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Are there any books out there that give tips for interviewing? Not just your usual "wear a suit, ask questions, take notes" sort of advice. I'm a horrible interviewer and really want to improve. Thanks.
You're probably better off working with someone at a career development center. Does the municipality you reside in have one (either city or county)? They can do practice interviews with you and give you pointers on where you need improvements.
Probably better than anything you can find in a book.
You're probably better off working with someone at a career development center. Does the municipality you reside in have one (either city or county)? They can do practice interviews with you and give you pointers on where you need improvements.
Probably better than anything you can find in a book.
That is a good suggestion and I'll have to look into it. Thank you.
Are there any books out there that give tips for interviewing? Not just your usual "wear a suit, ask questions, take notes" sort of advice. I'm a horrible interviewer and really want to improve. Thanks.
Yeah, there about a thousand of them. Just check out any bookstore or library. But the gist of all of them is that you need to prepare answers for commonly asked questions, including strengths/weaknesses, why you want the job, and why they should hire you.
You need to have a lot of open ended questions ready to fill up time (i.e. what do you like about your job?; what characteristics are needed to succeed here, or helped you in your career?, etc.).
You should do some research about the company, industry, and position to both ask good questions and also to avoid stupid ones.
You need to show strong interest or enthusiam for the job. Answer everything in a positive manner and do not blame or criticize past employers, bosses, or co-workers.
You should avoid pitfalls like asking about pay, benefits, fringe type stuff (except training), hours, or anything that would imply you had some reservations about the job. Once you get an offer, you can ask all of those questions. These books usually give a long list of common pitfalls.
You should have an anectdote for every line in your resume about projects you worked on, a success, a failure that you learned from, etc. If they ask you any question, you should be able to draw on these stories to answer their questions.
Key-You need to practice. A lot. In front of a mirror and then in front of a live person. Even video tape it. It's painful at first, but you get better at it all the time. In strong markets, people would sign up interviews for jobs they weren't interested for practice, but today you shouldn't waste an interview like that in this job market.
Good luck. I liked a book called guerrilla tactics for the job of your dreams or something like that.
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Surely you have a friend or relative that is in management and does interviews, who you could talk to. Besides the tips, the best thing is practice, after 5-6 you get a lot more comfortable. You would be amazed to see how much better you will do if you take the role of the interviewer and practice with people acting as applicants.
Yeah, there about a thousand of them. Just check out any bookstore or library. But the gist of all of them is that you need to prepare answers for commonly asked questions, including strengths/weaknesses, why you want the job, and why they should hire you.
You need to have a lot of open ended questions ready to fill up time (i.e. what do you like about your job?; what characteristics are needed to succeed here, or helped you in your career?, etc.).
You should do some research about the company, industry, and position to both ask good questions and also to avoid stupid ones.
You need to show strong interest or enthusiam for the job. Answer everything in a positive manner and do not blame or criticize past employers, bosses, or co-workers.
You should avoid pitfalls like asking about pay, benefits, fringe type stuff (except training), hours, or anything that would imply you had some reservations about the job. Once you get an offer, you can ask all of those questions. These books usually give a long list of common pitfalls.
You should have an anectdote for every line in your resume about projects you worked on, a success, a failure that you learned from, etc. If they ask you any question, you should be able to draw on these stories to answer their questions.
Key-You need to practice. A lot. In front of a mirror and then in front of a live person. Even video tape it. It's painful at first, but you get better at it all the time. In strong markets, people would sign up interviews for jobs they weren't interested for practice, but today you shouldn't waste an interview like that in this job market.
Good luck. I liked a book called guerrilla tactics for the job of your dreams or something like that.
All great advice! One thing I'd like to add is to SMILE. You're interviewed by people not a computer seeking the right answers. I used to work in HR and I've seen more underqualified applicants with great attitudes land jobs over well qualified overachievers that are boring and regurgitate their resume in the interview.
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