The first few days of this week have started off unlike many weeks for a lot of people. As I have written in the past, I have two part-time jobs. While I love them both, the people and the work, I also find myself frustrated looking for full-time employment. With CollegeBuzzz, I am having to hire interns for the Clemson website. So yesterday, I went up to Clemson to interview a girl. I talked to her at a local Starbucks for about 40 minutes, getting to know all about her life, passions, and skills. Tomorrow, I have an interview for a full-time position in Washington DC. While I have very little knowledge of the DC area, I have done my homework of this business and the position I would take for them, and I want to share my thoughts of how I am approaching tomorrow.
Research the Company: Find out everything that you can about the company before taking an interview with them. Most importantly, know their mission and industry. One you find out the outline of the industry and company, get into the details. Know the locations of the company. Find out how many employees work for them. Find out their clients and review their work. You can even go as far as looking into employees. Some websites, such as Glassdoor, will give you information of what current and former employees think of the company, as well as look into the process that some of them went through during their interviews. For example, for tomorrow's interview, I know the work-enviornment, the age of most employees, the company's size, their office locations, the salary expectations, and the chance (or lack of) promotions.
Review the Position Requirements: Almost always, a person sends in their application to fill a specific role that the company is looking for. If they give you a description, check it out. Reading over it before the interview will give you create comfort and a pretty good idea of some of the questions you may be asked. Be ready to explain how you possess those skills or how you have used them to achieve success in your past.
Research the Recruiter: If you get the name of the person that is going to be interviewing you, just do a search for them on LinkedIn, Facebook, or Google. (Hopefully they will have a good LinkedIn Profile) Getting to know a few things about the person interviewing you, such as where they went to college, can be of great help to you during the interview. In May, I was being interviewed by the president of a small marketing company. After discussing that I had attended Furman and lived in Greenville, he asked if I knew his connection to Greenville. Immediately, I responded that I knew he had attended college there, linking him to one of my previous bosses. To say the least, he was impressed and I was offered the job a few weeks later.
Create a Good Environment: If you are in an office setting having a 1:1 interview, then you have no control over this. If you are having a phone interview, make sure that the setting is quite and has no distractions. I was interviewed during the middle of my intramural softball games one time. I had just scored a run, heard my phone ringing, and had to have a conversation right there on the spot. It was an unneeded challenge and something I will never do again.
Be Yourself: Do not get nervous. Relax and realize that they are going to judge you for whatever you say. You can tell them in a stumbling voice that you have started three companies, or you can state confidently and clearly that you just graduated and are unemployed. The more confident you are with your answers, the better you will be received by someone that is getting paid to judge you. Just relax and prepare to achieve a better interview.
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