I’m putting the finishing touches on an ebook version of my “Ace That interview” program that I expect to begin offering at the end of the month. It’s based on the workshop (and audio program) of the same name and covers everything from interview preparation to answering questions to what to do after the interview is over. It’s definitely a great tool for those that are having a tough time with their job search.

The rules are straightforward. Simply recommend this blog to five friends using the “email this to a friend” feature at the top of each blog post. At the end of the month, I’ll put all of the email addresses of those who have shared at least five posts (for every five you share, I’ll enter your email a separate time so you can have more chances to win) into a spreadsheet and use a random number generator to select five winners. If I get a huge response to this contest, I may decide to give away more than five.

All entries must be submitted between February 6th, 2012 and February 29th, 2012. Here’s exactly how to enter:

• Choose one to five articles on the blog to share with friends.
• Click the “email this to a friend” feature for each post you want to share.
• Add your name & email and your friends’ names & email addresses (you can share each post with up to five people at a time).
• In the remarks field, type in at least one sentence about the article.
• Click “Mail it.”

On March 1st, 2012, the contest will close. I’ll start notifying winners within seven days and they will receive the ebook shortly afterwards. I will post a list of winners (names only) if they give me permission to do so.

Now, to proactively eliminate potential problems, here’s the fine print to define what constitutes an entry:

• Use of the “email this to a friend” feature to notify five friends of posts on this blog. This could be the same post sent to five different people, five separate posts to five different people of some combination of each.
• You must send to five different people, to get an entry. That doesn’t mean you can’t send multiple posts to the same person if you think they’ll find them interesting, it’s just that those won’t be counted for the contest.
• You must send to valid email addresses and use a valid email address where it asks you to.
• Email addresses submitted as part of this contest will not be used for any other purposes. You (or your friends) will not be added to any mailing lists. You email address will only be used for the following purposes:
  1. To contact you if you are a winner.
  2. To email you the ebook if you are a winner.
  3. To respond to any questions about the contest and/or blog that you initiate.

Lastly, I assume no liability or responsibility for any damages or problems associated with this contest. I also reserve the right to shut down the contest in the (unlikely, I hope) chance that things get out of hand. If you have any questions about the contest or want to check the status of your entries, feel free to contact me using the contact form on my about page.

Related posts:

1. Job Interview Success: Job Interview Tips Roundup
2. Five Things You Must Do to Prepare for a Job Interview
3. How to Answer the Strengths and Weaknesses Job Interview Question
4. 10 Questions to Ask During a Job Interview

Over the past fifteen or so years, I’ve interviewed probably hundreds of job applicants. Some have been in person while others have been phone screens to weed out potential duds. I’ve even volunteered to help friends by mocking interviewing them. If there’s one thing that truly astounded me in each of these job interview situations, it was how many of these people barely did any preparation (and some did none at all).

Preparing for a job interview is more than just plugging the company’s address into your GPS. I spend a good chunk of both my job interview classes and my audio program discussing preparation. I once had an attendee ask me during a class when we’d get to the “important stuff” – in other words, how to answer questions. He said he didn’t care about preparation – he didn’t need to prepare. I asked him if he had many job interviews and he told me he had a lot. We then had a somewhat heated exchange about preparation.

A week after he took my class, he emailed me an apology (both for his comments in class and on his feedback form). He told me he prepared as I told him he should just so he could prove me wrong but then got an offer at his next interview. Preparation is that important when it comes to job interviewing.

So here are five things you must do when you prepare for a job interview:

Job Interview Preparation Tip 1: Read Your Resume

This sounds so basic yet so many people fail to do this. I remember once asking someone about a project they listed on their resume. His reply was “wow that was a long time ago. How’d you know about that?” I replied that it was on his resume and he seemed surprised. Would you hire a person like that?

Job Interview Preparation Tip 2: Visit the Company’ Website

Another no brainer, right? I used to work for a dot com and I was amazed at how many people would waltz in and admit to not looking at the website that we were hiring them to work on – even though the site was listed in the job description. It makes you wonder what kind of interest they’ll have once they have the job.

Job Interview Preparation Tip 3: Read the Job Description

Again, you’d think people would do this, but they don’t – or they just read it quickly. Sometimes it’s not their fault because they go through a recruiter that arranges the interview and then verbally provides an overview of the job. If this is the case, ask for the job description. The recruiter should be able to provide it. If not, check the company’s website or call their staffing or human resources department and ask them for the information.

Job Interview Preparation Tip 4: Practice

At the very least, make up some potential questions and practice answering them. It’s impossible to anticipate every question you’ll be asked but with a little bit of effort (following the first three tips) you can anticipate some. If you’ve been on interviews and struggled with answering some questions, then try working on them. It’s a great place to start and you’ll probably come up with some additional ones.

Job Interview Preparation Tip 5: Research

You’ll want to come across as informed so if you’re not familiar with the company or industry, do some research to learn about trends, big news and top stories in those areas. I am a huge fan of using libraries for this purpose and your local reference librarian can point you in the right direction to make the most efficient use of your research time.

As someone who has been guilty of not doing enough prep work for an interview, I can tell you that it’s a feeling that’s similar to forgetting to play your lucky numbers the day they come up in the lottery. It only takes an hour or two to properly prepare for most job interviews (some circumstances require more prep work). If you need more detailed instructions on how to properly prepare, please feel free to check out my job interviewing audio program.

Related posts:

1. Job Interview Success: Job Interview Tips Roundup
2. 10 Questions to Ask During a Job Interview
3. Three Things You Probably Didn’t Know About Job Interviewing That Can Land You the Job
4. How to Find Out the Dress Code For A Job Interview

I figured this would be a great topic to kick off Super Bowl week. I once heard about a company that had multiple openings for similar positions and brought all of their candidates in for a day of interviewing at the same time. They had games and activities that the candidates worked on together – one such activity was creating a new cheer for the company. What was interesting is that some of the candidates figured that coming up with the best cheer, or at a least a cheer better than everyone else’s, would land them the job. Turns out it didn’t.

Interviews where all of the candidates are brought in together can be tricky – more so than even the dreaded “team interview“. On one hand, you at least know who you’re up against for the opening. But on the other, the way you present yourself and act around the other candidates says more about you than you realize. I once went on one such interview and found it to be weird. First, seven of us were all brought in to take a standardized test. It felt like I was taking the SATs all over again. A week later, we were all invited back to have lunch with the IT management team –all together.

When you’re in a situation like this, your natural inclination is to try to rise above your competition. You try to make yourself look like the strongest candidate and the others weaker. Being the strongest candidate is never a bad thing, and in some cases, it’s exactly what the employer is looking for. However, when employers use this technique, they are not just looking for people who perform well; they’re looking for people who perform well as part of a team.

Going back to the story about the cheerleading competition, while a good cheer wouldn’t hurt your chances of getting the job, focusing only on yourself would. In this particular instance, it wasn’t the cheers that were being watched by the hiring team – it was the audience. The people that were cheering on an encouraging the others got the highest marks while those that were clearly bored or not paying attention got the lowest. When you think about it, it kind of makes sense doesn’t it? If you were part of the hiring team, who would you prefer?

Needless to say, I didn’t realize this when I was part of what I call the “Team Player” interview. The other candidates that I was seated with during that lunch were all pretty quiet. I talked mostly to the management team, but in retrospect, what I should have done was interacted more with the other candidates and tried to bring the quiet ones out of their shells. Had I taken that approach, I think I would have come closer to landing the job.

So if you ever find yourself in this type of interview situation, remember to shine your best, but also try to bring out the best in the others. If the management teams sees you doing this, and sees you doing it genuinely, it’ll dramatically increase your odds of getting the job.

Related posts:

1. Three Things You Probably Didn’t Know About Job Interviewing That Can Land You the Job
2. How to Answer the Strengths and Weaknesses Job Interview Question
3. 10 Questions to Ask During a Job Interview
4. How to Find Out the Dress Code For A Job Interview

Job interviewing can be challenging for all involved. Candidates and interviewers alike often lack formal training on the process and each company has their own process. From the candidate perspective, interviews can be completely different from one to the next. Each interviewer has their own style and looks for different things – in some cases, you might get a strong “yes” and a strong “no” from people who were part of the same team interview with you.

The good news is that all interviews have the same goal – to decide whether the candidate is a good fit for the position. This means that interviewers are looking to figure out if you have the skills necessary to perform the job, whether you’ll fit in with the people you’ll potentially be working with and if your work ethic matches what the company is looking for. If you can convince each person that you meet with that the answers to all three of these questions are “yes” then you’ll probably get the job.

That oversimplifies things, but keep that in mind as we continue. Again, most candidates (and interviews) lack formal training in job interview skills so here are three things that you probably don’t know about job interviewing that can help you land the job.

1. The interview is more than just your visit to the employer:

Most candidates think that that interview starts the moment you walk in the door at the prospective employer and ends the moment you walk out the door. Wrong. I can go on and on about instances where a candidate was observed on the way either to or from the interview and observations made either made or broke the candidate’s chances. Once on the way to Boston for an interview, I sat next to someone on the train who ended being one of the people who interviewed me. So technically, the interview starts the moment you walk out your door.

2. Preparation for an interview is critical for your success:

I am amazed at how many people go on interviews with very little preparation. If you’re not spending several hours preparing for an interview, then you might as well not even bother showing up. Preparation is that important.

Over a decade ago, I worked for a dot com and we went through a growth spurt that caused me to conduct dozens of interviews. At least half of the candidates didn’t even look at the website that were we looking to hire them to work on. Back then, there were more jobs than people but these days that attitude won’t cut it. You need to research the company, the industry and the position. You need to ensure that you have the skills needed to perform the job and then some – because even if you’re a perfect fit, there are several other candidates that are also a perfect fit for that position. That’s where your preparation will give you an advantage.

So before you begin your journey to the prospective employer’s office, make sure you’ve done your homework. You’ll want to demonstrate your knowledge and show them that you’re serious about the position.

3. Sometimes, the best candidate doesn’t get the job:

Often, it’s the candidate that interviews the best that gets the job. By this, I mean depending on the company’s values, the interview team may compromise on one requirement in favor of another one. In several of the companies I’ve worked with, I’ve seen candidates with amazing qualifications lose out to less qualified applicant because the latter seemed to be a better fit for the team. I can think of a number of occasions where those of us that did the interviews debated over whether the candidate who could hit the ground running but seemed to be more a loner would be a better choice than the inexperienced but likable alternative that seems to work well with others.

Again, the key here is preparation. It’ll help you in being able to demonstrate you have strong work skills and that even though you may not already know everything, you’re learning. It’ll also help you answer questions better, demonstrate your qualifications and connect with your interviewer.

Job interviewing is tough, especially in a job market as competitive as today’s. You need every advantage to compete with the thousands of others seeking employment in your area. Qualified doesn’t cut it anymore, over-qualification is often needed. I’ve put together an audio program with my best tips and advice for job interviewing. It tells you exactly how to prepare, how to conduct yourself during the interview and even what to do after each interview to ensure that you improve from interview to interview. Additionally, it covers topics such as the different interview types, phone screens and following up. If you’ve never had any formal training in job interviewing or you feel like you’re just not getting anywhere with your interviews, it’s definitely worth checking out.

Related posts:

1. The Team Player Interview
2. 10 Questions to Ask During a Job Interview
3. Job Interview Success: Multiple Interviewers: What to do when more than one person is interviewing you at the same time
4. How to Find Out the Dress Code For A Job Interview