Congratulations! You have gotten through the application process and your hard work has finally paid off.The next step is to go back and read the interview offer carefully and send an email, thanking your contact for the invitation and accepting the offer to interview.
Depending on how your contact wants to interview you, you may be speaking through Skype (How to – Skype Interviews), the phone (Perks of a Phone Interview) or in-person.
HOW TO PREPARE
Revise and review your resume:
Take another look at the job description. Does your resume showcase all of the desired skills, experiences, and personal characteristics (leadership, communication, etc.)?
Review the structure, content and phrasing of your resume to allow for quick and easy reading.
Fill Your Binder:
Have enough copies of your resumes for every interviewer you will be talking to (print a couple extra copies just to bw safe!)
Bring a pen (asking for a pen during an interview is a small thing but makes you look unprepared)
Print out your company research and prepared questions to review before the interview.
Practice Your 30-Second Elevator Pitch:
Chances are, you will be asked some variant of the “So… tell me about yourself question”. First impressions make a huge impact, nailing this question will give you the confidence to perform well on others.
Practice, Practice, Practice:
There is very little chance that you will be prepared for all (if any) of the questions asked during the interview. Do not try to memorize answers to specific questions. This will result in you providing answers that do not specifically answer the interviewer’s question (which will result in a poor evaluation) or not answering the question at all. The purposes of practicing interview questions is give you the ability to quickly recall and effectively verbalize your experiences.
The next section in this series discusses the two types of interview questions you will encounter and how to answer them.
Take a look at some sample interview questions while reading the next section.
If you would like to schedule a practice interview with one of our career consultants, first complete Interview Stream, our virtual interview simulator on myCCO before making an appointment.
