In Person Interview Tips

Thus far we have briefly covered a few resume and telephone interview, prescreen tips. Now let’s jump into a few in-person interview items. Most of the advice you often here is dress the part, be prompt, ask questions, yea, yea, yea. So how do you really pull this off and truly stand out.

The first tip I like to give is realize that you will always forget about half of the questions you intend to cover during the interview, so be prepared to jog your memory. I like to have a portfolio in hand, just a simple flip open with a pad of paper on one side and a place to put a pen or two on the other. You can pick up one rather cheaply so it’s a good investment. I always have at least two extra copies of my formatted and printed resume in the portfolio just in case you sit down with someone who doesn’t have a copy, you’re prepared. One trick I use is, before the interview write down or print out a copy of about 6 to 8 questions or items you wish to cover and slide this in-between the pad of paper with about a half inch of the edge sticking out. During the interview, have pen in hand, your portfolio open and pad ready to write on (note, your cheat sheets edge is poking out a bit). As your interview progresses, casually jot down notes, and casually flip up the pad when approaches to see your notes. This will jog your memory and keep you on point. Do what works for you, I personally like my approach. With pen and paper in hand it also presents the appearance you are actively engaged in the interview and not sitting on your hands expecting someone to ask all the questions.

I mentioned some closing comments in my last post, Telephone Interview Tips so do use these if they fit your situation. Another tip stems from the flow of most interviews. Most person to person interviews often start by discussing the company and/or a department overview, followed by the job description and a Q & A section. Your opportunity often comes next followed by specific compensation negotiations. Now here’s where my tip comes in. If they bring up compensation (i.e. how much do you want to be paid) too early in the discussion, side step it by saying that it is negotiable but to have a better understanding how to base the hourly or salary rate on, you would like to discuss more of the jobs responsibilities. By doing this, you put off any numbers and negations until you have a chance to wow them with your skills. Again you’re selling yourself so if you can avoid committing to any fixed number first do so. You can also use a range or better yet, one I often use is if I’m asked about my salary expectations, I often reply with; is there a salary range you’re trying to stay within for this position?

Let me put this another way. Let’s say for example you want to buy a television at the local store. You find one you like but it doesn’t have a price on it. First off, you’ll probably spend a little more time looking at the TV and searching for a price too. Then you’ll ask a sales person what the price is. What’s going on here is you are “investing time” into your decision, and when the sales person provides you the price you have one of two reactions. It’s either way too high, which will put you back a bit or you’ll consider it. If the price is too high, you may even ask the sales person what is in your price range. You see, if you saw the price without having to put any effort into it first, you may have quickly walked away and dismissed it. Because you now have a feeling of time invested, which includes now involving someone else, the sales person here, you find yourself in a state where you are more likely to buy something. My point here is, turn the tables on your interviewer and make them feel they have time invested in you so it’s harder for them to just simply move onto the next candidate.

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