Interview Prep 4 Both Sides of the Field

Interviews are tough, we can all admit that.  I have interviewed for various different jobs throughout my career and I am lucky that most have gone well.  There are a lot of steps a candidate takes before they even get to the interview process, but let’s focus on the interview itself.  A recruiter calls you, informs you that your resume has been selected out of a pool of candidates and now you are invited in for an interview. 

Once a date and time is agreed upon, breathe a sigh of relief and then online to research the company and/or the person you will be interviewing with.  What did we do before the Internet?  Research a company’s website, access company financials, press releases, consumer feedback, reviews (etc).  Taking it a step further, if you know the name of the person you are interviewing with, there are multiple tools you can use to look up that person’s background.  I’m a big fan of www.linkedin.com, it’s a great tool for professional networking.

What is the benefit of researching the person you are interviewing with or the person being interviewed?  Don’t forget it works both ways.  For me, I look for things like resumes and what their background entails; maybe we know someone in common?  I also look at professional organizations, as these are not only good things to familiarize yourself with, but possibly something I might look into joining as well.  Networking is one of the easiest and most economical tools we can use these days.  If you do your research, you will find there are networking events or professional happy hours almost every night.  These are great things to attend whether you are looking for a job, looking for potential job candidates, looking to expand your business or just to get your name and face out there and meet fellow professionals in our community.

Once your research is done and now it is the night before the interview make sure you have everything you need:  extra copies of your resume, your professional binder, pen and pad of paper for note-taking, and any questions you may want to ask in your interview.   

As we all know by now, the rule of thumb is to arrive for the interview approximately 15 minutes early and mentally prepare yourself for the interview.  When interview begins answers all of their questions to the best of your knowledge.  Don’t be afraid to pause and collect your thoughts before talking.  Be specific with your answers, use previous job experiences to draw from.  Always be sure to ask a few questions about company background  or specific job duties that you are interviewing for before the interview wraps up. 

When you get home,  immediately write a thank you email to the person you interviewed with.  As a rule of thumb stick to the 24 hour rule for sending your thank you note.  Now, you’ve done all that you can at this point … time to wait and hope for the best. 

Will they call?  This depends on the company’s policies.  Look at how the recruiter closed the interview for clues on how long it will be until they contact you.  As a recruiter, I usually wrap an interview up with a few different closings – one of them is “we will be in touch, you can expect a call from our department within 24-48 hours.” 

I am a big fan of not leaving the candidates in limbo.  If I am granting another interview with a member of whatever company I am interviewing for, this is a reasonable time frame for a follow-up phone call to set up the next step.  This also depends on the size of the company and how many candidates are being interviewed – anything within 5 business days is reasonable.  For me, the key word is communication.  Whenever I was interviewing I would always ask what the next step was and when I could expect to hear back from the company.

At this point in time, both sides are analyzing the same things – fit for the company, experience, skills, the overall big picture.  Candidates and Recruiters alike want to find the best fit and as we all know from either side, the right fit can often be hard to find, just like the perfect suit.  Take your time and don’t forget what’s important to you .