is your job, who you "are?"

[Stavios]

Wrong.  I interview people all the time in small groups and large search committees.  There are a million ways to screw up an interview irrespective of how "interested" one is in the job.

By the way, that should be "through" not "threw."  If you made that mistake in a cover letter you would not even make it to an interview.

english isn't my first langage, I'm doing my best don't be an asshole 

[Stavios]

The obvious:
• Showing up late.  Yes, people still do this.  It doesn't matter what the cause/excuse is.  It will be held against you.
• Dressing inappropriately.  This applies to men and women.
• Poor personal grooming.  Before the interview go to the rest room and make sure everything is OK.  You don't want a booger in your nose as you speak to a group of 5-12 people
• Appearing nervous.
• Not knowing anything about the company/organization.  "What do you know about General Electric?" is a typical interview question.  You should know when and where the company was founded, how many people work there, what the major products are, where geographically they operate, who the major competitors are, what have they been in the news for recently, etc.
• Not having several copies of your resume or list of references handy.  If someone asks you for either item the only correct answer is, “Yes, I have it right here.  Would you like a copy?”
• Everyone likes to brag about their “strengths” but you are likely to be asked about your “weaknesses” as well.  You should have thought this through long ago and have meaningful--but not fatal--weaknesses to share also adding information about how you are addressing those weaknesses.
• Not making eye contact with everyone in the room.  Your impulse may be to give eye contact to the search committee chair or to the person asking the specific question, but as you speak you must make eye contact with everyone in the room repeatedly.


The less obvious:
• Not rehearsing.  If you’ve been working consistently, you may not have interviewed for a long time and you are probably out of practice.  If you are of practice it will show.  You can mitigate this by rehearsing answers to typical questions and/or holding mock interviews with professional friends.  Answers to typical questions should roll off your tongue.
• Talking too fast.  This is often a function of being nervous.  Deal with it by rehearsing.  You want to appear calm and confident—not mousy, nervous or arrogant.
• Not having relevant examples ready.  Depending on the job you are likely to be asked for examples of problems you have solved or is sues you have addressed in the past.  Think this through before you get to the interview and have them ready to go.
• Not asking appropriate questions. Near the end of most interviews the leader of the search committee will likely ask if you “have any questions for us?”  You should.  Even if it is a day long interview and you are meeting with different groups throughout the day you must ask questions for each group—even if they are repeat questions.  Different constituents are evaluating you and the questions you ask are part of that.  If you do not ask intelligent questions that will be held against you.
• Having bad references.  It seems natural that the person you list as a reference would give you a good recommendation.  You would be surprised to know how often that is not true.  Be absolutely certain that you have chosen the right referees to speak well of you and your work ethic.  Many people are stabbed in the back here and they never know it.

those are all obvious IMO, but I have worked in human ressources before so maybe I'm just used to seeing interviews

[Natural Man]

The best way to succeed in an interview...is to multiply interviews. That's the most obvious tip you failed to mention.

[Stavios]

The best way to succeed in an interview...is to multiply interviews. That's the most obvious tip you failed to mention.

what do you mean by that ?

[wes]

I didn`t understand it either.

[Stavios]

I didn`t understand it either.

yeah but you are old, you never understand shit 

[wes]

You fucker!1 

[haider]

what do you mean by that ?

It means you lacked a father figure in life. Sorry to say Stavios  


I think he meant your chances of success are better if u get more interviews. So if u bomb interviews 9/10 but u only apply to 5 jobs your chances are lower than ig u tried to get more interviews. Cant say i disagree, it seems people aim for a few companies and miss out on a lot of oppurtunities.

Your lesson of the day, girls and sons.

[apply85]

he meant you increase amount of successful interviews by going to more interviews

and bay, what is the worst backstab u ever witnessed? tell a story of someone giving a totally awful reference

[The Abdominal Snoman]

Trending tonight on Getbig..."CIA/NSA facebook type question to read your soul"

[apply85]

oh, and the correct answer to a couple general questions people get in interviews:

why do u think u would make a good xyz?

I try to be the best at whatever i do, be it abc or xyz

do u have any questions for me?

what would u expect of me i got the position of xyz

[Tapeworm]

bomb

Homeland Security

[Natural Man]

It means you lacked a father figure in life. Sorry to say Stavios  


I think he meant your chances of success are better if u get more interviews. So if u bomb interviews 9/10 but u only apply to 5 jobs your chances are lower than ig u tried to get more interviews. Cant say i disagree, it seems people aim for a few companies and miss out on a lot of oppurtunities.

Your lesson of the day, girls and sons.

basically what i attempted to say yeah but also  that doing so you get more and more confortable until at some point you re relaxed enough in most of your interviews.

But i also meant that it's all about finding the people who will like you for who you are. Let's not make it more complicated than it is; interviewers either like or hate you at the very first stare, as simple as that. I often can tell from the get go if it's alrdy toast. HR recruiters take a lot of pleasure letting you believe they actually like you, when in fact they dont. Even, if you have what is required for the job.  But at some point in life, you know when they re bullshiting you politely for 20 minutes and when they re really interested in your profile.
So in order to succeed you have to multiply contacts until you find someone who shares common personality traits with you. Most of my bosses were either guys who were a substitute of my older brother or father figures in search of a son. Three of my colleagues/managers in three different jobs who recruited me,  were 3 or 4 years older than me (the age of my own older brother) and had little brothers the same age as me or younger for example.

[LittleJ]

Obviously, interviewing for a job and doing the job are two very different skills.  It is like the difference between campaigning for office and actually being effective in office or governing.  We have all seen this over the years, but if you can’t do the former well then you won’t get the chance to do the latter.

What if he is a cute bodybuilder. You're going to give him the job, right?

[Natural Man]

the job is most of the time not hard to master in itself, what's tough, daily and requires the more "work", are relationships with others...and it includes somehow the interview itself as it is the first kind of relationship you re going to have with your job's environment.

[apply85]

uberman is mr smartypants in this thread

[James28]

No. I work as an IT Consultant. More specifically with SAP lately and Point Of Sale systems usually. Money is great and I get to travel a lot. I'm in South Africa right now with one of our clients based in Cape Town. Flying to Johannesburg tomorrow, back to UK on Monday before heading to Barcelona next Wednesday. So, I get around but the amount of Kcunts you have to deal with is mind blowing. It's the type of industry where 1up-manship is rife and backstabbing the order of the day. Dealing with IT people, especially at director level is castrating at times. Endless meetings, conferencing, troubleshooting, presentations, etc. So no, it's not particularly good.

What I want to do is to work for the United Nations, or EU, or one of the big international organisations as a lawyer, particularly focusing on their third world development programs. I'm 31 now and made it my goal to be in that position at 35.

[Raymondo]

No. I work as an IT Consultant. More specifically with SAP lately and Point Of Sale systems usually. Money is great and I get to travel a lot. I'm in South Africa right now with one of our clients based in Cape Town. Flying to Johannesburg tomorrow, back to UK on Monday before heading to Barcelona next Wednesday. So, I get around but the amount of Kcunts you have to deal with is mind blowing. It's the type of industry where 1up-manship is rife and backstabbing the order of the day. Dealing with IT people, especially at director level is castrating at times. Endless meetings, conferencing, troubleshooting, presentations, etc. So no, it's not particularly good.

What I want to do is to work for the United Nations, or EU, or one of the big international organisations as a lawyer, particularly focusing on their third world development programs. I'm 31 now and made it my goal to be in that position at 35.

how do you reconcile weightlifting and proper eating with a busy traveling schedule?

[jonsande]

Lawyer here.  And no, it's not who I am.  I'm not an ass, OCD, or a fan of silly formalities with no meaning.  I should get back into the ad business....now thatwas some fun shit.