Preparing For The Interview

Preparing for an interview is one of the most important things you can do. Simply reviewing your resume for a few minutes before you meet your potential employer is both wholly insufficient and ill-advised. You always need to review your resume to find places where you could be “attacked.”

During your interview preparation sessions (described later in this article), develop reasonable and truthful answers to get around questionable items on your resume. This may include employment gaps, short-term employment, job hopping, etc.

Here, we will discuss the most important things you need to do in order to be in top form during an interview. While some are obvious, others may require a bit of soul-searching. All preparation activities, however, will be worth your time and effort.

First: Get a good night’s sleep. If you can’t sleep, read a book or watch a movie to keep your mind off the interview. If at all possible, avoid that extra glass of wine or using a sleeping aid; you may oversleep or wake up too groggy to “shine” during your interview.

Second: Make sure your clothes are clean and ironed. Replace any missing buttons and shine your shoes. Do not leave these tasks for the last minute. You should decide what you will wear to the interview at least 24 hours before.

Now that we have the two most basic preparation essentials behind us, let’s get to the details:

The Most Important Part Of Preparing For An Interview

The most important part of preparing for an interview is really quite simple: role play!

Role playing is one of the best ways to learn how to handle any difficult situation, whether it’s an interview or discussion with your boss. Rehearsing your answers to difficult questions will help make you be more at ease during the interview. In fact, you will be surprised at how less stressful an interview is once you know both the questions and the answers.

Role playing can be both enlightening and entertaining. Ask a friend, spouse, or significant other to play the role of interviewer and ask you the interview questions we’ve provided here. While you may feel a bit awkward at first (usually evidenced by some giggling and stalling), you will eventually begin to see the usefulness of this exercise. (We’ve worked with folks before their interviews to help them work out the kinks in their responses…it works wonders and helps gets their head in the right place to “manage” an interview.)

Repeat each question and answer them until you are comfortable with your responses. Your goal is to ensure your responses have a “natural feel” to them. Feeding an interviewer answers that are obviously rehearsed will backfire on you, so it is important that you are able to be yourself and act naturally during an interview. Quite simply, you must be prepared to tell your interviewer that you are great. Practice your facial expressions in front of a mirror. Believe it or not, most people have absolutely no idea how they present themselves to others. Practice speaking with a smile.

If you’ve never role-played and suspect that this type of preparation may require more than one session, try to schedule an additional session or two. It will be worth your time and effort. This way, when your role-playing buddy asks, “Tell me about yourself” or “Why did you leave your last job?”, you have a smooth and well-rehearsed response ready to go!

Also, keep in mind that what you do during an interview is as equally important as what you say. While role playing, practice keeping your hands away from your face and not folding your arms. This type of body language is perceived as being negative, nervous, and defensive. During an interview, your hands should be loosely clasped on your lap – not gripping the chair arms or tucked under your armpits. Practice answering a question, stop speaking, and keep your hands in your lap.

By the way, role-playing works for any type of interview, whether in-person or via telephone (although you can tuck your hands under your armpits and no one will know — just don’t drop the phone!)

Practice, practice, practice!!

Article courtesy of the Recruiting Blogswap, a content exchange service sponsored by CollegeRecruiter.com, a leading site for college students looking for internships and recent graduates searching for entry level jobs and other career opportunities.