The job interview

The job interview
What you must tell them to get a good job

You are bright. You worked hard at school and university and assembled a decent degree. You may have some special training in anything from lucidity to personal presentation. Your internships have given you an idea about the sort of conditions you will work in and the kind of oddballs you must deal with. Your parents are out-and-about people, anyway, so you have a good idea of how others perform.

Then come the job interviews. You need to have some practice in handling these so they will not be completely new to you. Job interviewers range from the moderately intelligent to the unbelievably incompetent. You’ll get a mixture. The first thing you have to do is weigh up what sort of interviewer(s) you are dealing with. You must use the right approach for different levels of interviewer. The same style definitely does not suit all.

The interview is make-or-break; do it well. What do you want to communicate? What will turn the interviewer(s) on? The answer is very simple but most people miss it. Make them aware that you are good at something. It doesn’t have to be very grand; it has to be very clear. If you try to paint a picture of a brilliant and experienced person capable of doing every job they could ask you to tackle, you won’t get this – or any other – job.

Tell them what you have successfully done. These will be quite modest achievements – you are still young. What matters is that you did them, that they were successful and that you are enthusiastically proud of them. Proud, not arrogant. If you don’t know what sort of proud ask me to send you The Alf Tuck Method. It says it all.

So far we’ve talked about “telling”. How you “tell” is key to getting a job. You have a series of messages to communicate; don’t handle them like a Kalashnikov Rifle and fire them at your interviewers. If you do they will switch off. You must “tell” by “asking”. Your most important message is that you are deeply interested in the organisation or business for which you are being interviewed; that you will regard it as a huge privilege to be part of it; that there is nothing you want to do more than contribute to its success.

If you’ve followed these rules in your interview you will be well on the way to getting the job. There is one more effort you must make to clinch the deal. Whatever your personality, however you feel at the time of the interview, you must conduct yourself with GUSTO. Enthusiasm is infectious. It demonstrates interest, caring and great potential commitment.

The ultimate ‘woo’ for one sex by the other is “I love you” said with fervour and conviction.
You won’t tell a potential employer that you love them because it could be misunderstood. But you must convey the same (non-sexual) sentiments by your irrepressible joy at the prospect of working for them.

You see, the interview isn’t about you at all. It is about your employer-to-be.

GUSTO, pride in jobs done, how to conduct job interviews are part of Terrific Mentors’ Career & Job Service.
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