8 Great Strategies To Beat The Job Interview Jitters

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Job interviews aren't much fun. Quite frankly – they're stressful. You're under the microscope and there's tremendous pressure to make the best possible impression in a short period of time.

The good news is there are strategies you can use to reduce the stress and improve your chances.

1. Dress nicely for the interview. Wear a suit. End of discussion.
    
2. Remember - It's just a conversation. Sure, the people you are meeting with are judging you and they're going to throw some curve balls your way, but in the end, an interview is just as much about demonstrating you can work together as the technical skills you bring. Do your best to remember that you're just having a conversation with the person seated across from you. You're both trying to find common ground. Often the interviewer is looking for reasons to hire you – being easy to get along with helps.
    
3. Do your research. The more you know, the more you'll be prepared to talk about. Learn  what's going on at the company and about their products and services by looking at the company's web page and searching online. Be prepared for the question, "What do you know about our company?" Likewise, if you receive an agenda ahead of time , check out your interviewers' LinkedIn profiles – you should be able to come up with some great discussion material (example: "I see you left General Motors to come work here. There must have been something interesting about this company, what drove your decision?").
    
4. It's okay to bring notes. Most interviewers won't mind if you have a page of notes to job your memory during the interview, so long as it's not a crutch. Prepare short, easy-to-read, bulleted discussion points so that you can glance quickly at your notes without having to study them. Notes can  project an impression of preparedness.
    
5. Prepare your war stories. Behavioral interviews are big. Interviewers will ask you questions about your past actions to determine how you'd behave in the future. The examples you present are an opportunity to shine; choose examples that demonstrate your ability to identify and overcome adversity, collaborate, and build creative solutions to work problems. Have five or six go-to stories about your work successes that you can tell which will show you as a strong potential hire.
    
6. Have questions ready. At the end of the conversation, your interviewer will either run out of questions for you, or ask if you have any of your own. Never be caught without insightful questions to ask. They don't have to be profound, but they should demonstrate that you're engaged and have paid attention. Some good standbys: "What does success in this role look like?"; "What does the average day in this position consist of?"; and "Why is this position open?" Find other effective questions here.
    
7. Put off the salary discussion, if at all possible. In fact, don't bring it up at all. Let the interviewer bring it up, and if they do, handle it delicately. Focus on your interest in the job, and indicate that compensation is a secondary consideration to the job itself.
    
8. Send "Thank You" notes. If you met with somebody during your interview day, send them a brief note (email is fine) thanking them for their time and consideration. I've seen a well-placed "Thank You" note push a candidate over the top. And don't send notes to some people and not to others - everybody has a say in whether you get hired, from the receptionist up through the CEO; don't let anybody feel snubbed and wanting to sabotage your chances.

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Scott Singer is the President and Founder of Insider Career Strategies Resume Writing & Career Coaching, a firm dedicated to guiding job seekers and companies through the job search and hiring process. Insider Career Strategies provides resume writing, LinkedIn profile development, and career coaching services, including a free resume review. You can email Scott Singer at scott.singer@insidercs.com, or via the website, www.insidercs.com.

6 Common Interview Mistakes - And How To Avoid Them

"So, there I was at Hot Topic checking out the Nickelback t-shirts..." ((iStockphoto.com/ImageegamI)

An interview is all about giving a potential employer the opportunity to evaluate you.

And judge you they do! You're going to be held to a very high standard of performance by your interviewers. Here are some common interview mistakes - and how to avoid them.

1. Showing Up Late. If you arrive after your appointed time, it's pretty likely that you won't get the job - even if the interviewers still agree to meet with you. If you're late, the interview team will elevate their expectations of you that much higher. They will expect you to "wow" them; anything less will be failure because you'll already have a major demerit in your column to overcome.

Solution: Leave early for the interview, allowing plenty of time for traffic snarl-ups, road closures, or other delays. Don't believe Waze, even if it tells you you're going to get there in plenty of time – the unexpected happens; it's better to allow extra time to sit in your car listening to Nickelback on the radio before heading up to the interview rather than cutting it close.

2. Dressing Inappropriately For The Interview. In doing your research about the company culture, you find out that everybody there wears jeans to work every day. You show up to the interview in your dungarees and a polo shirt. When you arrive in the lobby, you spot some other job seekers wearing their finest suits. Whoops.

Solution: Always, always, always wear a suit to the interview. Don't assume that because it's a casual work environment that the interviewers will judge you any less harshly for your unprofessional attire. If you get there and the interviewer tells you take off your jacket and tie, then of course, feel free to shed them. But unless the person setting up your interview specifically tells you not to wear a suit to the interview, dress to impress.

3. Failing to Acknowledge All The Interviewers. You'll likely meet several people during the interview. Directing your attention toward one interviewer and ignoring another could inadvertently send the message that you're playing favorites, and might tick off an interviewer who feels neglected.

Solution: Treat everybody who interviews you (or greets you, for that matter) with the utmost attention and respect. If it's a panel interview (they're all around the table evaluating you), make sure you make eye contact with and speak to everybody. And when you're sending out "thank you" notes afterward, make sure everybody gets one. Even the receptionist.

4. Answering Interview Questions Poorly. Perhaps you don't understand the context of the question, and you give a wrong answer. Or you fail to give enough detail in your response. Or you just don't know what to say, so you wing it. The interviewer is, suffice to say, unimpressed.

Solution: Be prepared, bring a page of notes of topics to discuss. If you don't understand the question, ask for clarification. If you're caught off guard, ask the interviewer for a moment (literally, a few seconds) to gather your thoughts - they'll usually comply and think no less of you. Most importantly, know how to tell a story; interviewers ask behavioral interview questions (which usually start with, "Tell me about a time...") about your past experiences to see how you'll handle similar situations in the future. Be prepared to walk the interviewer through your story using the STAR Interview Model (it's an acronym): Explain the SITUATION you encountered, then the TASK you had to address, the ACTIONS undertook to deal with the situation, and the RESULT of your actions. It's best to give stories that have a happy ending, and if it's not a happy ending, add a LEARNING from the negative situation. And do your research on the company, this is when it'll come in handy.

5. Talking Too Much. You answer the interview question. Then you keep yapping. The interviewer's eyes glaze over. Then he looks at the clock. And then his watch. Trust me, he's grasping for something to say that will end the conversation.

Solution: Be aware of the length of your answers - if you're spending more than a few minutes answering a complex question, check your interviewer's body language to see if he is actively engaged in the information you're presenting, or looks like he's trying to politely hide his frustration or boredom. As a rule of thumb, if you'representing a detailed story such as in a behavioral question, 3 to 5 minutes should be plenty for you to get the story out and leave time for followup questions.

6. Not Asking Questions. This is a deal killer. Not asking questions during or at the end of an interview tells the interviewer you either don't care, or weren't paying attention. I've seen candidates ace an interview, only to lose the interviewers' interest when they say they've got no questions ready.

Solution: Make sure to get a few questions in. They don't even need to be brilliant. Try, "What does success in this role look like?" or "What are the biggest challenges the company faces in the next year?" Leverage your research on the company to ask a pithy question about their business.

This article appeared on Find My Profession - https://www.findmyprofession.com/career-advice/6-common-interview-mistakes-and-how-to-avoid-them

Scott Singer is the President and Founder of Insider Career Strategies Resume Writing & Career Coaching, a firm dedicated to guiding job seekers and companies through the job search and hiring process. Insider Career Strategies provides resume writing, LinkedIn profile development, and career coaching services, including a free resume review. You can email Scott Singer at scott.singer@insidercs.com, or via the website, www.insidercs.com.

Ten Reasons You're Going To Get the Job!

Here are ten reasons you're going to get the job!

1. "My guy just quit today. Let's see if this uniform fits you."

2. You're so tall! And that full head of hair is such a nice shade of silver!

3. The boss sees on your resume that you were in the college bowling club. They really need a fourth for league night.

4. You went to Northwestern. Their manager went to Northwestern.

5. "Wait, you heard about this place? And you still want to work here?"

6. You whitened your teeth yesterday with Borax. Your gums hurt, and your liver wants to escape, but your smile looks so good!

7. "I can't believe you like money too. We should hang out."

8. The manager hates her objectives. But she realizes she can get you to do them for her.

9. The job's been open for eight months. GIVE ME A BODY!

10. You have a degree. And an immaculate employment history. And a clean resume. And no dandruff. And you used a good deodorant.

Life may not be fair, but it sure as hell is interesting. Do the best you can do in terms of preparing for the interviews, and you'll do what you can to stack the odds in your favor.

Scott Singer is the President and Founder of Insider Career Strategies Resume Writing & Career Coaching, a firm dedicated to guiding job seekers and companies through the job search and hiring process. He is a Human Resources professional and staffing expert with almost two decades of in-house corporate HR and staffing firm experience, and is a Certified Professional Resume Writer (CPRW) and Certified Professional Career Coach (CPCC).

Insider Career Strategies provides resume writing, LinkedIn profile development, and career coaching services, including a free resume review. You can email Scott Singer at scott.singer@insidercs.com, or via the website, www.insidercs.com.