JOB SEARCH TIPS
The Telephone Interview / The Personal Interview

PREPARING FOR AN INTERVIEW

A job interview is like a game. It has rules, and the participants have roles to play. What you can win is an offer. What the interviewer can win is the proper person for the job.

Your role as an interviewer is to play the confident applicant who can project talent, willingness, and suitability for the opening. If you have done your homework, you should have no problem.

What to do:

Spend time researching the company via the internet (i.e. company's web site), in the library, or talk with friends who know similar organizations.

Interview yourself on a tape recorder until you hear confidence in your answers to questions.

Prepare positive answers to such potentially difficult queries as "I'm a little worried about your lack of experience" or "You've been out of work a long time, haven't you?"

Interviewers play one of four general roles:

The target-directed interviewer is direct, businesslike, and a little impersonal. Respond in kind.

The all-in-the-family interviewer is warm, friendly, and company oriented. Emphasize your team player attributes.

The thinking person's interviewer is interested in how you did things or intend to do things. Give logical, expanded answers about your methods and theories.

The make-it-easy-for-me interviewer is unpredictable and prone to snap judgments.

Be a responsive audience, and let the interviewer keep center stage.

Source: Robert Half, president, Robert Half International, Inc., New York, and author of The Robert Half Way to Get Hired In Today's Job Market, Rawson Wade.