In other words, How To Ace That Interview !

You need a new job, one with more hours and better pay. You have taken some measures towards improving yourself. You are ready to move onwards and upwards.

You know the drill: You see a job posting, browse the company website, fill out the generic application,  spend two hours answering all of the online questionnaire and upload your resume.

And then you wait.

Maybe your resume went into a black hole. Maybe it got tossed in a stack of hundreds of other resumes. Or maybe—just maybe—it’ll find its way to the hiring manager’s desk.

When you find yourself lucky enough to land an interview, your first instinct is probably to find out how you can best avoid messing it up. The good news is that many interviewers rely on the same questions, which can be used to your advantage… if you know how to answer them. It is also important to find out as much as you can about the company you are interviewing with. How long have they been in business, what is their product line, who is their target customer? Having that knowledge in your head before you walk  into an interview can give you an edge over some of the other applicants for that same position.

First things first. Please wear clean, pressed clothing. Do your best to look presentable and have clean fingernails. My most important piece of job interview advice is, “Be positive” when you are talking about your career history. Even if the interviewer asks for your biggest failure or your worst boss or anything else that is negative, find a way to spin it so that you come across as a person who is agreeable, who learns from mistakes, and who recovers from setbacks in a positive way.

Discipline yourself not to go on and on about how horrible your last boss was or what a bunch of losers were on your last team. It doesn’t take much negativity before the hiring manager will be too afraid to hire you.

When the interviewer asks why he or she should hire you, knowing about the company should help you to come up with an answer that shows you have done your homework, that you’re not simply looking for a job anywhere, you are looking for a job with this company.

If you have friends who work for the same company, and they are happy at the company and are doing well, then by all means, try to work that into the conversation. Referrals are always helpful.

Jennifer Comer

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