Often when you are looking for a new job, you are asked to interview with potential employers. Interviews can be intimidating or even nerve-wracking, so it’s important to know what to say, what to know and what not to do during an interview.
The interview preparation
Consider yourself in the interview: you want to make a good first impression with potential employers. You walk into the room and before you’ve introduced yourself, the hiring manager begins asking questions about you. Do you think they will ask questions like, “tell us about yourself”, “why do you want to work here”, “who are your role models?”, or ” Do you think you will fit in here?” Maybe they’ll ask something like “What is your weakest area of expertise”.
Make sure that when answering questions during an interview, it’s clear so that employer knows exactly what you can offer them. The more knowledge they have on someone, the less likely they are to hire them.
Below we give a few examples of what you can and should talk about during an interview:
What you like: You like working with people, management and effort. You also like to delegate and manage time well.
What you don’t like: Nothing at the moment. Excitement is very high.
Who is your mentor? Your current employer has helped you flourish as a person and as an employee.
What are your weaknesses? One is that you sometimes forget appointments; this is because you are always running around to get work done. You then think that your appointments will be rescheduled.
How do you handle stress? You like to take it one step at a time so if there’s too much on your plate, you won’t be able to complete your tasks in time.
What do you know about our company? You research them extensively so that you understand the market they are in and their vision for the future.
Recommended: How to behave in a job interview?
Additional ways/steps to prepare for an interview
1) Learn about your interviewer
2) Practice your interview responses
3) Know what you’re getting into
4) Research the company/industry to prepare for key questions
5) Take practice interview tests to see how you do in different settings, scenarios, and with different questions
6) Prepare a list of challenging questions in advance
7) Know what skills are important for this job
8) Research the company’s website if they have one to get more information on their industry, products, mission statement etc.
9) Create a list of your strengths and weaknesses
10 ) Get feedback from people who know you well or have worked with you before.
You should know whether or not, or up to what extent the job is valuable for you. To determine this, you might ask yourself the following questions:
What are the benefits of working here?
A difficult question to answer, but it’s essential for you to know whether the job will be worth it in terms of salary, benefits, training opportunities, and advancement potential. Uncovering these answers usually requires asking someone who works for the company if it’s worth it.
All of this information helps you prepare for an interview with an employer so that you can feel confident about your experience.
You should understand what skills are most valuable for the role you are applying for/seeking. For example, will you carry out an innovation strategy, create new products or services for the company, lead a team of employees to accomplish business goals, etc. Knowing this will help you in your interview preparations.
Knowing your strengths and weaknesses in the role.
So, knowing what you are good at makes it easier for an interviewer to understand what they can expect from you in the job. By knowing what you are not good at, you give employers something to work with. When preparing for an interview, it is essential that both sides prepare for each other.
We covered ways to prepare for an interview, and we hope it is of help to you and we also hope that you get a job. Thank you for reading and we hope to see you soon.
