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How To Improve Your Interviewing Skills
Nimish Thakkar, MS, MBA,
CCMC, CPRW, SaiCareers.com,
New York
January 05, 2006
Employers
work very hard to select one or two candidates from the many called
for interviews. In such a competitive state of affairs, good
interviewing skills could make all the difference between a rejection
or an offer. Fortunately, interviewing skills, like any other skill,
can be refined, polished, and perfected with sufficient practice. The
following strategies will help you improve your interviewing skills.
Go for interviews
If you have prepared a great
resume and launched an aggressive
job search campaign, you should be
getting plenty of
interviews. Part of the deal is that
you will get calls from companies you may not even be interested in.
Well, if you haven’t interviewed for a while and have the time, go for
these interviews.
Attend these interviews seriously and start taking notes. What
questions are being asked? How did you deliver? What questions were
you uncomfortable with? Where do you see room for improvement?
If done right, your performance must improve with every interview.
Practice, practice, practice
The easiest way to improve your
interviewing skills is through practice. Write your responses to
common interview questions and practice repeatedly. (A word of
caution: don’t confuse practice with memorizing.) If possible,
role-play with a friend or peer capable of providing constructive
feedback.
Research the company
Thoroughly research the companies you
will be interviewing with. Know everything possible about the company,
including financials, management, products, projects,
industry trends, competition, etc.
Our
company research resources can help
you with the process.
Analyze the position (company’s requirements) and develop
impressive responses Conduct a thorough analysis of the
position’s requirements. What are they looking for? What do you have
to offer? A sample tabulation of such an analysis could be done as
follows (such tables are for your preparation only):
What are they looking for? How I meet or exceed their expectations?
Relevant examples from my career.
1. Selling skills
15+ years’ sales experience
At XYZ, I generated $14 million in sales
2. Training skills
5 years’ record in training 45+ employees Developed 300-page
training manual …
Think about stories and examples from your career that you could use
to support your interview responses. Our
CAR stories worksheet and
interview scripts and sound bites will help you
remember achievements,
examples, and stories from your past jobs. Wherever possible, use lots
of numbers and quantifiable
accomplishments to support your
answers.
Prepare for tough questions
Don’t get caught off-guard. Are
there any red flags? Any questions you feel uncomfortable answering?
Try to prepare for questions that have historically made you nervous;
you will feel relaxed knowing that you have taken care of the
monsters.
In summary, don’t think you are stuck with your interviewing skills.
With practice, research, analysis, and preparation you can improve
your interviewing skills and get the job you have always dreamed of.
Related Articles:
Sample Interview Questions
Interviews
Fired? How To Handle A Previous Termination Or
Job Loss During Interviews
Free Job Interview Tips
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