Competitive Interview Prep

BALASUBRAMANYA B N (CCI STUDENT....) (44679 Points)

02 August 2009

What can you do to set yourself apart in your interview? The most important aspect of successful interviewing is not your experience, your degree or your resume. That’s what got you the interview. The key to successful interviewing can be summed up in one word: passion. It’s your passion for the job that will set you apart from the crowd.

How can you demonstrate your passion in the interview? Though your enthusiasm for the job and behavioral examples of how your passion has had a positive impact on results.

If you can show me, in your words, actions and past behaviors, that you have true passion toward achieving excellence, you can and will be chosen over the superstar. Let your passion for the job show through in every aspect of your interview.

Another key element to successful interviewing is your attitude. If you want to rise above others with better experience, better grades, or better anything, you will need to work on developing a highly positive work attitude.

Your attitude determines whether you will “make the cut” or be discarded. Remember, there are plenty of competitors with the ability to do almost any given job—especially at the entry level. The way most employers differentiate at the entry level is by candidates’ attitude and passion toward the job. Your attitude and passion is what recruiters remember when the dust has settled after they have reviewed ten, twenty, or even one hundred candidates—you were the one who was sincerely willing to put forth your very best effort. If you have the attitude of wanting to do your very best for the company, of being focused on the company’s needs, of putting yourself forth as the person who will be committed and dedicated to fulfilling their needs, you will likely be the one chosen.

Attitude is everything.

Why is attitude so important? Because most companies already have their full share of multitalented superstars who care about no one but themselves. Ask any manager who the most valuable member of his team is, and he will point not to the overrated superstar, but to the person who has the “can do” attitude, the person who can be counted on in any situation, the person who truly strives for excellence. Give me a team player who is achieving at 99 percent and I will take her over a flashy superstar who is running at 50 percent efficiency any day of the week. And so will 99 percent of all Hiring Managers.

So don’t worry if you are not “superstar” quality. If you can show me, in your words and actions, that you are ready to put forth your very best effort toward achieving excellence, you will be chosen over the superstar.

You can show your winning attitude in the way you present yourself. Incorporate the actual words “positive attitude,” “passion for excellence,” and “striving to be my best” into your interview language. Then show by your stories and examples how these characteristics are reflected in your life. Show me when and where and how you have put forth extra effort above and beyond the call of duty. Show me how you beat a deadline, how you excelled in a project, or how you made a difference by going the extra mile.

If you can show me, by words and examples, your “can do” attitude, it is you I will hire, while all of the superstars will receive polite rejection letters to add to their growing collections.

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The One Thing You Must Do Before Your First Interview

There is one thing you must do before you interview. You need to interview. Not the actual interview, but a practice interview or mock interview. Nearly every college campus offers access to a Career Counselor who can take you through a mock interview. Sadly, fewer than 10 percent of all graduating students take advantage of mock interviews. And fully 90 percent end up stumbling through several interviews before they have any practical sense of how they are doing—because that is when the rejection letters start arriving. And those rejection letters offer you nothing in the way of constructive criticism toward future improvement other than pointing out to you in the starkest terms that you failed your interview.

The mock interview is more than just a chance to work out your interview jitters. It is an opportunity to practice your interviewing technique and answers in a live simulation. It is also a chance to hear constructive feedback from someone who can guide you toward improving your interviewing style and presentation.

Just one mock interview will result in a marked improvement in your interviewing skills. Why? For the same reason that a speech is not a speech while it is still on paper or just floating around in your head. It is not a speech until you give it verbally. The first time you give it in front of an audience (remember your first speech in Speech 101?), it will come out nothing like what you prepared. It is the same with interviewing. It is not enough to look at an interview question and say, “Yeah, I know the answer to that one.” You need to practice your answer. Live. In front of someone else. This is not the time to talk to yourself in the mirror. Seek out a professional and practice. Ideally, have the session recorded. That way, you will have two opinions—the mock interviewer’s and your own. Remember, you get a totally different perspective from listening to yourself saying something contemporaneously than you do from the “out-of-body experience” of watching yourself later on the recording. Just as your voice always sounds different in a recording, so do your answers. “Did I really say that?” Yes, you did. Aren’t you glad the image is captured in a recording (which can later be erased), rather than in a potential employer’s mind’s eye? Yes, you are.

Go through at least one mock interview. For maximum effectiveness, review your responses and then go through a second mock interview. Even if you ace the second mock interview, it will be well worth it since it will give you confidence in your first real interview. It can be a painful experience, since you are likely not as ready as you think. The feedback you receive is intended as constructive criticism, so do not become defensive or make excuses. Simply take in the feedback and change your future interviewing for the better.