You Can't Just 'Wing It' - Interviewing Takes Practice

You've worked hard to make sure your resume reflects your background and accomplishments, is well written and free from typos or grammatical errors.  You have mastered the art of writing a cover letter.  You've networked to get your resume out there and have applied to every job you can find.  Now you've got the call and have an interview lined up.  Now it's time to put as much energy into winning the job as you did in getting the interview!

Too many people spend too little time on preparing for an interview.  Aside from researching the industry, company and position, you have to have great answers to the following:

Tell me something about yourself.
What are your strengths?
What's a weakness?
What are your short and long term goals?
Why should I hire you?

Write out your answers to each of these, word for word.  The basic answer should be the same or similar for each position.  AND then you tailor or fine tune each answer to showcase how you meet the requirements outlined in the job description.  Read your answers out loud, to a friend, a colleague, and, if you have one, to your career counselor to make sure you are presenting the best you.

I Didn't Know Either: A Tip About Research

I got a comment in response to the LinkedIn post of a few days ago in which the writer acknowledged he hadn't realized that you could 'Get Introduced' through LinkedIn.  I'm a bit embarrassed to admit that I didn't know the option was there either until I tripped over it.  There are tools on many of the job search websites and professional connection sites designed to help make this process easier, but they can't do their job unless you know they're there.

That's why I encourage you to go to websites like LinkedIn and just explore.  Click on every link and see where it takes you.  When you find something that really helps, tweet about it or send me a comment and I'll do my best to share your discovery.

Keep Sleuthing and You Can Find Anyone

In the post I wrote about LinkedIn, I mentioned going to the website of the college I wanted to network into and creating a list of names that I then researched on LinkedIn.  There is so much information out there for all of us to play with. You can find information on company web sites and through professional associations.  Today, you can simply Google someone and see what comes up.  It still tickles me that google has become a verb!  It's an action!

For me, it's easiest to keep at it if I set it up as a challenge for myself.  I reframe it as a test of my sleuthing prowess.  Can I find a contact who can get me into...almost anywhere!

My father was a mechanical engineer who taught me that if you can't get an answer one way, you simply seek another. 

So try to view research as sleuthing.  Put on your Sherlock Holmes cap and dig into the internet to follow the clues to the people you really want to meet with.