Are you one to stress about upcoming job interviews? Studies show that preparing for an interview ahead of time will vastly increase your chances of landing the job. There are a few key practices you can employ to prepare for the interview to make an excellent first impression on your future employer.
Make a Great Resume
It all starts with your resume–without a good one you won’t be landing an interview. It’s your first impression before the first impression, and it has to be a good one for the hiring manager to consider you for an interview.
Make a strong first impression with a strong, tightly formatted resume. Be aware of modern hiring strategies such as Applicant Tracking Systems and write your resume through this lens. Not only will a strong resume open the door to interviews, it will also serve as an excellent referential tool to leverage during the interview.
Interviewers love to ask about specific examples that highlight key skills, so Include specific, key accomplishments on your resume. That way, you will have a backlog of specific highlights you can reference during the interview.
Analyze
Take the time to research the organization, position you are applying for and the job ad. Consider the company values, what the employer is looking for and measures of success in the position. Make a list of these items so you have everything down on paper. That will help with the next step.
Match
Reference your list you made previously and match specific accomplishments, work experience, education and anything else to the qualifications. Skills, certificates, experiences, credentials, technical acumen and knowledge are all great things you can link to what the employer is looking for.
When explaining to the hiring manager why you believe you are an amazing fit for the position, you now have a great list of specific examples to reference.
Practice Practice Practice
It’s a good idea to do at least one mock interview before the real deal.
You can write down and practice responses to typical interview questions with a trusted friend, potentially even recording and critiquing your performance. Doing so will not only help you develop answers to common questions and help your speech, studies show it also reduces nerves.
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