Preparing for a job chat has always been found to enhance performance during interview sessions. It increases your confidence as a candidate during the assessment process thereby improving your chances of success. Further, with adequate preparation possibilities and opportunities that otherwise would have been unavailable are opened up. Problematic questions which could have been asked during interview sessions would have been practiced beforehand and probable answers prepared for them. With adequate preparation and practice the interview skills and abilities required during the assessment process would have been learnt and exhibited during the session. This write up is therefore prepared to offer tips on making adequate preparation to make a success of your next interview.
Consider this scenario. Daniel and Joshua were both shortlisted for the vacant position of Marketing Manager. Joahua spent over one hundred hours preparing for the interview, holding mock interviews, practicing probable questions and answers, working on his communication skills and others, researching into the company putting the job on offer etc. Daniel on the other hand did none of that. Instead he relied on his intelligence and talent to take him through. The most he spent on preparation was the few hours he took to arrange the things he thought he would need to take to the interview session. From the foregoing, who out of the two will perform better during the assessment session? Joshua will perform better of course. Practice they say makes one perfect. With adequate preparation and coupled with hours of practice, several opportunities and possibilities that will enhance chances of success during the interview session will open up. Intelligence and talent can only take you to a certain level. Maybe get you past the first level of the interview session. It is adequate preparation that will take you up the ladder of success in any endeavor and during the assessment session will help you outshine your competition.
As a job searcher desirous of performing well during any job chat and consequently enhancing your employability, you need to take certain positive actions. What are these actions?
1. Conducting research on the company putting job on offer: First among such actions is learning about the company advertising a job. Go online and learn as much as you can about the company. You need to learn about what industry it is in. What it produces or the service it renders. The size of the company in terms of sales and turnover and in terms of employees. What the company says about its products and services etc. Further, you need to learn about what other people are saying about the company. All these will put you in good stead during the chat.
2. Familiarizing yourself with the job on offer: You need to learn about the job being put on offer. Learn about what skills and attributes are required and try to match them with ones you possess. To do this, you need to conduct a sort of personal assessment and audit to identify your good points and attributes and match same with those required for the job. You should note one or two examples for each personal attributes that best illustrate your suitability for the job on offer. Familiarize yourself with these and put them to use in the event of being asked questions on your suitability for the job on offer.
3. Preparation on how to relate stories about your achievements and accomplishments: Another positive action is the ability to tell stories related to your work experience and accomplishments during the interview session. You should be able to draw on such experiences that demonstrate your skills and abilities. You should therefore practice telling your story perfectly well. Since the interview session is a marketing activity designed to sell a product which is you the candidate, you should make the most of it. You should be able to convince the interviewer that you are the ideal candidate and the benefits they stand to gain by your employment. The story telling practice is therefore an essential tool to assist you in creating a natural flow to your stories so that the interviewer can focus on your potential benefit to the company putting a job on offer.
4. Choosing the right outfit to wear to the interview session: Endeavor to choose an outfit that will agree perfectly with your interview session. Most times formal dressing is required. In point of fact interviewers allot some marks for dressing. You should therefore endeavor to choose your outfit carefully. Choose such outfit that will not be too neither loud nor shabby looking. Make sure you choose one that will show that you are a perfect candidate for the position on offer.
5. Practice frequently asked interview questions: As a job seeker, one is not endowed with the skill of knowing all the questions that are likely to be asked during a job chat. Even if you know some you cannot possibly know all. It therefore becomes pertinent to prepare beforehand with likely and frequently asked interview questions. There are several websites on the internet with such questions. Practicing them beforehand and learning the probable answers to them increases your chances of answering them well during actual interview sessions.
6. Practice proper communication of ideas: Interview is all about marketing of a product which is you the candidate. In marketing therefore communication plays a major role. If you know so much about your product and you are not able to convince the customer to buy it from you, what is the essence of selling? That is where proper communication comes in. With proper communication of the benefits and values of the product, selling it to the customer becomes easier. Same goes for the interview session. With proper communication of your skills, attributes and accomplishment to the interviewers convincing them that you are the perfect candidate for the job becomes easier. This will consequently enhance your employ-ability. Therefore practicing proper communication of ideas cannot be over emphasized.
7. Use “STAR” model (Situation or task, action and result) when answering interview questions: Another vital method of preparing for a job chat is by practicing beforehand how to use the STAR model in answering questions during interview session. The intention is to provide structure and focus to your answers. For example if asked during interview a particular situation when you have displayed a certain interview skill, the interviewer is looking for how you will respond via a specific example. Using the STAR model therefore, you will break your answer into: the description of the task, the action you took and the final measurable result. This enables the interviewer to visualize your behavioral response to specific events and consequently gain the best impression about your future performance. You should therefore endeavor to prepare one or two example for each of the attributes you must have listed in your resume.
8. Let others help you out: While preparing for your interview session, endeavor to seek the opinion of a second person regarding your performance. You do not know it all. Having probably a friend or a colleague to help watch how you perform in a mock interview session will assist in identifying lapses and sour points that might otherwise not have been discovered.
From the foregoing therefore, the idea of adequate preparation before a job chat cannot be over emphasized. This is because preparation increases your value as a job seeker and consequently your success during the interview. With adequate preparation your employ-ability as a job hunter is further enhanced. My experience as a recruiter has shown that a candidate who prepares well for a job interview will always outshine one who does not. Individual talent and brilliance is essential but it can only take the job seeker to a level. Only adequate preparation can take you all the way.
Thank you for sharing your time with me.
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