How Not to Get Burned in the Interview Hot Seat

I’ve got a job interview on Monday morning.

I know no one at this workplace and know only a bit about the workplace itself.

What I do know is something about the job itself, as I’ve held onto the job description (more about this below).

What to do to best prepare myself for sitting in the interview hot seat?

Ideas:

• Read over the job description once again, looking for key words in it that I’ll try to work into my answers during the interview. For example, an active verb like ‘implement’, which could mean the same as ‘start’. So will tell them about a previous job I had where I started a tutoring program for non-English speaking employees who were struggling to succeed at work.

• Go onto the website and read all I can about their organization. Have been told by hiring managers that it’s surprising how few people do this before an interview. It’s as if they’re just focused on the job in question and are not aware of how it fits in with the entire workplace picture.

• Go onto LinkedIn and read the organization’s profile (most have them). Look at the staff members listed there with an LI profile to get a sense of them – preferably ones in the same department I’d (hopefully) be working in.

• Think through and anticipate some of the questions they might ask me and how I’ll answer them. For instance, the dreaded ‘so tell us about yourself’. I’ll look through the job description again and find words there that I can use in my answer. Verbs like ‘present…organize…report’. Adjectives like ‘helpful…positive…motivating’.

• Think up a few questions of my own and write them down. For instance, is this a new position? How will my work be evaluated? How will I interact with others in the department?

Otherwise, there are a couple of practical points I’ll take care of beforehand:

• Find the interview location on a map. Find out how long it takes to drive there. Drive there if I have any doubt about how long it will take me to get there.

• Write down the name, title and phone number of my contact person. Again, hiring managers tell me how quite a few people forget to do this, so they end up arriving for their interview not quite knowing whom they’re supposed to meet.

Have I missed anything? Hope not. But probably have.

After all, I’m not perfect.

But I am the perfect person for this job, right?

Am sure that you are, too.