Learn HERE How to Read an Interviewer’s Mind and crack the Interview

The main reason job seekers fear and fail at interviews is that they are attempting to read the interviewer’s mind then give answers they think the interviewer wants to hear.  This mind-guessing game will not work and is destined to fail.

Psychologists say that humans make snap judgements whenever we meet someone new, based on minimal amounts of information. Interviewers don't make a complete hiring decision in the first few seconds of an interview, but they do make strong assumptions prompted by three factors: how personable you are, how easy you seem to work with, and your initial visual impact.

So how does an interviewer makes an instinctive prediction about how personable you are? They will question whether you are easy to talk to, pleasant to work alongside and good at establishing relationships quickly.

here are the tips

Tip #1 Knowledge is power

First, you’ll need to research the company that is interviewing you. Create a main branch on your Mind Map for research and draw radiating child branches to show the key points. Knowledge of the company and how you would fit into their ethos and philosophy is important not only for the employer, but also for you to determine if you are right for the role. Go through the company’s website, editorials and annual reports. Read up on their ongoing projects, future plans and goals. When did the company start? Who are their competitors? Has the industry been in the news for any reason recently?

Tip #2: Prove that you want the job

Why do you want this job? This is a common interview question, so it is a good idea to prepare your answer ahead of time. Think about what attracted you to apply for the position in the first place. Was it the growth potential? The varied role? Or was it the opportunity to work for a reputable company? When you’re answering this question, you want to show that you have researched the company, and prove that you are a good fit for the job. Your Mind Map’s top-down view makes it easy to see your research (from Tip #1) and use it to feed your answer for this question.

Tip #3: Always come prepared

Prepare for the most common interview questions that you will encounter and use Mind Mappingto plan your answers. These could include:

1. Tell me about yourself?
2. What are your strengths and weaknesses?
3. Where do you see yourself in 5 years time?

Stick to one keyword per branch and your brain will remember this more easily, enabling you to reel off impressive answers to a huge range of questions during the interview.

Tip #4: Remember your selling points

This is where you need to sell yourself to the employer, so your qualifications, training and experience should come across simply and clearly. By filling this in on your Mind Map, you will capture what the company is looking for in a candidate and can then map it back to how your experience and skill set fulfils their requirements. The blanks in your Mind Map will clearly show where your weaknesses lie. Don’t shy away from discussing these and how you will overcome them. Show how enthusiastic and keen you are for this position as this will be the key to interview success.

Tip #5: Know the rules of interview etiquette

It is very easy to make a mistake at an interview. Some are obvious whereas others may not be so clear. Common mistakes include being apathetic towards the interviewer, avoiding answering the question, dressing inappropriately, making a bad first impression and not researching the company (See Tip #2). These are often the biggest mistakes that job seekers encounter and are common reasons why many don’t get the job they desire. Use your Mind Map to capture how you want to come across and what you will do to make a good impression.

An exercise that would benefit your preparation is to map out your worst fears for the interview on a separate Mind Map. These could include, not knowing how to answer a question, being late to the interview or your mobile going off in the middle of the interview. This allows you to confront your fears and you can then map out how you would resolve or prevent these fears from occurring.

Tip #6: Stand out from the crowd

You must be able to differentiate yourself from your competition with what you can offer them that others cannot. Employers want someone who is able to contribute to the organisation in more ways than one. Furthermore, your interests such as sport, culture and music, can help you to portray your soft skills to the interviewer. For example, if sport is an interest of yours, this will help to show the employer that you are a team player and a clear communicator. Make sub-branches off of your main branch to explain your interests and what additional key skills you can contribute to the company. After all, these soft skills may be the deciding factor of you getting the job.

Tip #7: Become the interviewer…

The interview is as much an opportunity for you to determine whether the job is right for you as it is for the employer to know what you are about. Having nothing to ask may show a lack of interest and could reflect badly on you. Prepare some simple questions to ask the interviewer. For example:

1. ‘If this is not a new role, what were the best traits of the previous employee that would be needed to succeed in the job?’
2. ‘What is a common characteristic or quality that the organisation looks for in all of its employees?’

Additionally, make sure you do background research on the company to avoid asking questions that you can find the answer to on their website (See Tip #2).

Useful hint: Never ask about the pay or potential benefits at this stage. It shows a focus on material gains as opposed to a passion for the role; not to mention a lack of tact!

Tip #8: Stay calm on the day

Finally, the big day has arrived! You are probably nervous, but your Mind Maps will ensure you’re well prepared, so there is no need to panic. Make sure you turn up at least 15 minutes before the interview. This will calm your nerves and give you an opportunity to think over some of your answers and review your Mind Map before the meeting. After using the Mind Mapping technique, you will have a clear, structured and memorable Mind Map of everything you need to know for the interview. So, relax – you have given yourself the best possible chance to wow the recruiter and nail the interview!

If you are preparing for an interview, then Mind Mapping will give you a fantastic chance of landing your dream job.

How to make Resumes to Get shortlisted for the Interview.

Your resume alone cannot get you a job, but it is an effective tool to get you shortlisted for an interview. Use it if you have failed to connect with the decision-maker personally for an interview call. A resume is effective only if it is sharp and here's how you can get that edge.








What recruiters look for first 
These points are critical if you want your application shortlisted 

46% : scan for skills first. 

23% : look for experience. 

15% : pore over qualifications 

2% : are interested in personal details 

5% : check for rewards and recognitions 

10% :note the achievements

1. Make your Resume Cleverly

No matter how well written, your resume won't get a thorough reading the first time through. Generally a resume gets scanned for 25 seconds. Scanning is more difficult if it is hard to read, poorly organized or exceeds two pages.

• Use a logical format and wide margins, clean type and clear headings
• Selectively apply bold and italic typeface that help guide the reader's eye
• Use bullets to call attention to important points (i.e. accomplishments)

2.   Identify Achivement not just JOB role

Hiring managers, especially in technical fields like engineering, seek candidates that can help them solve a problem or satisfy a need within their company. Consequently, you can't be a solution to their problems without stating how you solved similar problems in other companies and situations.

• Focus on what you did in the job, NOT what your job was there's a difference
• Include a one or two top line job description first, then list your accomplishments
• For each point ask yourself, What was the benefit of having done what I did?
• Accomplishments should be unique to you, not just a list of what someone else did
• Avoid using the generic descriptions of the jobs you originally applied for or held

3.   Describe the level of you skill in Your Achivement

Q: What's the most common resume mistake?
A: Making too many general claims and using too much industry jargon that does not market the candidate. A resume is a marketing document designed to sell your skills and strengths rather than just portray a bio of the candidate.

• Include and highlight specific achievements that present a comprehensive picture of your marketability
• Quantify your achievements to ensure greater confidence in the hiring manager and thereby generate interest percentages, dollars, number of employees, etc.
• Work backwards to quantify your accomplishments by asking, If I had not done X, what could have happened?

4.   Cater Your Resume for the Industry

Unlike advertising and design professionals who have greater creative license in designing their resume for those fields, the mechanical engineering industry won't be impressed and may be turned off by distinctive resume design.

• Err on the side of being conservative stylistically
• Your accomplishments, error-free writing, grammatically-correct, clean, crisp type and paper will make the impression for you

5.   Change your Objective" with a "Career Summary"

A Career Summary is designed to give a brief overview of who you are and what you do. Most Objectives sound similar: Seeking a challenging, interesting position in X where I can use my skills of X, Y, and Z to contribute to the bottom line. Not telling at all.

• Grab a hiring manager's attention right from the beginning, remembering you
  have only 25 few seconds to make a good impression
• Spend time developing a summary that immediately gets their attention, and accurately and powerfully describes you as a solution to their problems

6.   Develope a best Network to Sell your self.

For unemployed candidates, handing out resumes should be a full-time job. The majority of mid- to senior-level positions are filled through networking, so contact absolutely everyone you know in addition to recruiters who are in a position to hire you or share insights. Networking can include

• Personal business contacts, people you've worked for or who worked for you
• Vendors and sales representatives you've dealt with in the past five years
• People listed in the alumni directory of your alma mater

With a solid resume in hand you'll greatly increase your odds of earning a closer look and getting that interview.

Behavioral interview tips form making your best Interview Answer

Behavioral Interview  is the kind of interview  of which  the goal is to identify  whether the candidates have suitable  skills for the job. In such an interview,  the interviewers  shall not ask what you will do, but instead, what you did. They want to know how you handled  certain circumstances  that you have experienced  in the past and based on your answer, they will evaluate how well you handle such circumstances  in the future. 

STAR is short for a procedure, in which:  

•  S = Situation: describe the situation. 

•  T = Task: identify  the goals you wish to achieve.

•  A = Action: determine  the action you should  perform to reach such goals. 

•  R = Result: what is the result you expect? 

Behavioral interview  tips :

   

1. Have you prepared carefully  before a Behavioral Interview.  Read the job description carefully  and your profile  as well.  Identify  which qualifications,  abilities  or skills  of yours should be most suitable to the job. 

2. Prepare a list of questions that may be asked in a Behavioral Interview  after considering job description.  Also, prepare answers to such questions. 

3. The interviewer  may want to know about your behavior in certain situations  (guess which situations  it may be) or your past experience in working which may influence  on the performance  of current job. Emphasize  on your abilities  or skills which  help you resolve problems in the past or help improve  your performance.    

4. Be coherent in your stories. Begin  with a brief introduction  to the problem. Then, talk about your action, and the result of your action. Finally,  summarize  your approach and solution. 

5. The interviewer  may wish to debate on certain problems during  your working experience. It is because he or she is seeking your abilities  to perform the duties for which they are recruiting.  He or she wants to know how you take over a new challenge  and how you can resolve new problems.  

6. Answer as sincerely  as possible.  Don‘t lie as if you are discovered, it shall be very a very bad situation.

7. There may be some argumentative  questions.  And to deal with them, firstly,  you have to stay calm and think  of them carefully.  Make your points clearly  and confidently.  Don‘t be much worried about lose. The point here is that you are confident  with your approaches.

8. The interviewer  doesn‘t expect you can handle every situation.  If he or she raises one which you were unable to resolve,  explain  its result and why you couldn‘t deal with it. Tell him or her which  you have learn from such failure. 

9. Remembering  everything  at moment of the interviewer  asking the questions  is nearly impossible.  So, the most important  tip is that you have get yourself prepared carefully before the Behavioral  Interview.

How to crack Interview:Top skill to crack Interview

How to crak Interview:Top skill to crack Interview

You are worried that how to crack interview, here is the Top skill to crack Interview for dream job.
for more preparation go through this book:http://amzn.to/2nIg8uR

Interviews have always been a nerve racking experience. A situation where you are judged on your performance for a job. Everybody gets the jitters when it comes to interviews. Relax! Don’t panic. You need to overcome the nervousness.

You are not alone to appear for an interview, you have been called for. To be the choice of your interviewers you need to undertake a full proof preparation, leaving no scope of being caught off guard. To ace the interview, you need to focus and work on the top 10 skills’ categories, interviewers prefer and rate high

Here i want to list out some top skill to crack interview.

• 1st Impression Is the last impression.
• confidence
• Communication Skills: Both written and verbal influencing the interpersonal dealing and collaboration.
• leadership
• Analytical Skills: Apart from applying the previous and known solutions, you are expected to do your own brainstorming and come with new and effective solutions.
• Team player: Collaborating and co-coordinating skills while working with others
• Conceptual knowledge: Knowledge of your own field or your subject knowledge.
• Preparation Skills: Preparation is the most basic requirement at any interview to crack.

See video tutorial that how this skills related to each other and how to develop it.  

Some proven psychology principle Technics for Great result in Job Interview.

Likeability and the Similarity Principle

Many hiring managers and interviewers hire those that they like. Here are some ways to increase your likeability:

• Use the same language. If you sound like them, you must be like them. Copy similar vocabulary and patterns of speech. Also copy their speech pace.
• Use the same gestures. (Same as above.)
• Dress the same way. If you look like them, you must be like them.
• Have the same hobbies. If they like foosball and yoga, build attraction by claiming similar interests.
• Have the same affiliation. There's a reason why millions pay to go to Harvard or join the local country club.
• Emphasize similar experiences. Instead of saying, "You went to Princeton, and I went to Yale." Say "We're similar: we both graduated from Ivy League schools."

Passion Principle

Human beings get energised by those who are upbeat and optimistic. Be careful! Over do it, and you'll rub others the wrong way.

Recommendation: gauge the interviewer's energy level, and exceed it by 10%.

Needs Principle

Every individual has a core set of psychological needs: validation and inclusion are the two big ones.

For the first one, validate the other person. Acknowledge their accomplishments or feelings. Give them the appreciation that they only seem to get from their mother.

For the second one, include the other person. It's a little tougher to pull off at the interview. However, let's say the interviewer is new to the city, you might be able to make them feel "included" by inviting them to a insider-only party.

Detail Principle

Interviewers find candidates that use detailed stories more credible and competent than those that do not.

Warning: detail does not mean filling up airtime with jargon. Interviewers are smart enough to see past that.

Excitement Principle

Research from Harvard professor Alison Wood Brooks indicates that presenters who say "I am excited" are 17% more persuasive and 15% more confident than those that say "I am calm."

Based on my experience with my job search clients, the same principle applies to interviewees. 

Mirror your interviewer's body language.

This technique, known as "mirroring", is widely used among the psychological world as a mean to gain an interlocutor's trust and make them feel at ease. Good salesmen often use it to increase their chances of closing.

By mirroring their movements, tone, gestures, breathing pace and so on, you're basically communicating: "Hey, we're playing the same tune here. We're akin. You can trust me."

Remember: verbal language represents only about 7% of what we're actually communicating. The remaining 93% is up to your body and your tone, so focusing on howto speak rather than what to tell is a priority.

Bear in mind: mirroring isn't parrotting. It's not quite easy (at least for most parts) and it's a skill that requires training. The good side is that it can be practiced anywhere, anytime, with anyone.

Try it with strangers at the bar, with your friends, your mother, your teachers, on a date (especially on a date: it works wonders).

How to Overcome Fear of answering in a Job Interview

I’m working on being bold – whether it’s in a one on one conversation or in a presentation. In the past, I’ve often watered down what I say to avoid upsetting anyone. And I’m not alone. Many of the people that I coach are concerned about being bold. As a result, they dilute their message so much that they have zero impact on their audience.

This lesson will answer those questions.

I’ve found blogging to be extremely useful in helping me be bold. Some posts I’ve written have taken me some time to publish because of my fear, but having done so I’m bolder. Here are some thoughts to help you develop an attitude of boldness in everyday life.

1. Stop being nice

What stops me being bold is that I want to be liked, I want to be nice. I don’t want to have to deal with anyone being upset or offended by what I’ve said. It’s worked for me in many ways, but it holds me back too. 

2. Saying what you think enhances your career

Do you hold back saying what you think because you want to make sure that everything you say makes perfect sense and is supported by evidence? Me too. But research shows that people who speak up more are seen as leaders. Now that makes sense, but here’s the topsy-turvy kicker – what they said didn’t have to be particularly brilliant or clever or original. So don’t worry about being perfect, just speak up.

3. Not saying what you think annoys people

I’ve sometimes held back on saying what I think fearing that it will upset people. Then the situation deteriorates and I end of saying what I think, only to be told “Why you didn’t tell me that earlier?”

4. Your ideas can help other people

Do you think your ideas are not worth sharing, that they’re obvious. Then watch this gorgeous, short video 

5. What’s the worst that can happen

Sometimes when I want to say something bold, I stay silent because I just imagine a nameless disaster. But if I think it through  and ask myself “What’s the worst thing that could happen?” then I realise that the worst that will happen is that the person I’m speaking to might be upset for a day. Can I handle that? Yes, I can! And then often they don’t even get upset for five minutes. They just thank me for being straight! Often the consequences that we fear from being bold don’t materialise.

Preparation for interview

Before you go on a job interview, you need to thoroughly prepare.

Research company and job

You should do research on the company and the job for which you are applying. Then gather together a listing of all experience and education you have related to this position.

Practice interview

Just as a public speaker practices a speech before giving it to a large audience, you need to practice what you plan to say during an interview. The big difference between giving a speech and an interview is that you are usually responding to questions in the interview.

Have a friend act as the person holding the interview with you. Your friend can then ask typical questions that you will answer, as if in a real interview. Example questions can be:

• "Why do you want this job?"
• "How does your experience relate to the work we do?"
• "Tell me about your goals."
• "What value can you bring our company?"

There are also other questions related to the specific position you are seeking.

By practicing answering these questions, you are practicing your speech to your audience. This will get you more comfortable and confident in your abilities.

Have backup material

It is good to bring some samples of work you have done, as a backup. You may not need to show the material, but if there is a question that you can't answer, you might refer to the material. You should also have your resume' handy to refer to, if necessary. Knowing you have this material handy will act as a safety net in case you are worried about forgetting something.

During interview

Once the interview process starts, you should try to relax, listen thoughtfully and get them to like you.

Relax

Before going into the interview, take a deep breath to center yourself and get relaxed. Take your time. If you act anxious and ready to start the process, you will get anxious and nervous.

Listen

You need to be very aware of the people interviewing you and their moods. You need to listen carefully and act is if he or she is the most important person.

Some people being interviewed talk too much, trying to make a big impression. But often the person doing the interview is the one who wants to talk and control the dialog. You need to listen carefully to what the person says and not be overly anxious to impress. Listening will allow you to answer the questions better.

Get them to like you

It is important to get the people involved in the interview to like you. You want to present yourself as a friendly person that they would like to have on their team.

Arrogance or some other negative personality trait may not be appreciated. Certainly, never point out personal opinions or weaknesses you may think you have.

Note that a common question asked in an interview is: "Tell me your weaknesses." You need to prepare to answer that question with a positive remark. An example may be: "One weakness is that I try to do a perfect job. I may even do extra work to make sure the job is excellent."

Summary

You want to be natural in your job interview and not fearful or arrogant. You need to thoroughly prepare for the interview. Then you should present yourself in a positive manner, avoiding the impression of being nervous. Relax, listen thoughtfully and get them to like you. Following these steps will help you do a good job in your interview and will help to overcome any fears you may have.

What exactly job interview weakness?

job interview weakness

Job interview weaknesses are aspects of an interview that you feel
you lack confidence with. This means that job interview
weaknesses can range form how clearly you speak when spoken
to, the condition of your nerves, to how well you answer any
questions that an interviewee may ask of you. It is important that
you learn to pinpoint these job interview weaknesses either prior to
a job interview, or in the very least during a job interview that you
were not successful at. If you can pinpoint where your job interview
weaknesses lay after a job interview, you can work on these job
interview weaknesses and improve on them for the next job
interview you attend.

There is nothing wrong with having job interview weaknesses. We
all suffer from one weakness or another when we first begin to
head out to job interviews. This is often because we are put into a
place of 'not being in utmost control'. (meaning, we are not in the
position where we are controlling what is going on around us - we
are the microscopic piece of the interview equation). That could
seem a strange way to put it, but that quite simply is how it is when
you are attending a job interview. The interviewee is studying you,
all of the time. An interviewee will study the way you move, the
way you speak and also what it is you have to say. Rest assured, if
you have job interview weaknesses the interviewee will see these.

If you are lucky enough, when you hear back about how the job
interview went, the interviewee may even pinpoint where your job
interview weaknesses lie. That is always very helpful for a person
who has to move on to another job interview. We cannot improve
on our job interview weaknesses, unless they are recognized and
shown to us. If an interviewee comments on certain job interview
weaknesses, respect what they have to say and learn from what
they have to say. Always take constructive criticism exactly as that
- constructive criticism. This will help you overcome the job
interview weaknesses that you in the meantime possess.

The more job interviews you attend, the less likely you will be at
holding many job interview weaknesses. Your self confidence will
grow, your ability to relate to varying people will grow and your
overall demeanor will grow making you a stronger and more
knowledgeable person when it comes to job interviews.

All I can say now - is Good Luck! 

Putting Your Best Self Forward,Isn't is selfish but NECESSARY for getting job.

Interviewing is one time in our lives that we become actors performing on stage.  This can build anxiety levels in the majority of us, as we have not written or practiced our scripts prior to the interview.  Plus, we are not accustomed to being in the spotlight.  One of the motto’s of actors is “Think before you act, so that you can act before you think.”  We have read thousands of articles that provide us guidance on how to prepare for the interview, how to answer questions during the interview, and how to listen and speak during the interview.  What about the scripts of our lives?  The ones that make up who we are today, what brought us to the table to position ourselves as one of the candidates of choice.  How to think before we act, so that we can act before we think?

Interviewing techniques tip 1: Balance passion and skill.

 It's easy to end up in a career that reflects what we do best rather than what we love to do. The best is often to find a mix of both at the beginning, and then work to transition over time into doing solely what we love most. If you start with passion and skill, it won't be long before you succeed. When starting a business, you sometimes need to use your skill to fund your passion projects.

Tip 2: Develop a compelling story

We tend to conclude that our lives are pretty much the same as other people's, that they’re average and boring. As a result, many people don’t tell their own story well. But your story is so much better than you think. The way your life has evolved; the things you’ve learned; your achievements, failings, and dreams—these things are unique to you and much more interesting than you realize. Sharing your well thought-out story is a powerful interviewing technique.

Your story is what helps people understand who you are and where you are going. So learn to tell your story and tell it well, especially for interviewing and networking purposes. Putting together your story takes a lot of work and practice. However, the benefits to you and to your career are enormous. Your stories:

• Give you confidence
• Increase your self-awareness
• Bring humanity to your resume
• Make you memorable and set you apart

Developing your story for job interviews

Take a comprehensive inventory of the chapters of your life. Think about major events, memories, and turning points that shaped who you are. Make notes about your feelings, expectations, and frustrations, or what you learned, accomplished, and experienced. Organize your chapters by time periods or jobs.

Focus on memorable “aha” moments. These stories need to have vivid dimensions so people will experience that moment with you. It may have been a moment with your mom on the porch, or a trip you took to a faraway place, or what a boss or mentor told you. The stories don’t have to be dramatic, just meaningful to you.

Uncover the themes in your story. What emerges as your passion? Mentoring others, doing research, helping a specific type of client, advancing knowledge in your field? What gives you joy? Are you a teacher, a leader, an entrepreneur, a risk taker?

Reflect on your career path. How have you arrived where you are today? Why did you make certain choices? Who helped you along the way? What motivated you then and now? Have your career goals remained the same or have they changed? Are you someone who likes new projects? Or executes the details of someone else's vision?

Practice makes perfect

Once you’ve developed your story, the next step is to practice telling it—saying it out loud, ideally to others. Don’t wait until the interview to tell it for the first time. Try reciting it into a tape recorder or sharing it with a confidante for feedback. Get over your feelings of story inadequacy or thinking that a job well done speaks for itself.

As you become more comfortable in how to tell your story, you will see that your life has not just been a string of random events. Your story has a past and it has a future and the road ahead becomes clearer when you understand where you have been. The ultimate test will be the next time someone says, "Tell me about yourself."

Tip 3: Tailor your story to the job

Applying your story to a specific employer or job is the next step. Lining up the stories that apply to the opportunity at hand is critical. Put yourself in the interviewer’s shoes and pose the questions you would ask. Which stories are relevant to this job interview? Think about personal stories that show how you handled change, made choices under pressure, or learned lessons from mistakes and failures. You should also think about stories you can tell in the interview that reveal your skill set.

Learning and appreciating your story is a prerequisite to any interview process. Don’t rely on your ability to think on your feet. Anticipate the questions and have answers at the ready. In the end, this is about making a great and memorable impression that demonstrates competency and ability.

If you’re having trouble developing a good interviewing story, ask your friends or family members for their own success stories. Notice the elements that make them work, such as specific details and a smooth flow. Notice elements that don’t work, such as vagueness or rambling. Then think about your own experience and try to uncover the moments when you really excelled or when you rose to meet a challenge. After you identify several, practice them until they flow easy and work on adapting them to different types of questions.

Tip 4: Manage stress

Interviewing for a job can make anyone stressed. In small doses, that stress can actually be beneficial, helping you perform under pressure. However, if stress becomes constant and overwhelming, it can impair the way you communicate during an interview by disrupting your capacity to think clearly and creatively. When you’re stressed, you’re more likely to misread an interviewer or send confusing or off-putting nonverbal signals.

If you can’t quickly relieve stress in the moment and return to a calm state, you’ll almost certainly be unable to take advantage of the other interviewing techniques and tips. All our best intentions go out of the window when we’re overwhelmed by stress. It’s only when you’re in a calm, relaxed state that you can think on your feet, recall the stories you’ve practiced, and provide clear answers to an interviewer’s questions. Therefore, it’s vital that you learn quick stress relief techniques ahead of time.

Quick stress relief in an interview

When stress strikes before or during an interview, you obviously can't diffuse it by taking time out to meditate or go for a run. By learning to quickly reduce stress in the moment, though, you can maintain a relaxed, energized state of awareness—even when faced with challenging questions—and remain focused and engaged.

Tip 5: Be prepared

Interviews range from conversations lasting a few minutes to several formal meetings, sometimes with more than one interviewer. Interviews allow you to demonstrate that you are the right candidate for the job, but you are not alone if interviews make you nervous. The better prepared you are, the more relaxed and comfortable you will be when the questions start coming your way.

Job interview preparation tips:

Do your research. Gather information about the company and the position available. Try to specifically relate your experience to the duties the job opportunity entails.

Practice interviewing. Enlist a friend (better yet, a group of friends and colleagues) to ask you sample questions. Practice making eye contact.

Record your practice sessions. Pay attention to body language and verbal presentation. Eliminate verbal fillers, like “uh,” and “um.” Practice using positive body language to signal confidence, even when you’re not feeling it. Instead of tentatively entering an interview with your head down and eyes averted, for example, try standing tall with your shoulders back, smiling and maintaining eye contact, and delivering a firm handshake. It will make you feel more self-confident and help to put the other person at ease.

Handle logistics early. Have your clothes, resume, and directions to the interview site ready ahead of time, to avoid any extra stress.

Don’t forget about your references

Don’t let your references be the last to know about your job search, or even worse, get an unexpected call from a potential employer. Many offers are withdrawn over bad references. Why take that chance? Get in touch with your references right away to seek help and to avoid surprises on either side.

• Are your references relevant to your current job search? Who should you add or subtract?
• Are there any reference gaps? Gaps that an employer will question? What is your story about those gaps?
• Can a colleague, vendor, customer, or board member be added to replace or enhance the list?
• What is the current status of your relationship with your references?

Tip 6: Anticipate likely questions

To get to the motivations and working style of a potential employee, employers often turn to behavioral interviewing, an interviewing style which consists of a series of probing, incisive questions.

Sample behavioral interview questions include:

• Describe a situation in which you didn’t meet your stated goal, how did you handle it?
• Tell us about a situation in which you encountered resistance from key people, how did you convince the person or people to do what you wanted?
• Describe a situation in which you took the initiative to change a process or system and make it better, how did you identify the problem? How did you go about instituting change?

Preparing good interview answers

Interviewers will follow up your preliminary answers with further questions about your actions. To prepare for these types of interview questions, the following tips might help:

Review your research about the company and the position.

Make a list of key attributes for your desired job.

Write sample interview questions that are likely to uncover the attributes you identified as important.

Create answers to the sample interview questions based on a template such as “Situation – Action – Result” with specific details from your work experience.

Practice answering the interview questions and follow-up questions so that you are very familiar with several detailed examples/stories. Rehearse key points.

Tip 7: Ask questions during the interview

Being prepared and asking great questions about the position and the employer shows your interest during the interview. You can't just be an effective responder. You need to assert yourself, too. By the time you reach the interviewing stage, you should be clear about what you want and what you offer to the company.

Try to be thoughtful and self-reflective in both your interview questions and your answers. Show the interviewee you know yourself—your strengths and your weaknesses. Be prepared to talk about which areas would present challenges and how you would address them. Admitting true areas of weakness is much more convincing than claiming: "I have what you need and I can do anything I put my mind to."

Tip 8: Boost your EQ

As we know, it’s not always the smartest person or the one with the most relevant skills that gets the job. Rather, the successful candidate is often the one who has the best “people skills”, who can relate easily to others. In other words, it’s the person with a high emotional intelligence (EQ). Emotional intelligence is the ability to identify, use, understand, and manage emotions in positive ways to communicate effectively and empathize with others. If you have a high emotional intelligence you are able to:

• Recognize your own emotional state and the emotional states of others.
• Engage with people in a way that draws them to you.
• Pick up on emotional cues, communicate effectively, and develop strong relationships.

Along with the ability to quickly manage stress, emotional awareness is a primary skill of emotional intelligence that can be learned. Being able to connect to your emotions—having a moment-to-moment awareness of your emotions and how they influence your thoughts and actions—is the key to understanding yourself and others.