Interview Game Plan

Many books are available that discuss interview behavior. Among the best and least expensive sources are the guidelines available through your organization’s personnel office. Why? Because the guidelines are often the basis for formal training in the organization.

Here are some top tips:

1. Don’t smoke, chew gum, tobacco, or anything else.
2. Make a positive and professional first impression by being assertive and giving a firm handshake to each interviewer and addressing each interviewer as they are introduced.
3. Reinforce your professionalism and your ability to communicate effectively by speaking clearly and avoiding “uhs”, “you knows”, and slang.
4. Use appropriate wording. You won’t receive extra points for every word that has more than 10 letters. Use technical terms only when appropriate to the question.
5. Use positive words. Instead of “if”, “I think”, “I feel” and “I wish” use “when”, “I am” and “I would”
6. Establish rapport by relating to each interviewer. Note the wording that is used by each interviewer and when appropriate use similar words. Maintain eye contact with each of the interviewers throughout the interview.
7. Sit comfortably. Sit erectly, but don’t sit stiffly or sprawl over the chair.
8. Project confidence and a positive attitude. Maintain awareness of your voice, posture, energy level, and enthusiasm. Make hand gestures to emphasize important points, but avoid distracting gestures or making too many hand gestures.
9. Smile confidently, but not to the point where you would appear to be too casual. Smiling will also help you relax and establish a rapport with the interviewers.
10. Emphasize your strengths and qualifications that make a compelling reason that you are the ideal person for the job.
11. Don’t dominate the interview. Time does not equal quality.
12. Manage weaknesses or barriers so that they appear to be indications of your strengths.
13. Be attentive. Listen to each question carefully and don’t interrupt. If you aren’t sure of what is being asked, politely request that the question be repeated.
14. Close the interview with a strong closing statement of your qualifications for the job.
15. Thank the interviewers. Shake their hands individually and thank each interviewer by name.

• Make a positive and professional first impression by being assertive and giving a firm handshake to each interviewer and addressing each interviewer as they are introduced.
• Reinforce your professionalism and your ability to communicate effectively by speaking clearly and avoiding “uhs”, “you knows”, and slang.
• Use positive words. Instead of “if”, “I think”, “I feel” and “I wish” use “when”, “I am” and “I would”
• Establish rapport by relating to each interviewer. Note the wording that is used by each interviewer and when appropriate use similar words. Maintain eye contact with each of the interviewers throughout the interview.
• Sit comfortably. Sit erectly, but don’t sit stiffly or sprawl over the chair.
• Don’t expect the interviewers to have confidence in you, if you don’t have confidence in yourself.
• Project confidence and a positive attitude. Maintain awareness of your voice, posture, energy level, and enthusiasm. Make hand gestures to emphasize important points, but avoid distracting gestures or making too many hand gestures.
• Smile confidently, but not to the point where you would appear to be too casual. Smiling will also help you relax and establish a rapport with the interviewers.
• Manage weaknesses or barriers so that they appear to be indications of your strengths.
• Be attentive. Listen to each question carefully and don’t interrupt. If you aren’t sure of what is being asked, politely request that the question be repeated.
• Close the interview with a strong closing statement of your qualifications for the job.
• Thank the interviewers. Shake their hands individually and thank each interviewer by name.

Key success points to remember:

• The most qualified person to do a job is someone who has already done the job. If you were to hire someone to fix the plumbing in your house, who would you hire? Someone who has never fixed the plumbing or someone who has? As you answer the interview questions, cite your work and life experiences in examples to reinforce to the interviewers that you’ve already done what they’re looking for, and you’ve done it successfully.
• The interview will typically focus on the KSA’s you’ve identified. If the interviewers start the interview with a description of the job, you may learn more about the job.
• Try to use the same wording as the KSA’s. If you use different wording, then you are depending on the interviewers to make the connection between the words you use and the KSA’s. For example, if the job requires someone to supervise, use the word “supervise” and not the word “manage”.
• Do you know the company and the job that you’re interviewing for? Check financial sources, annual reports, and news media for information on the company, their culture and current events. If possible, visit the company, their stores or offices to get a sense of the culture and dress code.
• What salary are you seeking? What’s the appropriate salary for the job that you’re seeking, for your geographic area and for your industry. Check Salary.com for free salary information
• For each Question Bank Index category that you’ve matched to a KSA, review the answer tips that are either provided with the questions or at the bottom of the page.
• Don’t use limiting words, such as only or just. For example, I “only” supervise five employees. You’re making an assumption that five employees is a small number. The fact is that you don’t know what the interviewers consider as a small number and what is a large number.
• Use appropriate wording. You won’t receive extra points for every word that has more than 10 letters. Use technical terms only when appropriate to the question.
• Use action words. Here’s just a sample:
• accomplish lead
• achieve manage
• coordinate negotiate
• delegate organize
• develop prioritize
• direct  recommend
• establish reduce
• evaluate reorganize
• execute resolve
• expedite review
• expand revitalize
• implement supervise
• improve train
• increase transform
• initiate upgrade
• introduce
• implement

• Be concise, logical and to the point. Use short sentences.