How To Improve Interview Skills

Interview Tips: 10 Tips To Improve Interview Performance

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• Interview Tips: 10 Tips to Improve Interview Performance

Youve been on a job hunt for weeks, months, or maybe even years. You finally get that email, or call or text message inviting you to an interview.

That is exciting. But it could also make you quite anxious.

Will the interviewer like you? What kind of questions will she ask you? Will you be able to answer them all? Correctly? Well enough to get the job?

To familiarize yourself with interview questions, read our article on difficult interview questions. It might help to also know that there are funny questions you could be asked during an interview.

Today we tell you how to outperform the other candidates and get hired.

Its a tough competition and this is just the first interview. You have to outshine everyone else. And here is how to do it.

To make it easier to work on these tips, we have divided them into two. There are things to do while preparing for the interview and those applicable to the interview as it happens.

Remember To Focus On Listening

It can be easy to get distracted during a job interview. It’s stressful, and you’re in the hot seat when it comes to having to respond to questions. That said, if you do your best to listen to what the interviewer is asking, it will be easier to frame appropriate responses.

Listen carefully and take the time to frame a thoughtful response to each of the questions you’re asked.

Do Your Homework On The Company

When youre interviewing, youre not just trying to sell your skills, youre also trying to pitch what a great fit you are for the company. The better you know the organization, the more likely you are to stand out when it comes to that second piece. In other words, do your company research and connect the dots as to why youll be the perfect addition.

Peruse the website and read the mission, values, and annual report. Check out the company’s social media accounts to learn more about the culture. If the team clearly values honesty, make sure to weave that in . Or, perhaps management seems to love the get er done mentalitymake sure your interview answers hit on that at some point.

Lastly, if you really want to impress, get a sense of the companys strengths and what it does better than its competitors. No hiring manager hates a well-placed compliment as to why his or her organizations crushing it in an industry.

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Consider The Interviewers Perspective

When someone is interviewing you, you need that person on your side. If the interviewer decides that youre the one, they have to go to their higher-ups and champion you for the job. When youre hired, the company is taking a chance on you. If you work out, great. If not, then thats bad for everyone.

A job interview should be a two-way street. While the company is interviewing you to see if youre right for them, you should be interviewing the company to see if theyre the right fit for you. However, theres no denying that there are probably more candidates than job openings. Thats why you need to leave the best impression possible to improve your chances of getting an offer.

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List Your Strengths & Areas Of Improvement From Your Previous Experience

List the areas where your career experience shows you are strongest, whether in people relations, project management, maths, technical skills, or any other areas. Also, list the areas where you can demonstrate that you have improved your capabilities to show that you pay attention to building your skills. Catalog these in your Master Resume and select for the JD-specific resume the ones that support the job description.

Tip : Prepare Questions For The Interviewer

It is important to think of questions that will show the interviewer how much you have researched the company, position, and interviewers themselves. Do not ask any questions that can easily be found online with thorough research.

A companys goals are detailed in its mission statement. The CEO will be able to answer questions about the companys challenges and what they see as their biggest priorities for the next year, which would help you prepare your questions better.

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Get In The Right Headspace

You probably dont think much about your head. But, making the wrong move may send the interviewer the wrong message.

Make eye contact like you would any other conversation. Dont avoid eye contact, but also dont turn the interview into a staring contest. Find natural moments to look away. For example, before you answer a question, take a deep breath and look up for a minute while you think of an answer.

Nodding is also an important part of non-verbal communication and lets the interviewer know you understand or agree with them. So, feel free to nod in agreement, especially if you dont want to interrupt the interviewer. But, nodding too much can signal indifference, so make sure to speak up every once in a while.

Practical Steps To Improve Your Job Interview Skills

Interview preparation is essential if you want to get the job you dream of, regardless of how much experience you have or how polished your resume is.

Improving your interview skills will take a great deal of dedication and practice.

Also, there are several things you can do to boost your skills so you can excel in your job interview. Business experts and Ivy league college consultants share steps below to enhance your interview skills and boost your chances of getting hired.

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Make The Candidate Comfortable

Make the candidate more comfortable by introducing them to the company staff or offering a glass of water or cup of coffee. These actions will help the candidate relax and provide a more accurate demonstration of their qualifications. If they seem shy, try to put them at ease and encourage conversation.

Make sure that they have everything they need for the interview – such as date, location and if theyll be in a group interview. Wouldnt you be nervous if you walked into an interview unaware there would be a bunch of other people there?

Be Able To Communicate Why You Want The Job

Its also vital to be able to express interest for an open position at a company. Hiring managers are looking for candidates that share an interest in their company and the role. Let yourself be enthusiastic about what genuinely interests you about the job. Think about how to express that enthusiasm in a specific and measured way.

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Talk Less And Listen More

Ask appropriate questions, talk when necessary, but be sure to give the individual an opportunity to express themselves. Also, listen actively and look out for non-verbal communication techniques. Don’t forget that you should make your candidate comfortable. This can be achieved by letting them talk, get their message across and efficiently communicate with you.

Don’t Forget The Thank You Card

It doesn’t have to be a card anymore an email will do just fine. You can get hired without one, but it’s a nice gesture to send a quick follow up email to the hiring manager and recruiter. It keeps you in their minds and shows your politeness, which brings this full circle. You begin by being nice to everyone, and you end the interview by being nice to everyone, and you increase your chances.

Don’t panic at the thought of your next interview. Prepare and in advance, and you’ll do a great job.

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Reverse Thinking: Think About The Interview From The Interviewer’s Point Of View

Inevitably you will need to do some brainstorming based on your detective work and introspection, during which you need to ask yourself the following questions:

• What are the employers looking for?

• How will they assess you?

• What questions are they most likely to ask to help them judge these things?

• How can you convince them that you are the best fit for the job and organisation?

• What evidence have you got to support that?

This brings you to the point where you should anticipate potential questions and prepare answers accordingly in advance. highlights the typical questions that you will be asked in most interviews.

Just Checking Out A Company Website Is Not Enough

It’s not just a question of researching the organisation. You need to understand your interviewer and why they are hiring. One way or another they are seeking a resource as a solution to an identified problem. Just checking out their website, report and accounts is not enough.

Work on understanding the organisational need and how you can add value. Look at the challenges and opportunities they face and work out how to show that your experience and expertise are relevant. Explore their market, competitors and the changes taking place in the industry.

Use your network to find information about the interviewer and his preferences, the company and its culture. Use LinkedIn and ZoomInfo to gather all the intelligence you can.

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Tip : Thank Your Interviewer

Thank-you letters are an excellent way to show your interest in the position. A thank-you letter can be as simple as saying thank you and reiterating how interested you are, while also thanking the interviewer for considering your application. If it was a group interview, a thank-you email from everyone is appreciated even if they werent selected.

It is a small gesture that leaves a big impression.

Tip : Practice For The Interview

In order to prepare for a job interview, you have to practice. Practice includes nonverbal communication and body language skills as well as understanding how your equipment works.

Although its best to practice in an actual interview, this is not practical for most people. It may be helpful to record yourself and review the performance afterward.

Read articles about interviewing techniques and behavioral science.

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Skills To Rock Your Next Interview

#1 Plan your first impression

When up against the open-ended question of so tell me about yourselfwhere should you begin? Definitely not at the beginning of your career.

Interviewers dont want a recap of your resume. They want to know why youre the most relevant and interesting person for this job.

So give them what they want. Youre in control. And you get to decide what parts of your story to emphasizeand in turn, what they will focus on.

Storytelling is your secret weapon. If you can use storytelling techniques in interviewing, it really helps to connect with the interviewer and make you a much more memorable candidate, says Skillings.

#2 Sell your strengths

In an interview, talking about your strengths isnt obnoxious. Its not bragging or being too forward. Its an essential skill to master if you want the job.

Take advantage of the opportunity to highlight your strengths and experience and go into your interview prepared to discuss: Here are the top three reasons why I would be awesome at this job.

Even if youre an introvert or a modest person by nature, there are ways to communicate your strengths without going against your personality.

First, state the facts of what you accomplished:

I led a multi-million dollar project that we delivered two weeks ahead of deadline and that got amazing feedback from the client.”

Second, quote others:

And remember to practice aloud. With just a handful of practice responses, you can go from stumbling to polished.

Know Your Qualifications And How To Back Them Up

Improve your job interview by listing 5 concrete reasons youre perfect for the job. Then find specific examples of these positive qualities and contributions. If youre great at managing different projects, cite a specific professional example where you had to tackle many different tasks and how you handled it. You also want to be able to back up your qualifications specific to your work duties. If youre being hired as a photographer, talk about different photography jobs youve held in the past and how your expertise contributed to a quality product. Job interviews are all about communicating your value based on prior experience and how you would apply your skills to this new work challenge.

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Be Committed To The Company:

Before interviewing for the job, the person may not consider this job to be their last job. But in order for them to get the job, they will show the interviewer that they are fully committed to the company to fend off competition. This helps in not revealing any further personal plans for the individual. So the person needs to act like, this particular job will be their last job at the time of the interview. This will help them in getting the job and beat any possible competitors around.

Find Out Everything You Can About The Role And The Company

Whenever you walk into an interview situation, its important to know what youre getting into. Know as much as you can about the company where youre interviewing. Try your best to track down someone who works there or has worked there in the past to get some insight on what they look for in employees and how the company operates in general. Also, its important to understand the job description as best as possible. You may even benefit from contacting the HR department to see if they can provide more information about the role. The more you know about the position, the more you can convince a hiring manager youre the right person for the job.

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Interactions At The Senior Level

At the senior level, employers tend to be interested in your leadership capacity, industry perspective, and networking competence. They want you to tell them how your experience will add value to the position. You can expect the interviewer to ask for your vision to take the Business Unit or department to the next level. They will ask about additional knowledge you’ve gained from other than academics and how you’ve applied it over the years. When they ask about your experience, they want to hear about the professional storms you weathered and not the number of years you served in each position. They will ask for your failure stories, not to raise red flags but to learn how you bounced back. They will ask about your interpersonal skills, ability to connect across the spectrum, and ability to influence and inspire leadership – especially your ability to provide leadership to people smarter than you.

Interviews Are Here To Stay So Keep Your Interview Skills Sharp

In past generations, a worker might plan to stay at one company for their entire career and aim for the gold watch at retirement after 25 or 30 years. However, today’s workers can expect to change companies at least three to five times. Each of these transitions requires another round of interviews – and even promotions within your current company may involve interviewing.

As Prem says, interviews are here to stay. It’s vital to your career development to keep your interview skills sharp and be prepared for your next interview, whatever your current career level.

Stand Out From Your Peers this Appraisal Season

In your career, the kinds of interviews you will have will evolve over time. As you gain experience, you will interview for positions with greater responsibility and higher expectations of you. In all types, you need to convey to the interviewer that you can do the job you are interviewing for.

The three types of interviews on the interview spectrum, according to Prem, are:

• Entry-level interviews
• Senior-level interactions

Preem makes a point of calling the third type “interactions” because the nature of the interview at that level is very different from the other two kinds.

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Apply The Star Interview Method

If your interviewer asks about a difficult situation or challenge you faced at work, you can use the STAR response method to organize your thoughts. STAR stands for:

• Situation: What events or conditions led to a problem or challenge?

• Task: What was your responsibility or assignment?

• Action: How did you approach your role to improve the situation?

• Result: What was the outcome of your actions?

Quick Tips To Improve Your Interview Skills

Job interviews are an opportunity for employers to assess the candidate pool and find the best available talent for their company. They are also an opportunity to put your best foot forward,evaluate prospective employers, and find a job you love.

How do youstand out in the interview process? What can you do to take your interview skills to the next level? Are there mistakes you should avoid when interviewing? Below are four tips to quickly improve your interview skills.

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