
To the person who said slacks are more conservative: going on the assumption that Eden wasn’t planning to wear a shredded denim mini, in many offices a skirt on a woman is considered more conservative, i.e. “traditional”, than slacks. For example, in the field of law there are still some old-school judges who expect female attorneys to wear skirts in front of the bench. And keep in mind, in the military, women’s dress uniforms are skirts, not slacks.
Smile.
Firm handshake; not talking knuckle-crunching, but nobody likes a dead fish in their hand, even from women
At the end, thank them for their time.
While skirts are actually more traditionally conservative, if you are in a field like engineering, go with the pants. Especially if there is any chance that you will have to go through a factory/plant. You don’t want to have to put a bunny suit on over your skirt suit.
During my last interview, I cracked jokes with the people interviewing me. That was mainly because I was already familiar with them.
The main thing I can suggest is to be straightforward with your answers. I was asked about weaknesses and what I thought I could bring to the job. There’s the what do you like best and least about your current/previous job questions too.
If they ask about your accomplishments, don’t just mention them in passing. If you put forth passion, they’ll pick up on it.
Good luck!
Wow. I’m all nervous for you. It’s 3:20 so you’re probably done. Hope it went well and you didn’t accidentally fart or anything.
I usually do really well in interviews, for some reason, so here are my tips:
1) SMILE, SMILE, SMILE. Be genuinely glad to meet them, be energetic, and act confident even if you’re not. Just pretend. If you make them like you as a person and want to be around you, you’ve already won.
2) Definitely go in with a portfolio if you have one; inside, have a sheet of paper with questions to ask them. Then, as you ask the questions, take notes on their answers and ask follow-up questions if you can think of them. It impresses them that you’re so prepared, and reminds them that you, too, are a desirable resource.
3) Remember that YOU are interviewing THEM. You are deciding whether it’s a job you want. Is this the lucky company that is going to land your skillset? It’s your decision. You have the upper hand. With that in mind, develop questions to ask them that are along those lines (these are the questions that will be on that sheet in your portfolio.); also, develop your questions along the assumption that you already have the job. Questions like:
“What’s an average day for you? What would my chief responsibilities be? Is there room for growth? How long have you been with the company, and how did you start here? How long has your team been together? What sort of projects will I be working on initially? etc.”
4) If you have a letter of recommendation from a former boss, now is the time to use it. Bring that in, have your interview, and then at the end, pull it out of your portfolio and say, “I have a letter of recommendation from my employer at XYZ Company, if you’re interested.” Offer it to them as you say this. They will definitely love that 1) you are proactive and organized enough to obtain a letter of recommendation and to bring it to this interview 2) you obviously want the job, since you’re going that extra step, and 3) that it is full of nice things about you, written by someone who’s worked with you.
If you don’t have the letter of rec, call/e-mail your old employers and get one, just to have on file. They are invaluable.
5) Don’t say anything negative about any of your past jobs/employers. If they ask what you disliked about it, say something harmless like “the commute”; if they ask why you left, say you were really sad to go because everyone was so great to work with, but thankfully they were all very supportive of your finding this opportunity for growth at the new company. Just stay positive – they are looking for a team player.
6) When they talk, LISTEN. When you talk, be CONFIDENT, FRIENDLY, ANIMATED and CONCISE.
7) Brag, brag, brag. This is always hard for me because I feel like a pompous asshole when listing my accomplishments, but THIS is one of the few times it’s ok. They want to hear about everything you can contribute, what you’ve done in the past, and ideas you have for the future. Be PROUD of the things you’ve done. They are what got you this interview today. Make sure your interviewer knows that those things happened!!!
Those are my tips. When it’s time to listen, DO SO; when it’s time to talk, be concise, pleasant, and confident. Remember that they want to hire you, and they are LOOKING for reasons to hire you.
You’ll do a great job.
Will this job interfere with your blogging?? Just kidding. Good luck, hope it went well.
Assvice maybe. But anyway here it is. Remember to send a follow up email/thank you note. It could help the interviewer remember you if they have a large pool of interviewees.
great tips~
i haven’t interviewed in so long that i couldn’t give you anything new, but my husband will be going on interviewing rounds soon and i will make sure he reads this.
hope it went well!
Good luck!
The questions of course have to be answered, but once you have answered don’t stop at that! Don’t be afraid to turn it around to talk about what you want to… introduce extra, great, pithy information about yourself (no one likes a rambler either!). It’s all part of selling yourself as a reasonable asset for them.
Take notes in. I get nervous and forget important things, so I have notes that I refer to, examples of previous work I think they might be interested in. Show you’re prepared.
I was always told a skirt is more conservative, but in Australia we’re pretty laid back and the ‘rules’ can be stretched. Depends what the job is… if you’re going to be running a sports centre then more casual dressing might do it. If you’ll be a news reader it might be worth dressing up.
Blah, blah, blah… I’m one of those strange people who gets a kick out of interviews. I think that might be because I love talking about myself.
Hey Miss Eden,
I hope it went well! I am sure they would be lucky to have you, so I hope they realized that!
Kristin
I hope it went well! And thank-you for posting these tips. I have an interview in the morning and reading this made me feel a bit more prepared. I even noted some of your points. Huzzah!
I’m about to have an interview, and this really helped me. Thanks.
I hope the interview went well. Best of luck.
you could be like me, and drivel on vaguely and wave your hands about in the air.
It worked too.
How often does Hillary wear a skirt on the campaign trail? No low cut anything. Think Couric not Maddow.
Try to solve the employers problem in the interview. Let them know how you’ll do it and give evidence that you’ve done something similar.
Be confident. They need you as much as you need them.
Read this book: Ask The Headhunter
Probably too late, but I find singing a raucous song on the way to the interview puts me in the mood to kick ass.
In the end, who cares if you wear a skirt or slacks – as long as it’s a suit. I don’t care if you are interviewing for an entry-level position in the mail room or for a burger flipper at McDonald’s, wear a suit for crying out loud.
Show some personality without talking about any personal problems.
Ask questions.
Get a manicure.
I once interviewed with a woman who interrupted me mid-sentence because she liked the polish color of my manicure (very sheer pink). She said ‘I’m glad you’re not one of those diva types with red nails. We don’t have room for that here.’
When I looked at her nails, they were the same color. A weird thing, but definitely make sure your hands are looking reasonable.
Good Luck ! And I too say act like you don’t want the job too too much. Ask all the questions, definitely act interested and I like that bit about asking for the next step in the process but don’t be nervously eager (that’s me). They are looking for the cool reassurance that you are walking in to make their lives easier. I always ask what the first projects that will need attention are and I really liked that comment about “what does success in this position look like”.
http://www.deedledeedee.com
“From the interviewer’s point of view it is all about them.”
Yes. This is why the “don’t want the job” trick is good. It focuses my mind on asking questions rather than answering them, which makes the interviewer think that I find them fascinating.
But, hey, don’t let the job interfere too much with blogging, OK?
Dude, you have a great body and pretty face. Go naked.
Just tell them you collect jobs for a hobby and would love to add this one to your collection.
Once I asked a trio of interviewers what they liked most about the workplace and after a couple of non-answer answers (“uh, I don’t know) watched the two guys get reprimanded in front of me for not giving decent answers, and then forced into answering the question. I was so embarrassed for them and figured what their answers really were anyways (they really didn’t like their jobs!?). Talk about uncomfortable, and slightly scary.
I know I’m late to this discussion, but here’s what got me through. I had a keychain with my sons’ name on it and I put it where i could see it, just to remind me what was really important. It helped put the whole job thing in perspective. Getting the job would be nice, but these people represented on the keychain were what mattered.
This one’s a keeper. Thank you! And I’m happy for you that it went well.
Glad the interview went well – you’re bang on that personality and ‘chemistry’ is so much a bigger part of interviewing now. I’ve been hiring for over 10 years, the last 5 years as a recruitment consultant, and can honestly say I work much harder at find roles for people who I get along with than those who pick their nose at an interview. True!
I actually got a job by wearing a dress (a grey, very conservative looking dress with a collar/ribbon tie sort of top). I walked into a temp agency recommended to me, and the youngish girl took one look at my age and dress and then at my long list of lawfirm experience and said “We’ve got the PLACE FOR YOU!”. Since I’d been out of work in another city and temping for a while, I didn’t believe that in the slightest, but they weren’t kidding. It was a conservative old-school company, and they knew it. Worked there three months temping and got hired on even though I was actually the most un-conservative one there.
I’ve been regretting wearing that dress for four years now, but at least it paid for a lot of my furniture and a new car.
Sorry to jump in so late, but thanks for these tips! I’ve got a few interviews coming up (read: VERY NERVOUS), but these helped me get in a more confident mindset, so that hopefully I can rock all of them. And, congrats on your job!
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