Job Interview Techniques Techniques are vital for ensuring you make a great first impression. Here’s an interview with Diane Hudson an experienced interview coach to share her top job interview technique tips.
Martin: Hello, my name is Martin Buckland. I’m an executive career management practitioner and it’s my job to get people to the interview stage. Then it’s over to them.
My colleague, Diane Hudson, who does a lot of interview coaching and interview tutoring is going to give you tips. So Diane, what is your number one tip for interviewing?
Diane: Once you prepare your resume and you’ve put together all of your accomplishment stories for your resume, you have actually prepared yourself for the interview. Because the interview is storytelling. It’s about creating a vision and painting a picture in the mind of the person that is going to listen to you. As you prepare for that interview, you go through those stories and you tell them again, and you tell them in more detail.
Prepare for things. If they’re going to ask you a question such as, “give us an example of your ability to resolve conflict in the work environment,” you look at all your stories. You can actually make a little matrix and you can number your stories out. Then you can list which story will hit the question of conflict management, budgeting, change management, etc. And then you can make your own grid. Preparing your resume and your LinkedIn profile well will prepare you for the interview.
Martin: Interviewing is a two-way street. It’s not just the interviewer or the interview panel asking you questions, open it up to them. It’s a conversation. It’s a meeting of the minds to see whether there’s a fit. So you need to go into the interview being prepared to ask questions of the interviewer. Make it a two-way street. It’s not a one-way street.
Diane: A final comment about interviewing would be making that first amazing impression. That impression happens the minute that you walk into an office. It might be how you treat the receptionist as you are greeted and escorted in. It might be the way you’re dressed that day or the way you communicate. Are you stuttering? Are you saying ‘ums’ and ‘likes’ and ‘uhhs’.
Practice interviewing and really becoming polished and professional at the interview process to make that solid first impression. In 17 seconds that impression is solidified and you have about two minutes after that. If there are 200 people that applied and it’s down to five people getting interviewed, what’s going to make the difference? It could be that first impression. First impressions count.
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