The Interview - Preparation Part I

The following three or four posts may include more information than I can now predict about the interviewing process. Again, these tips and advice come from my own experiences. I claim no expertise in any particular area, but I know what has worked for me. As a result, I have searched the Internet carefully to point you in the direction of someone who has more expertise in each of the areas I cover. If you want to read an excellent selection of articles, and I encourage you to do so, about interviewing and other aspects of job-hunting, let me direct you to Alison Doyle's specific articles at http://jobsearch.about.com/. Alison addresses many of the details about effective interviewing and much more.

I have mentioned before that the Internet is at times a barrier to effective job searching. It helps us all feel that we are making real progress by sending off resumes and compelling cover letters to companies that have already posted jobs and receive thousands of responses a day.

However, when you do, after following my advice, get the opportunity to sit in front of a person who has the ability to hire, today's technology, and specifically the Internet, gives us all a tremendous advantage to, simply put, beat the competitive applicants.

Today, the Internet is, in this setting, a tremendous tool which, believe it or not, applicants rarely utilize to maximize their chances of landing the job. Specifically, with the information available on the Internet today, you can and need to research as much as you can to learn everything about the company you have been invited to interview with.

You should also find out who it is that will be conducting the interview, and if for some reason that name isn't offered when you are asked to come in for an interview, call the central number and work your way through the operation until you get to the nice person (they are aways there) to whom you can ask, "I appreciate your help. I simply wanted to confirm my appointment at 4 pm on Tuesday but did not catch the name of the person who I will be meeting with or his or her position." A little persistence and you will find the name!

Then modern technology again comes to our aid. Find out all you can about the person you will be meeting with - her career path, her hobbies, her values, her family, etc. And remember that you can never learn too much about the company or person who has invited you in.

As you know, I practiced law for many years and I was not the best orator, nor the most skilled attorney in trial technique, but when I believed that my opponent was going to stay up until 2 am preparing and studying the facts of the case, I would stay up until 3 am. Preparation, preparation, preparation!

Learn about your future employer!