You've gotten a positive response from your telephone call, your letter or your resume-you've been asked to come for an interview. The ball is in your court. Unless the job is totally different from what you want, accept the interview. You have a golden opportunity-if not for employment, then at least to practice your interview skills and learn from the experience.
When you were in the catbird seat-doing the interviewing instead of being the interviewee-you probably used interviews as much for de-selection as for selection. You were literally looking to see whether a job candidate was a member of the "to be considered" or ''not to be considered" group before you even thought about anything else. So, your primary goal now as an interviewee is to make it into the "to be considered" group on your initial interview. A job offer is seldom tendered on the first interview, so if you make it into the "to be considered" group, you have other opportunities to impress.
Your key to ultimate success is to show not only that you're looking for a position, but that you're ready and prepared to perform in that position. Sell yourself. Project energy, enthusiasm, interest in the interviewer, the company and the position. Remember: An interview is a deck stacked in the interviewer's favor. You are an actor walking onto a set stage. You must be positive and alert. You must be sensitive to your audience-the interviewer-and play to him or her.
General Tips on Interviewing
In planning for an interview, think about the things you looked for when you were interviewing prospective employees yourself. What did you want to know about the candidates? What characteristics did you look for in them? You wanted to know what they'd done and how they'd done it. You were vitally interested in how they'd perform for you and you wanted to know something about them as individuals.
How did you feel as the interviewer-were you nervous, or were you able to interview the candidates without stress? The shoe's on the other foot now. You're the person looking for the job. But the interviewers on the other side of the desk are not so different from you. They're looking for the same things you looked for. They want to know what you've done, how well you'll perform, why you're a good prospect for their company and who you are as an individual.
The most common interview process within medium- and large-size firms is the following: 1) an interview in the human resources department; 2) another interview by the hiring manager (the manager usually interviews only those applicants who "passed" the first interview and are recommended for further investigation by the human resources department); and 3) subsequent interviews with other members of management.
The third step may be repeated several different times with different management groups, especially when the job to be filled is a key position. In smaller firms, and most particularly in single proprietorships, partnerships and entrepreneurial firms, the interviewing process may begin at the top, and the owner, the president or vice president, the partners, or some other high-level official does the initial screening and involves other management members only on subsequent interviews, if at all. You must be prepared on your initial interview for the whole ball of wax. If you get in to see this person, you are having an interview, whether the meeting started out that way or not.
Government positions require the most interviewing. You must go through channels, not always clearly specified, to obtain an interview. At the local, state and federal level, civil service jobs almost always start with human resources professional; and you have to fill out forms, take tests and otherwise demonstrate certain proficiencies before you ever get to interview. Then, the interview process is a two- or three-step process much like that for large companies. However, another entire level of local, state and federal level jobs is related to the political party that is in power, who you know, and sometimes, how active you've been in someone's campaign. This type of government job is filled exclusively through networking.
Interviews at not-for-profit associations are generally conducted by nonprofessionals, very often a committee composed of volunteers. The committee may be poorly organized, and have a hard time finding their focus. In this kind of interview by committee, emphasize tactics (nuts and bolts stuff) rather than strategy. Concentrate on the mission and focus of the organization. Sometimes, the interview process begins with a search firm. In this case, you must ''pass" an interview with the recruiter before you can actually interview for this position.
Making Arrangements
You have an opportunity to prepare for most interviews, and you can at least partially control a number of factors related to the interview.
Timing: You can usually influence the day and time of the interview.
Think back to your active employment. What days were the least hectic? Which the most? Don't set up interviews on days when interviewers are likely to be harassed. That knocks out Mondays and Fridays as interview days. Set up your interviews, then, on Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday, if you can. Try for an appointment early in the morning, between 9 and 10 or early in the afternoon, just after lunch. If those times are out, at least ask for an appointment that is not too late in the afternoon so that the interviewers won't be too immersed in their job activities, too tired to conduct a fair interview or resentful because they have to interview you after normal working hours.
Research the Organization, Your next move is to prepare for the interview. You may already know a great deal about the prospective employer because you researched the organization early in your job campaign. Or you may know next to nothing about it. To present yourself in the best light, and to make your self-marketing strategy work, you must be informed about the company so that you can show your understanding of the organization's situation, and can make the necessary tie- ins between your abilities and the potential employer's needs.
Go back to some of the same sources you checked when you were preparing your marketing campaign. Look for information in the library, the various directories, and the information sources mentioned.
If it's a small company, you may want to telephone the librarian at the newspaper in the town closest to the interview location. Or an equally good, and easier, method is to consult a computer data base. You have several choices here. One option is to contact a company whose sole purpose is to research companies for prospective job candidates. For a relatively small fee, you will get a complete printout on whatever information has been printed about the firm in business publications, technical journals and other media. This service can include information about competitors, what the company said in its press releases, security analysts' published information about the company's potential, information about key executives, stock ownership data, etc.
A second way to manage a computer search is through your local library. Most local libraries now subscribe to various informational data bases. (More than 700 public data bases are accessible, although most libraries only use a few.) If you go this route, you're charged only for the computer search time, the telephone call and the printout. A third method, if you have a home computer and a modem, is to contact one of the public data base services such as Dialog or Computer, and conduct your own search.
If you still don't have the information you'd like, you have a few more options. Call your interviewer's secretary or the company's public relations department and ask for information or brochures on the company.
At least, find out what the company or organization does. Should this be unproductive, then ask the secretary or receptionist some questions about the company while you wait for your interview. If all else fails, ask for information during the interview. Say something like, "I tried to locate information about your company. I couldn't find out anything in public sources. But the position sounded so interesting, I felt that I just had to find out about it." Or, you can ask them very early on, "Exactly what does your company do? I tried to research the company, but couldn't find any information in public sources."