To Have a Successful Interview.
- Stress your positives and neutralize your negatives.
- Be informed about the firms; be on time; and underplay your job need.
- Stress what you can do for the firm in terms of growth, cost reduction, profits, and sales.
From the marketing point of view of buyer/seller, you cannot ask for the job directly. To do so will almost always bring a negative response. During the interview use leading questions or statements such as:
When do you plan to fill this position?
Is there anything else you would like me to clear up to help you make a decision? From our discussion, I believe my experience would be valuable to your firm. Don't you agree? Considering your needs, is there any area of my background that you would like me to further discuss? When can I meet some of your associates?
In fairness to my current employer, I need to give two weeks notice.
It seems to me that the next step is to meet with the department head. When will he/she be able to see me?
You are trying to get a series of small positives in order to get the big yes. Try to pin down the real reasons to any objections. Ask what stands between you and the job. Then deal with these negatives. Neutralize them in order to make it easier for the interviewer to offer you a job.
A person can easily be nervous in the initial interviews. After several your skills will certainly improve. Take advantage of this improvement. You may want to have experimental interviews with several firms that have little interest to you before you start interviewing with prime prospects.
You may have a very successful interview and not be hired. Someone else was more qualified. Ask for ideas on others who are hiring. If a firm is mentioned, ask permission to use the interviewer's name to help you gain an entry. Have the interview with others that need your experience. Practice makes perfect - analyze mistakes and turn them into strong points or at least neutral factors.
Ideally, to have an effective interview it should be: scheduled in advanced, conducted in private, free from interruption and frank and constructive in tone. It should encourage a two way flow of conversation, in which you have an opportunity to inform as well as be informed.
Analyze and Evaluate the Interview
During the interview, many topics may be discussed. There is a wide variety of topics, personalities, reactions, and settings in which interviews occur. After an interview reflect on what was accomplished. Make notes. Consider and answer the following questions:
- Were you able to transfer your qualifications to company needs and problems?
- Were you able to mention everything you previously planned to discuss?
- What were the good aspects of the interview? The bad aspects?
- How will you correct your weak interviewing skills?
- Is there any additional information you should provide the firm in a future contact?
- Were you able to establish effective communication?
You're sitting at home planning letters and interviews with other firms and the phone rings. You answer and receive a verbal job offer to start work on the first of next month. You're told to give the firm a definite answer in five days. After completing the call you are very satisfied. However, you wonder, "Should I take the job? What should I consider before I say yes or no?"
Money is part of the salary package which includes fringe benefits such as vacation, holidays, insurance, pension and moving expenses. Consider what potential there is for advancement and if the company is growing? Is the company situated in a growth industry? Do you have the ability to do the job? Why are they hiring you instead of a promotion?
What is the atmosphere of the company? Do you honestly believe you will be happy with the job? Will management support your work? Is your personality and attitude in tune with your supervisor? A mismatch in personal chemistry can be disastrous. Possibly you may have not even met your new supervisor.
If possible, talk frankly with people at your level within the firm. Former employees often talk quite freely about their old company. Ask about the work, employee turnover, management relationships, company policy, and if they plan to stay or would like to return. Current and former employees can offer a wealth of information. Ideally get opinions of several people; you could ask the one person who is extremely negative. Do not base your future on the ideas of one person.
If employed, consider your current job, company, and advancement potential just as carefully as the offer. Never jump from the frying pan into the fire. Certainly you know more about a current employer than a new firm. Consider all aspects keeping in mind that positions may be oversold.
A note of caution - if you are ever offered an extremely high salary compared to what you are earning, find out why. You may become a fall-guy. A company could be hiring you for a very short special assignment or for your knowledge about secrets of former employers. This has happened and it could happen without you realizing it. Providing former company secrets show you lack judgment and are untrustworthy. Your former company could even sue you.
If you are one of the few to have definite multiple offers at the same time consider job and non-job variables. Weight the variables by the importance of each variable. Weight could be a number (1 to 10) with the largest being the most important. Another weight system would assign plus, neutral, or negative to each variable for each job.
