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Step Five is finally here: your opportunity to meet with and convince
an employer to hire you. Congratulate yourself. Whether you get the
job or not, you'll benefit from this experience. As Neil Kalt says in
his book Career Power, "Each interview you have is not just
a chance to compete for a job, but a chance to learn, to strengthen
and fine-tune important skills." You can improve your chances of
getting the job, though, by preparing effectively for the interview.
You can start by knowing your goal, the employer's goal and different
interview types.
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 Your Goal
Your goal is to answer these questions:
- Do I want this job?
- Will I fit into this work environment?
- Can I prove that I'm what the employer wants?
The Employer's Goal
The employer's goal is to:
- fill the position so that work can continue;
- hire someone competent, trustworthy, enthusiastic and socially
skilled.
WHAT TO ASK WHEN YOU GET AN INTERVIEW
As soon as you're invited for an interview, get the details.
It shows your thoroughness and foresight. Ask about:
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Types of Interviews
There are many types of interviews; you may encounter more than one
at a time. Be prepared for them all!
- Screening: You are interviewed (often on the phone by a human resources
department person) to check for initial qualifications.
- Traditional: You sit and talk with the interviewer(s), usually
at the company's facility. Questions focus on your attitudes, values
and interpersonal skills; whether you'll fit in; and what extra value
you may bring to the organization.
- Behavioral: You perform tasks or take tests for the job (see Pre-Employment
Testing for more details) and / or you answer questions that focus
on how you handled actual situations or would handle future situations.
- Technical: All of the questions relate specifically to the job
requirements and have right / wrong answers.
- Phone or Computer: You answer questions via phone, email or online
form.
- One-on-one: You are interviewed by an individual — the most
common situation.
- Team or Committee: You are interviewed by a number of people at
the same time.
- Group: You are interviewed at the same time as other candidates;
it happens rarely these days.
- Multiple level: You are interviewed individually by different people
in a planned series of interviews.
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Step Five: Interview