How do you effectively interview? How can you prepare for an interview?

Whether you are a two-year or 15-year veteran, most people are not good at interviewing for two reasons. First of all, socially, we are not really allowed to talk highly about ourselves or brag about ourselves, so we’re very bad at it.

Secondly, most people don’t prepare properly for an interview, which is really kind of silly. If you were going to present to a group of executives, you would prepare. You would practice and know exactly what you’re going to say.

Here are two ways to effectively prepare for an interview:

First, open up a Word document and then, a stream of consciousness style, put together words or phrases that describe your best attributes and characteristics. You may write something like sales leadership or communication skills. Leave a space between each skill that you write down so you can go back and effectively, concisely write an example of that specific skill.

“It’s absolutely crucial to prepare for an interview.”

Using two to three sentences at the most, leave them with the idea that you absolutely can perform that skill effectively. For example, you may say that over the last five years, you’ve built two teams from scratch. You hired, fired, and trained all of the top people that worked for your team and made them some of the top 10 contenders in your business. Your team brought in $2 million of new business.

That is very concise and direct and shows how you can impact that particular company.

Next, when you begin to interview, you don’t know what they’re going to ask you about. On your list, have 10 to 15 different skill sets prepared. As early in the interview, as you can, you should say, “Tell me what you want me to accomplish for you.” They will outline that for you so you get a chance to speak directly to what they want you to do.

In a 30-minute interview, you need to speak concisely about five to 15 years of business experience and how that experience applies to the job you are being considered for. These two tips will help you do just that.

If you have any other questions about the interview process, just give me a call or send me an email. I would be happy to help you!