Everything You Need To Know About A Job Interview

Picked this up from Monster.com's Carole Martin. It's a very succinct way of dealing with how to ace an interview. She called it the "Interview Cheat Sheet"

What follows is a very neat checklist of what you need to do and know before, during and after your interview to make sure you make the best first impression


In the Days Before the Interview

• Draw a line down the center of a piece of paper. On the left side, make a bulleted list (kind of like this) of what the employer is looking for based on the job posting. On the right side, make a bulleted list of the qualities you possess that fit those requirements.
• Research the company, industry and the competition.
• Prepare your 60-second personal statement.
• Write at least five success stories to answer behavioral interview questions ("Tell me about a time when..." or "Give me an example of a time...").
• List five questions to ask the interviewer about the job, the company and the industry.
• Research salaries to determine your worth.
• Determine your salary needs based on your living expenses.
• Get permission from your references to use their names.
• Prepare Your Interview Answers 

Be ready to answer common interview questions such as these:

• Tell me about yourself.
• Why did you leave your last position, or why are you leaving your current position?
• What do you know about this company?
• What are your goals?
• What are your strengths and weaknesses?
• Why do you want to work here?
• What has been your most significant achievement?
• How would your last boss and colleagues describe you?
• Why should we hire you?
• What are your salary expectations?
• Before You Go to the Interview

Do you look professional? Check yourself in the mirror; part of your confidence will come from looking good.

Carry these items to the interview:

• Several copies of your resume on quality paper.
• A copy of your references.
• A pad of paper on which to take notes, though notes are optional.
• Directions to the interview site.

Upon Arrival

• Arrive early -- enter the building 10 minutes before your appointment.
• Review your prepared stories and answers.
• Go to the restroom and check your appearance one last time.
• Announce yourself to the receptionist in a professional manner.
• Stand and greet your interviewer with a hearty -- not bone-crushing -- handshake.
• Smile and maintain eye contact.

During the Interview

• Try to focus on the points you have prepared without sounding rehearsed or stiff.
• Relax and enjoy the conversation.
• Learn what you can about the company.
• Ask questions and listen; read between the lines.
• At the conclusion, thank the interviewer, and determine the next steps.
• Ask for the interviewer's business card so you can send a follow-up letter.

After the Interview

• As soon as possible, write down what you are thinking and feeling.
• Later in the day, review what you wrote and assess how you did.
• Write an interview thank-you letter, reminding the interviewer of your qualities.

Top 6 Interview Blunders To Avoid From Jobstreet

Jobstreet put together the top 6 blunders to avoid during job interviews. These include being totally unprepared or not arriving with your best foot forward. Read on below for more details

1. Be unprepared. Going to the meeting knowing nothing about the company but its name or having only a vague idea of what the position entails predisposes you to a hasty, unceremonious exit. What’s there to talk about, anyway? Do some background checking before showing up. Being ready also means planning for any contingency. Bring along extra resumes, your portfolio, your references’ contact numbers and your social security or tax number in case you need to fill out an application form.

2. Dress unprofessionally. First impressions can make or break you, so always meet company representatives in your professional suit. Remember this rule even if the employees themselves wear casual outfits. You can follow prevailing in-house fashion after you’ve been hired. You needn’t look like a glossy magazine pinup boy either, but do look neat and clean. Avoid in particular chunky jewelry, loud prints and overpowering cologne.

3. Act uncool. You may be drooling for that job, but do you have to show it? Employers will quickly lose interest in someone who appears desperate for work. It’s also so uncalled for to be self-deprecating or self-apologetic. After all, the employer won’t bother to get in touch with you if you’re not qualified. The best approach: Strive to appear calm and in control, even as you convey warmth and enthusiasm. Smile, maintain eye contact, sit up straight and answer slowly and clearly. Don’t fidget, chew gum or make other nervous movements.

4. Rambling on and on and on. Employers have a hearty dislike for those who over-talk during the interview. They get the impression that you either can’t organize your thoughts, are stalling for time, or are glossing over some inadequacy. The solution: Practice your answers to frequently asked questions and role-play the interview scenario with a friend.

5. Talk money too soon. If it’s your first interview, resist the urge to ask how much you might earn. It shows you’re primarily interested in the salary, not the work. If you prove yourself capable, you’ll get an offer and the chance to negotiate the salary you desire. But while you shouldn’t ask just yet, you must already have a fair idea of what the position should be worth. Include salary matters when you do pre-interview research so that you can haggle well if you do receive that offer.

6. Be too honest. You can be completely candid in the confessional and you’ll feel good afterward. But being totally honest during the interview is courting disaster. For instance, if you’re asked why you left your previous employer, you shouldn’t say that you resigned because your boss is a pain in the neck or the company is the pits. Remember that you’re selling yourself: Couch your replies with care, being mindful to project a professional image at all times.

How To Deal With The Top 10 Job Interview Myths

Great article from CNNMoney no less on the top 10 myths of Job interviews. In the article, veteran career coach David Couper is quoted multiple times and they're quite accurate I think.


Myth #10: The interviewer is prepared.

"The person you're meeting with is probably overworked and stressed about having to hire someone," Couper says. "So make it easy for him or her. Answer that catchall request, 'Tell me about yourself", by talking about why you're a great fit for this job. If it's obvious they haven't read your resume, recap it briefly, and then tie it to the job you want." Tell them what they really need to know, so they don't have to come up with more questions.

Myth #9: Most interviewers have been trained to conduct thorough job interviews.

While human resources professionals do get extensive training in job interviewing techniques, the average line manager is winging it. "To make up for vague questions, be specific even if they don't ask," Couper suggests. "Be ready with two or three examples of particular skills and experiences that highlight why they should hire you."

Myth #8: It's only polite to accept an interviewer's offer of refreshment.

"They usually try to be courteous and offer you a drink, but they don't really want to bother with it," says Couper. "Unless the beverage in question is right there and won't take more than a second to get, just say, no, thank you."

Couper once interviewed a job candidate who said she would love a cup of tea, which, he recalls, "meant I spent half the allotted interview time looking for a tea bag, heating water, and so on. It was irritating."

Another good reason, Couper says, to decline caffeine is that "if the interview is a lengthy one, you don't want to need a restroom halfway through the conversation."

Myth #7: Interviewers expect you to hand over references' contact information right away.

Hold off until you're specifically asked, Couper advises, and even then, you can delay a bit by offering to send the information in an email in a day or two. There are at least two good reasons for not rushing it, Couper says. First, "you sometimes don't know until the end of the interview who would be the best references for this particular job," he notes. "If you get a sense that the interviewer cares most about, for instance, teamwork, you want to choose someone who can attest to your skills in that area. A reference who can only talk about some other aspect of your work is not going to help."

Second, and no less important, "you want a little time to prep your references, by gently coaching them on what you'd like them to say, before the employer calls them."


Myth #6: There's a right answer to every question an interviewer asks.
"Sometimes how you approach your answer is far more important than the answer itself," Couper says. If you're presented with a hypothetical problem and asked how you would resolve it, try to think of a comparable situation from the past and tell what you did about it.

Talkback: Has anything surprised you during a job interview? Leave a comment at the bottom of this story.

Myth #5: You should always keep your answers short.

Here's where doing lots of research before an interview really pays off. "The more you've learned about the company and the job beforehand, the better able you are to tell why you are the right hire," Couper says.

Don't be afraid to talk at length about it, partly because it will spare the interviewer having to come up with another question for you (see Myth #1 above) and partly because "in a good interview, you should be talking about two-thirds of the time."

Myth #4: If you've got great qualifications, your appearance doesn't matter.

Reams of research on this topic have proven that physical attractiveness plays a big part in hiring decisions. "Anyone who says otherwise is lying," Couper says. "People care about your looks, so make the absolute most of what you've got." Even if you're not drop-dead gorgeous, it's impossible to overestimate the importance of looking "healthy, energetic, and confident."

Myth #3: When asked where you see yourself in five years, you should show tremendous ambition.

The five-year question is a common one, and it's uncommonly tricky. "Interviewers want you to be a go-getter, but they also worry that you'll get restless if you don't move up fast enough. So you want to say something that covers all bases, like, 'I'd be happy to stay in this job as long as I'm still learning things and making a valuable contribution,'" says Couper.

You might also consider turning the question around and asking, "Where do you see me in five years?" Says Couper, "Sometimes the answer to that -- like, 'Well, we'd expect you to keep doing the same thing we hired you to do' -- is a good way to spot a dead-end job."

Myth #2: If the company invites you to an interview, that means the job is still open.

Alas, no. In fact, the job may never have existed in the first place: "Some companies use 'interviews' to do market research on the cheap. They ask you about your current or recent duties, your pay scale, and so on, to get information for comparison purposes." Another possibility, Couper says, is that "they may already have a strong internal candidate in mind for the job but just want to see if they come across someone better."

If you get an interview through a networking contact, he adds, "an employer may interview you simply as a courtesy to the person who referred you, if that is someone they don't want to disappoint."

Even if the job opening is phony, it's still worth going, he says: "Sometimes they discover you're a good fit for a different opening that really does exist. You never know where an interview might lead."

And the #1 myth about job interviewing: The most qualified person gets the job.

In at least one crucial respect, a job interview is like a date: Chemistry counts.

"A candidate who is less qualified, but has the right personality for the organization and hits it off with the interviewer, will almost always get hired over a candidate who merely looks good on paper," Couper says.