After having hired hundreds of candidates over the years, I’m able to determine in the first ten minutes of the interview those applicants that have properly prepared.  They are the ones who can give me a concise 30 second overview of their qualifications (this is usually the first question I ask) and are also able to relate those qualifications to my specific job, as well as speak knowledgably about my company.

Even if you’re interviewing for clerical or entry level positions, you can – and should – still go into the interview with detailed knowledge about the company.  This is impressive regardless of the level of job for which you’re interviewing…because so few people do it!

One of the worst mistakes I see in interviews is when applicants ask me to tell them something about my company.  They have this backwards.  As the hiring manager, I expect you to be able to tell me something about my company.  This tells me you did your homework – something that over 90% of the people I interview have not done.

If you’ve done your research well, you’ll be able to frame some of your answers in terms of facts specific to that company.  And you’ll be able to do it smoothly and without hesitation.

As an example, let’s say you’re interviewing for a sales position.  You’ve done your research and found out that sales are down in the territory for which you’re interviewing.  You can now tell them you know their goal is to see growth in that territory and go on to explain how you increased sales in your last job.

Telling how you solved a specific problem being experienced by the company is an extremely powerful way to answer interview questions and I would send taxis for applicants like this.

Towards the end of most interviews, you’ll usually be asked if you have any question.  I usually get one or two general questions about the job, or no questions at all.  On the other hand, when I get an intelligent question or two about some aspect of my company and its specific challenges, this is an applicant I remember.   Sadly, most applicants miss out on this golden opportunity to stand out from the competition.

With the massive amount of data now available on the Internet, there’s simply no excuse for not researching the company when you get an interview.  In my next posts I’ll explain exactly what the best ways are to research any company and how to use that knowledge in ways that will impress any Hiring Manager.

First and foremost, you must realize that in the job interview you’re a sales representative and the product you’re selling is….you!  This means you have to be ready to sell your skills and experiences as they apply specifically to the position for which you’re being interviewed.

Let me say that again: “you have to be ready to sell your skills and experiences as they apply specifically to the position for which you’re being interviewed”.  This is critically important that and I’ll go into greater detail in a subsequent post.
Also, bear in mind that the interview is about more than just your experience and qualifications.  Yes, you were invited to interview because of what was in your resume.  And while you’ll almost certainly be asked questions in the interview about your skills and experience, you must also be able to give examples of accomplishments to prove you been able to successfully apply those skills.
Additionally, the Hiring Manager wants to get a feel for your personality, particularly to determine if you’re “likeable”, which is of course completely subjective.

In fact, Hiring Managers don’t necessarily always offer the job to the most qualified candidate.  What they frequently do is offer the job to the candidate that is both qualified and likable.  This means that a pleasant personality, the ability to project an air of enthusiasm, and good communication and interpersonal skills count heavily, assuming of course that you’re also highly qualified.

As if all this isn’t enough, you also have to dress appropriately, thoroughly research the company, anticipate and have well prepared answers to common interview questions, along with many other details, all before you even you step through the door for the interview.
Unfortunately, many job applicants believe the interview starts when you first sit down to face the interviewers.  This is dead wrong.  In actuality, the interview begins as soon as you’re told what day and time to come in.  That’s when you need to begin your preparation.
Please believe me when I tell you that preparation is the number one thing that distinguishes great candidates from merely good ones.  And in today’s tough job market, you must be a great candidate to get that job offer.

Consequently, my next several posts will be about how you can properly prepare for any interview situation, focusing on areas such as:
•    Company Research
•    Preparing your “Marketing Message”
•    Why you need anecdotes
•    How to answer both common and difficult questions (and why you need to prepare questions of your own to ask).

At the end of this series, you will know how to be one of the most, if not the most, well prepared candidate in the eyes of any Hiring Manager.

Believe it or not, hiring managers can also be uneasy during interviews, particularly so when we interview someone who is obviously unqualified and/or unprepared.  This means that everything you can do to make the hiring manager’s job easier in the interview will put you that much ahead of applicants who are not as well prepared.

To set the stage for the interview advice I’ll be giving, read carefully the following example of a scenario that is all too common in many interviews I’ve conducted over the years.

Candidates come into the interview room, dressed in jeans or something equally inappropriate, carrying nothing to write with and no notebook to write in.  They mumble their name and overall give the impression that they’ve done little or no preparation.  When asked to give an overview of their experience, they do so in a few short sentences which have little or no relevance to my job opening.  Their answers to my questions are generic and could apply to any position, with no indication that any research was done of my company.  They talk about their experience but not their accomplishments.
Some of the information they tell me contradicts what is on their resume, leading me to wonder if they’ve even read their own resume before the interview.

Worse yet, they sometimes display arrogance or otherwise try to look superior because of their experience and presumed abilities. Or, alternately, their lack of preparation becomes obvious after the first question and they are then too nervous to effectively answer subsequent questions.

At the close of the interview, the only questions they ask are related to salary, working hours and benefits.  They then call back in three days and wonder why I haven’t yet offered them the job.

Does this sound overly critical?  Or – be honest now! – have you exhibited yourself some of the traits described during one of your interviews?  Don’t be alarmed if you have.  Many of the components in this scenario are present in at least half of the interviews I’ve conducted over the years.  Fortunately, the fix is very straightforward because the root cause of every one of the negative behaviors described can attributed to one thing: lack of preparation.

The subsequent series of posts will explain in detail exactly how you can be the most well prepared candidate in any interview.  Preparation is the golden word when it comes to job interviews.  It’s the key to impressing the hiring manager and that’s the key to a job offer.

From a timing standpoint, if you haven’t heard anything in two weeks after a first interview, it’s perfectly acceptable to call HR to check on your status.  If fact, they expect it. Typically, HR handles all the administrative work for the hiring manager and they will know the status of the hiring decision.

The reason your first follow up should always be with the HR department, NOT the hiring manager, is that at any given time a manager may be interviewing ten or more applicants and it would be time consuming to personally talk to them all.  That’s what HR is for and the hiring manager expects you to make HR your contact point.

Another reason is that, as a hiring manager, I have to tell you I really don’t like getting phone calls from applicants who were interviewed.  If I don’t intend to hire them, it’s an awkward call, and if I’m still interested I will already be scheduling them for another interview.

At this point in time, your only follow-up with the hiring manger (or anyone else with whom you interviewed) should be your thank-you letter or email following the interview.  Calling HR instead shows you know the proper etiquette and are respectful of the interviewer’s time.

The one exception to this is when the company is very small.  If there is no formal HR department then calling the hiring manager is your only option.

If you feel you just have to follow-up with me, I much prefer an email (although I still won’t appreciate the intrusion!).  An email lets me respond when I’m able to, and I can be much better prepared if it’s going to be a “dear John” type of response.

Here’s a special tip if you decide to send an inquiry email to the hiring manager after the interview.  Instead of just asking about your status, find a relevant article and send it.  In your email, simply say you’ve been thinking about what you heard in the interview and found this interesting article that you wanted to pass on.  Then, close by saying you hope to hear from them soon.  This reinforces that you do your homework and allows you to make a more subtle inquiry on your status.

If you decide you simply must call the hiring manager on the phone, here’s how to approach it.
First, send an email politely saying that you’re following up.  Then, suggest three different days and times to call them and ask if they can fit one into their schedule, and if not could they suggest a day and time that would work.

You have a much better chance of getting a response to this type of an inquiry, although the hiring manager will probably still be reluctant to accept a phone call.

If you make it to the second or subsequent interview rounds, shorten your follow-up time to one week.  I still recommend you follow-up with HR and use the same procedures.  If you’re considered the best candidate, you WILL hear back, whether or not you follow up.  Trust me on this!

Just exactly what is a reasonable time to wait before following up after a job interview?  This is a tough question for most job applicants and I’m now going to give you some guidelines.

First, let’s talk about initial interviews.  Two weeks is not an unreasonable amount of time for a company to respond to applicants after the first interview, especially if it’s a big company and a large number of applicants are being interviewed.

In today’s tough job market, a job opening can easily get 50 to 100 applicants or more.  After reviewing the resumes and screening for the most qualified candidates, I will typically bring in four to as many as ten for an initial interview, depending on how many resumes are received and how many of those are highly qualified.

With this many interviews to conduct, it can easily take two weeks to complete them and most companies will typically want to interview all candidates before making a decision as to who to bring back for a second interview.  This means that if you are the first or second candidate interviewed it may be up to two weeks before you hear anything.  Even if you absolutely aced the interview, they will still want to complete them all before deciding which ones to bring back.

If you’re fortunate enough to make it to the second or subsequent interview round, things will happen much faster.  The interview pool will be smaller and it will frequently take no longer than one week to interview the final candidates.

So here’s the bottom line: don’t get too nervous until two weeks after an initial interview and one week after a second or final interview.  If you haven’t heard anything after these time periods, it’s perfectly acceptable to follow-up with a call to the HR department or to the person who scheduled your interview.  DO NOT at this point call the person (s) with whom you interviewed or the Hiring Manager.

In my next post, I will explain in more detail exactly why your first follow up should be to HR and how to follow up in a way that is respectful and shows you are a professional.

Frankly, even though I’m a Hiring Manger, this question is an absurd one in my mind because it tells me nothing useful about the applicant’s experience or accomplishments.  However, many Hiring Managers still like to ask it.  There really is no correct answer.  The whole purpose is to see how well you think on your feet when asked a difficult question.

And I’m now going to tell you the secret to answering this question: don’t answer it!
That’s right – don’t fall into the trap of using the old worn out strategy of taking something generally regarded as a positive and stating it is a negative.  For example, saying something such as “When the chips are down, I tend to drive myself too hard.”  Every experienced Hiring Manager knows this is a cliché answer that you obtained from some interview advice site.

Instead of trying to provide an answer when there really is no good answer, try something like this:
“I’m sure we all have things we’d like to improve about ourselves, but the job, as I understand it, plays to my strengths, not my soft spots.  I don’t think there is anything in my skills or experience that would prevent me from doing an excellent job for you.”
This is a great answer because it doesn’t deny that you have some soft spots (we all do) but it gets you out of the “confession” mode and turns the question into an opportunity to sell yourself.

As you can see, you didn’t really answer the question, but you made a powerful statement.  You demonstrated that you can think on your feet and give an answer that skillfully avoids the trap that this question sets.

I guarantee you’ll be the only person to give this answer and I would send taxi cabs for applicants who could frame an answer like this.
If you encounter a stubborn, short sighted Hiring Manager that still insists on hearing you admit to a weakness (red flag: do you really want to work for this person?), then here’s what I suggest.  Say that at times you feel that you try to multi-task too much, but that you work on keeping this under control by constantly looking for ways to improve your organizational skills.

This admits to a weakness, although sometimes a good one to have, but also conveys that you are working on improving it.

No matter what kind of job you are after, you need to look more than just presentable when going into your interview. This doesn’t mean that you need to rent a tuxedo or an evening gown, but it does mean that you need to wear more than simple attire.

If you are not sure how dressy you should be for your interview, try visiting the place you will interview at before you actually have your interview. Simply go to the building as the work day begins and see how everyone who already works there is dressing. This of course will not be the thing to do if everyone wears a uniform for example.

Sometimes looking the part is just being aware of what you are wearing and how you are looking. Flip flops are a no-no as are sorts and a t-shirt. Some people will even attempt to wear a hat to an interview, which really shows nothing more than the fact that they didn’t want to take the time to do your hair before the interview.

Remember that you are asking a potential employer, who knows very little about you, to give you a job. So, you have to take the time to dress well and primp your hair just a bit. Guys should also be sure to shave. In other words, you need to look presentable.

Your interview is your opportunity to sell yourself and you can’t do that if the potential employer is less than impressed with the way you look. Looking presentable will take the potential employer’s focus off of your looks and pace it instead on what you say during your interview allowing you to adequately sell yourself with your skills and your knowledge.

An easy mistake to make in an interview is trying to figure out what the potential employer wants to hear. While they do in fact want to hear what you have to say, they also want the thought to be coming form you and they want your reactions to represent how you really are.

When you are yourself in a job interview it shows. Answers that come from the heart are ones that come off in a more natural way and therefore allow for a more confident and relaxed mannerism to flow forth.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, answers that are not coming form the heart, show as well. These answers are ones that come off as disingenuous and tend to give the impression of dishonesty. They are often preceded with the classic ummm or ahhh, which is a sure sign of non-confidence.

So, it is in your best interest to simply be yourself while being interviewed. Yes, you do want to sell yourself, but do it in a natural way. Attempting to sell yourself with a bunch of hot air is not the best way to start off a business relationship.

Besides, interviewers have seen it all. They seem to know when someone is telling them truth and they know when someone is telling them what they want to hear. In the end though, they not only want to hear the real you, but need to in order to determine if you will be a good fit for the position you are interviewing for. This cal can only come when you are being honest and being yourself.

Here is when you should not interview for a job:

• Monday and Friday: Monday and Friday are interview killers. On Monday, the interviewer is likely not happy to be back to the grind and on Friday the interviewer is probably only thinking about the weekend. Either way, you it is not probable that you will get the full attention you need to get in order to make a great impression.
• Before 10am or after 4pm: If you schedule your job interview before 10am you risk catching the interviewer before they have had a chance to have their coffee and wake up. If you schedule your interview after 4pm, you risk the interviewer not paying attention to you, but rather the clock, as it is near quitting time.
• Just Before or After Lunch: If your interview is just before lunch, you will likely get rushed out the door as the interviewer will be hungry. If you have your interview right after lunch, the interviewer will likely feel full and may be groggy.

Of course, you may not get to choose when the best time is for you to come into an interview, but if you do, avoid these scenarios like the plague. You want to be certain that the interviewer is going to be able to give you their undivided attention and that can’t happen if their mind is someplace else.

First and foremost, dress to impress for your job interview. You have to look that part and this includes being groomed as neat as can be. No matter how your social life has you looking, remember that your business life will be something totally different.

Next, be sure that you are on time to your interview. In fact, it never hurts to be a few minutes early. If you are late to a job interview then you will only have the potential employer thinking that this is your style and that you will likely be late to work. So why then would they hire you?

When you enter the actual interview itself be sure to make solid eye contact with the interviewer and shake their hand with a firm, but not deadly, grasp. Wait for them to sit first before you sit and make sure that you sit comfortably, but not to the point where you are slouching.

As far as the actual interview goes, you should be well prepared in advance for all the possible questions that you will get asked, especially the dreaded, “Tell me about yourself.” A little prep work and practice on your part the night before the interview goes a long way in making you sound eloquent and filling you full of confidence.

Always leave with another handshake and make sure to thank the interviewer for their time. If you are able to nail your job interview in this manner then you can exit knowing that you did all you could in order to get the job.