What To Bring To A Job Interview
Coming prepared to a job interview is important. Bring extra copies of your resume along with a list of references to offer the interviewer. Also, bring a list of questions to ask the interviewer.
If you’re interviewing for a tech or web job and you want to show examples of your work, it’s okay to bring your laptop or tablet to show the interviewer what you have accomplished.
What shouldn’t you bring? Don’t walk into a job interview with a coffee cup or bottle of soda or water or anything else to eat or drink. Don’t chew gum.
Your cell phone should be turned off and out of sight. You don’t want to be the applicant whose text messages or calls disrupted the interview.
Prepare To Describe Your Work History Briefly
Most interviewers will ask you to give a quick walkthrough of your background at the start of the interview. Thats why I mentioned reviewing your resume beforehand. Its a pretty commonly overlooked but its one of my favorite job interview tips and its so easy to do!
If youve prepared a good, brief narrative of your career, you can impress them right off the bat. What got you interested in this field? What have you accomplished recently?
But it has to be concise. Nobody wants to hire somebody that rambles on or sounds scattered, and thats the biggest mistake people make with this relatively open-ended question.
Spend most of your time on the recent portion of your career. Go through the beginning rather quickly. 2-3 minutes total should be your target.
Ask About Their Short
During the interview, ask about any previous roles they had that lasted less than two years. If a candidate has multiple short-term roles, it may indicate some problems. Ask them why they left these roles. If they talk about problems they had that will be the same with the position they’re interviewing for, they may not be the best fit for the job. For example, if they didn’t like working early in the morning and you’re only offering an early morning shift, they may not want to continue pursuing the position.
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Follow Up With A Personalized Thank
Request a business card from each of your interviewers to send them a personalized thank-you email. If your interview was in the morning, email your thank-you note the same day. If your interview was in the afternoon, the next morning is fine. Make sure to keep each email distinct from the others by using the notes you wrote during the conversations.
Ask For A Second Opinion
The hiring process is a risky endeavor for the company. How sure are you, as the hiring manager, that you have selected the right candidate? What criteria did you use to choose the right candidate? Moreover, is there another alternative you could have used to ensure the person you hire is the ideal fit for the role? The answers to these questions are in consulting. Hiring a new employee is a big decision and shouldnt be decided upon alone.
Consider seeking a second opinion from other people in the organization such as your boss, HR representatives, other hiring managers or even supervisors. Remember the goal is to ensure that you hire somebody whose goals align with the plans of the company. Consider asking for advice concerning the following aspects:
- Establishing and implementing your interviewing checklist
- How to build rapport with candidates
- Reviewing the interview questions
- Giving feedback and sending rejection emails to candidates
- Conducting mock interviews to enhance your interviewing skills
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Hire And Onboard The New Employee
Your employee onboarding process can make a big difference in how successful your new hire is within your organization. First, send the necessary paperwork to the candidate for them to sign. If you use recruiting software, it will likely have e-signature capabilities, allowing new employees to accept an offer and complete onboarding paperwork remotely.
Comprehensive programs take it one step further, automating the entire onboarding process and providing your new hire with all the training and materials they need. This will not only set up the employee for success, but it can also improve employee retention.
Key takeaway: Most hiring processes include basic steps like recruiting, interviewing, screening, hiring and onboarding employees.
Maintain A Comfortable Environment
When candidates are comfortable and confident, they may be more likely to display their true personality and answer questions without overthinking or hiding the full truth. Do your best to set them at ease by keeping the conversation light and flowing, especially at the start of the interview. Try to appear friendly and approachable by making jokes or asking them about their hobbies or interests. The more authentic you are during the interview, the more authentic you invite the candidate to be.
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Share Next Steps In The Interview Process
Near the end of the interview, consider outlining the next steps for the candidate to help set expectations. For example, share your intended timeline of making a hiring decision, when they can expect to hear from the company, or if another round of interviews is likely. Allowing the candidate to ask clarifying questions can also help establish an understanding of the next steps and expectations, too.
Sell Yourself To The Interviewer
When you’re in a job interview, it’s up to you to sell your qualifications and credentials to the hiring manager. You’ll also need to show the interviewer that you’re a good fit for both the position and the organization. With some preparation, you’ll be able to present yourself as a candidate any organization would love to hire. Doing your best to get the hiring manager on your side will help you get hired.
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Describe The Next Steps
When ending the interview, it is good to explain to the candidate what they can expect in terms of the next steps. We should also let them know when they should expect to hear back from us and how the rest of the interview process might look like.
When we know how to conduct a job interview, we can find out a lot more information from the job application and resume, making the interview more effective. We can prepare relevant interview questions beforehand, ensuring that we only select those candidates whose skills, experience, and personality aligns with the job in question. Basic preparation about how to conduct an interview can help us prevent costly hiring mistakes.
How To Prepare For Interviews
1. Review the job descriptionThejob description typically provides the criteria that can be used to hire candidates. Consider reviewing the requirements of the position and determining if it accurately reflects the qualifications, skills and other abilities that match the needs of the company. Additionally, this helps you to understand exactly what you need and the criteria that best suits the decision making process when choosing the right candidate.
2. Review candidates resumeDont just glance at a resume for a split second or minutes before an interview. How will you know or understand a candidates qualifications, skills or credentials within this short time? How will you be able to ask intelligent questions concerning the candidates accomplishments? How will you create rapport, a friendly environment or a compelling conversation when you dont know much about the person in advance?
Plan and come up with a checklist to sell your company and the position youre hoping to fill. Include points such as:
- How does your company ensure it achieves its goals or mission.
- How does your company ensures employees are happy, motivated, and grow and develop in their profession.
- Challenges employees face in the role and how the company supports the employees, e.g. training or mentoring.
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Analyze Candidate Resumes Cover Letters And Applications
As applications start flowing in, youll need to come up with a process to review them. You can allocate one or more people to review applications and narrow down your viable candidates. You can also use some form of recruiting software, like an applicant tracking system .
An ATS helps analyze candidates and searches for any flaws in the hiring process. It filters candidates according to hiring needs and makes it easier for recruiters and hiring managers to view an applicants performance. The software cant make wise decisions about who to hire, but it simplifies relevant keywords in a resume, aligning candidates with your businesss needs and wants.
With automatic rankings, you can compare resumes against your job description. The software then forwards the resumes with the highest matches to the next stage. Its also a powerful solution to coordinate the candidate pipeline and ensure quality candidates are not lost in the shuffle.
Tools For Interview Scheduling
While there are scheduling apps to help you sync your calendar with the candidate, a person-to-person conversation is best. Call or text the individual to let them know you wish to interview them. Then follow up with a calendar appointment request, as needed.
Scheduling apps and free online calendars like Google Calendar can make your life as an interviewer much easier. You can often email the candidate with a list of open days and times and allow them to choose the interview time slot that works best for them. Keep in mind that those currently working a full-time job may need to schedule their interview over a lunch hour or before or after work.
Once youve confirmed a time that works for both you and the job seeker, stay in touch. Consider texting the job seeker directions to your office, or send a photo showing where they should park.
Its not a bad idea to send an interview reminder the day prior and another on the day of the interview to avoid being ghosted by the job seekerwhich may happen if you dont remain in contact. Job recruiting software allows you to send and keep track of these communications.
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Practice Your Speaking Voice And Body Language
Its important to make a positive and lasting impression during the interview process. You can do this by practicing a confident, strong speaking voice and friendly, open body language. While these might come naturally to you, you might also want to spend time performing them with trusted friends or family or in front of a mirror. Pay special attention to your smile, handshake and stride.
Top 10 Job Interview Etiquette Tips
Knowing proper job interview etiquette is an important part of successful interviewing. How you dress, what you bring to a job interview, how you greet the interviewer, and how you communicate can all make a big difference in the outcome of the interview.
Review these job interview etiquette tips for before, during, and after a job interview, to ensure that your job interview etiquette is up to speed and you’re making the best impression on the interviewer.
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Conduct A Phone Interview For Initial Screening
After narrowing down your pool of job applicants, conduct a phone screen interview with each of the top candidates. A phone interview is a brief preliminary screening that takes about 15 to 30 minutes. Keep phone screens as uniform as possible. Ask a few basic get to know you questions, as well as inquiries about their skills and experience and their interest in the company and position. This interview should give you a sense of who the person is and what soft skills they possess.
Tip: When conducting phone screenings, look out for red flags such as negativity, unpreparedness, lack of curiosity or poor cultural fit.
Look For Real Solutions
John Sullivan, an HR expert, professor of management at San Francisco State University, and author of 1000 Ways to Recruit Top Talent gives one of the best pieces of interview advice Ive read. How do you hire a chef? Have them cook you a meal.
During an interview you need to provide an actual problem that you have faced and ask the candidate how they would resolve the issue, especially if there has been some problem pertaining to the job for which the candidate will be hired.
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Section : Additional Sources Of Information
Note: This document is available on-line in PDF and RTF formats only. If you require an alternative format, please contact 819-420-8671 or for assistance. Please visit our help page for assistance with PDFs.
The PSC’s Personnel Psychology Centre is a valuable resource to consider when designing and conducting structured interviews.
To learn more about best practices in structured interviewing , please consult the Websites of the following professional associations:
Below is some additional reading material on structured interviews:
- Eder, R. W. , & Harris, M. M. . The Employment Interview Handbook. Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks, California.
- Gatewood, R. D, & Field, H. S. . Human Resource Selection. Harcourt College Publishers, Fort Worth. See Chapter 12 “The Selection Interview”, page 521-566.
- Pettersen, N. J. et Durivage, A. . L’entrevue structurée :pour améliorer la sélection du personnel. Québec. Presses de l’Université du Québec.
- U. S. Merit Systems Protection Board . The Federal Selection Interview: Unrealized Potential.
- British Columbia Public Service Agency . Managers’ HR Toolkit.
Interview Timing & Length
Before you send the interview invitation, youll need to figure out how long you want the candidate to be in the office and how much time you want each person to interview them. An hourlong meeting is the most common interview time frame when youre doing a one-on-one interview.
Depending on what the role is and who the interviewers are, it might be appropriate to:
- Pair up: Have two interviewers work togetherfor example, two co-owners of a business might interview a candidate for a key position together.
- Go informal: For people-facing roles, an interview in an informal setting like lunch or dinner might be more appropriateand may take longer than an hour.
- Stay traditional: Schedule one-on-one interviews, back to back.
Lets look at how you might typically break up an interview for timing based on the kind of role youre interviewing for and how many interviewers are involved.
| Average Interview Time |
|---|
| 30-45 minutes each |
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Build A Strong Employer Brand
According to Officevibe, more than 75% of professionals are passive candidates who arent currently looking for a job but are open to new opportunities. Building a strong employer brand not only reduces employee turnover by 28%, it also attracts these passive candidates to your company over others.
A Glassdoor survey found that 69% of respondents are likely to apply for a job if the employer actively manages its brand by responding to reviews, updating the companys profile, and sharing updates on the companys culture and work environment.
When you focus on building a well-known employer brand, you wont have to do as much active recruiting. Youll be a highly sought-after organization, teeming with applicants.
Why Do Interviewers Ask Why You Think Youre Suitable For The Position
Interviewers ask why you think youre suitable for the position because they want to:
- ensure you understand the requirements of the role
- assess your level of confidence in your ability to perform the duties of the job
- learn more about your personal and professional qualities to determine how you would fit into the company culture
- evaluate your potential, not just your track record
The question why are you suitable for this job? is an opportunity to sell yourself and convince the interviewer that youre the best fit for the role.
Take some time to research the company and the position before the interview. This will help you understand what theyre looking for in a candidate and allow you to prepare an answer in advance.
Now that you know why interviewers ask this question, learn how to answer it properly in the following section.
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Prepare For The Interview
You don’t need to memorize an answer, but do take the time to consider how you’ll respond. The more you prepare, the more confident you’ll feel during a job interview.
When you’re not sure what to expect during an interview, also take time to review this refresher on how job interviews work, and these tips on how to prepare to ace your job interview.
Figure Out Where Youre Going And How Youre Getting There
Whether youre driving or taking public transportation, make sure you look up your route ahead of time . Buy any needed tickets, add needed money to your metro card, fill up your tank, or do anything that could slow you down on the way to your interview. Know how long it should take you to get there and add plenty of extra time in case of traffic or transit delays.
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Learn About Their Career Goals
Apart from asking role-specific questions, aim to get a better understanding of the interviewee’s career goals. Ask them about their professional interests, where they see themselves in 10 years and why they’re particularly interested in the position they’re interviewing for. Asking these questions helps you understand what they expect regarding professional development. In addition, they give you an idea of how they perceive your company and the position.
Ask For Specific Details
Since candidates have the potential to exaggerate their contributions to their previous employers, seek the truth by asking specific questions. For example, consider asking how many people they supervised with their management position or their sales numbers from last year. Get as many numbers or dates as you can and bring them up again later in the interview to help you determine their validity. If they lied about the details they provided you, they’re more likely to forget the information they gave you earlier in the interview.
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