WCIYP-5

Once you have submitted your resume, and get the call you have anxiously have awaited for, you will be on to the next step, which is the interview. The company is already interested in you, so it is your job to persuade them why you will make a good candidate. This experience can make one extremely nervous. Putting nerves aside, you can prepare yourself for a successful interview.

In What Color is Your Parachute?, Richard Bolles, gives 16 tips on interviewing, to help you get the job and decide if the job is right for you. Instead of naming off every tip, I would like to share what tips I find really helpful. If you need more help, check out the book and it will go more in depth.

Interviewing for jobs can be stressful, and discouraging with rejection. However, Bolles first tip describes "employers." He says that there are many employers out there, and some employers won't want to hire you. We need to face this fact. But some one out there will. So in this case we need to keep searching despite fearing rejection. You must keep in mind that every employer is different. You want to find a place that shares your values. "Every 'NO' you get out of the way, gets you one step closer to 'YES'" (Bolles 55).

An interview should always be prepared for, this is in terms of questions and appearance. In Bolles' fifth conversation tip is questions that you should expect in an interview. One of the most important questions is usually the first one. "Can you tell me about yourself?" This is like an elevator speech. You should be well rehearsed and talk about thing that make you seem valuable. This is your initial impression make it count. There are lots of other questions that may be asked. Just take the time and think about interview questions you have had before. Do some research on the company and figure out what they may what to know about. Research questions and prepare answers the best you can. Some questions you may expect are as follows--

Being prepared in terms of answering questions, is very important. Yet, there are other factors that you may want to turn your attention to involving appearance and attitude. We do not want rule ourselves out for something small. So pay attention to appearance and make sure you look appropriate for the job you are applying for. Be punctual and make sure you look your best. Try not to display bad habits or nervous mannerisms. Small things like this could bother the interviewer to the point where they do not want to call you back. This goes along with conversation tip nine from Bolles. Don't let small things kill an interview.

The last tip I want to discuss is conversation tip eleven. Bolles says "Try to think of some way to bring evidence of your skills, to the hiring interview" (Bolles 70). Thinking about this from the interviewers point of view,  they do not know you very well and they want to know whether to take the gamble with you or not. Providing some type of evidence will make you seem more credible, especially if you have something on paper, certain types examples of your experience with previous job, and/or a numerical figure. This can show the type of worker you and how you will handle potential situations. Help yourself out and be prepared with these types of tools.