The most important ingredient to ace your next job interview: confidence.
Confidence, not inflated ego, and there’s a difference. Confidence comes with proper preparation and knowing you’ve done your due diligence on the company that’s called you in. You need to be able to confidently tell your career story and explain what you’d bring to your new employer. You have to be confident while answering questions and posing your own.
Here are three essential ways to prepare for and ace every job interview.
1. Do your homework
Sounds obvious, but it’s No. 1, says Wendy Zang, executive search consultant at Helbling & Associates Inc. in Pittsburgh.
“Learn as much as you can about the company you are interviewing with, the position you are interviewing for and the person you are speaking to,” Zang said.
Start by researching the company — what it does, who it serves, its mission, its goals, its culture. Search Google and LinkedIn for company news. Read the company’s website, annual report and social media feeds.
Find out what you can about your prospective line of business, manager, colleagues and responsibilities. This is where your personal network comes in handy. Are people at the company happy in their roles? Do they advance? Why is this job open? Are there internal candidates, and if not, why not?
Finally, find out what you can about the person who will interview you. Read their LinkedIn profile. What is their role in the company? How long have they been at the firm? What was their career trajectory?
2. Write and practice your elevator speech
The easiest interview questions can trip you up, especially open-ended ones like “So, tell me about yourself.” Without some scripted phrases and practice, you risk rambling on, or worse, saying something unintentional.
Fumbling the easy questions will throw you off your game and make it even harder to answer more probing ones. So, write out a 30- to 60-second elevator speech that answers who you are, what you do and what strengths you bring. Then practice, practice, practice your message — and time yourself. This allows you to be confident and to the point.
While you’re at it, write out some succinct answers to anticipated questions like: Why are you interested in this role/this company? What would the first six months on the job look like to you? And practice these responses, too.
3. Ask questions
You aren’t the only one being interviewed here. You need to know if the company would be a good fit for you, too.
Ask questions to make sure the company and the role you are up for align with your expectations. Questions like:
- What are the daily responsibilities of this role?
- How is success measured?
- How would you describe the company’s culture?
- What about its values?
- What do you appreciate most about working for the organization?
By asking questions, you assure the interviewer that you’re not desperate for the job or complacent or uninterested. You show you have critical thinking skills. All in all, a good look.
Bonus: Don’t take every interview
If something doesn’t seem right, politely decline the interview. Job interviews take incredible energy, so rest up for the right openings. Besides, you might later be tempted or feel pressured to settle for the wrong job.
Cathy Dolan-Schweitzer, senior project manager at Columbia University Irving Medical Center in New York, recalled a time when her gut told her the job wasn’t right. She knew going into the interview that the prospective employer wanted her to close her “side hustle” as a health-care consultant, trainer, speaker and author.
“That didn’t sit well with me, but I still plunged ahead,” she said. Dolan-Schweitzer and her prospective boss talked about a senior level position. But when the offer letter came, it was for a much lower level position, and she felt “hoodwinked.”
Dolan-Schweitzer turned down the offer and later landed the perfect job – her current role — which allowed her to keep running her business.
The bottom line
Remember, acing a job interview is all about confidence. And sometimes the best thing is to have the confidence that the right job is out there.
