It should come as no surprise that you would be well advised to prepare an outline of everything you hope to cover in your interview. Don't go overboard by trying to "script" the whole appointment, but do take care of the basics.
Make sure that you've matched your skills and background with the requirements for the job, and that you can speak intelligently about both. As in the Information Only Interview, if prepared with some questions but be ready to cut the questioning short at the slightest hint that your interviewer's schedule is too full to accommodate them. Try to stay with questions that focus on the company you're applying to and the specific details of the job. Stay away from premature or potentially sensitive subjects such as salary, benefits, or the long term financial position of the firm.
Finally, know exactly what's on your resume. Don't laugh. A surprisingly large number of candidates have been eliminated because of an inability to intelligently discuss their background as documented.
The point of all this planning is to make sure that you feel strong about your performance once the interview is over. Your aim is to feel as confident as possible that you will be judged by what you feel to be your best attributes.
And be sure not to forget the overall goal of any applicant undergoing a "screening" interview: get a second interview!
You've made such a fantastic impression on Anna Shoestring that she wants you to talk with the managers of the other divisions and perhaps even with Mr. Footwork himself, the president! Now what?
In the second and subsequent interviews, your goal changes. And not a minute too soon. By this point in the job search there's a very good chance that you're flat out sick of referrals, advice, screenings, and other indirect and crooked byways. Now (finally) you're after the job!
It's important at this point to determine who your potential boss will be before you go any further into the interview cycle. That person becomes very important to you now, not only because you may well be working for him or her in the near future, but, more importantly, because your potential supervisor is almost certainly the individual responsible for making a final hiring decision.
Sometimes your prospective boss will be easy to spot especially if you're applying to a small organization. In a large company, however, there are often many layers of managers. This makes your job more difficult.
The best way to get this information is often to ask for it. When you're arranging your next interview, inquire(tactfully!) what position your next interviewer holds and who your supervisor would be if you were selected for the position.
Armed with the name of the real McCoy, you can proceed in your interview cycle with confidence, as you'll know who should be the target of your responses. You'll also be on the road to finding out what the supervisor feels is required from a successful applicant, which can be a very different thing from what a personnel administrator considers important.
Frequently, you'll be seeing several people. As I've already mentioned, many companies will organize a search committee to provide the boss with as many viewpoints on a candidate as possible. Always keep in mind, however, that there is almost always one person who makes the final decision, and that person is the individual you want to receive your most polished presentation.
Interviewing is a skill you can develop a skill akin to taking an exam. You can anticipate the kinds of questions you will receive in a test. So you study your material, run through it until you're confident that you know it thoroughly, then prepare various responses prior to actually taking the test. When the time finally comes to take the test, you're eager to see how well you've anticipated the contents of the exam. The better you've prepared yourself, the more fluent, coherent, and lucid you'll sound to the professor when your work is reviewed.
The same principles hold true in the advanced interviews. The better prepared you are, the more confident you'll be when you step into the office and field questions. That confidence will be one of your most important assets in the interview. Because you're confident, the content of your answers will be superior. The rough edges that were once in your presentation are gone. You will have cut out the unimportant parts of your "pitch" and highlighted those that are critical.
In short, you must go into overdrive.
By this point, you've probably already read as much as you can about the industry. You've interviewed contacts within the field. You've created the perfect cover letter and resume. And you've had at least one interview with the company that went very well. What else can you do?
Admittedly, you've accomplished a great deal, and most people would consider themselves ready for the second interview at this point without too much more preparation. However, there are a few more pieces of information available to you, and they might just give you that extra boost as you approach what baseball fans call the "stretch drive."
