Preparing for the Interview Process
When getting started for the interview process it is good to re-assess and understand yourself. This will help you to be prepared and confident for any questions that may crop up during the interview process.
The art of successful interviewing is being prepared and anticipating the interview environment. This includes doing your research on the company, understanding the job profile and understanding how you fit in with the company and the role.
Preparing for the interview process requires a systematic assessment of yourself. This includes:
- Reviewing your resume (CV)
- Understanding your strengths and weaknesses
- Assessing your professional and educational history
- Refreshing yourself on the accomplishments and highlights of your career
- Think about the types of jobs and environment that would be best suited for you
Preparing for the interview process requires research of the company that you will be interviewing for:
- Go to the company website. This is the easiest way to learn about the company. Try to understand who is who in the company, the product and services they provide and their market position.
- Do a Google Search on the Company. This will help you understand what others are saying about the company, its reputation and potential pitfalls. This will also help you prepare for questions to ask about the company.
- If the company is a public company go through their financial / shareholder report. This report offers a wealth of information regarding the company and their strategy, financial position, market position and industry outlook.
- Speak with friends, colleagues and family that may have worked in the company or work in the industry. This will provide you with a wealth of inside information about the company and the industry.
- Research the industry. Hand in hand with company research should go research about the industry. The interviewer may ask many questions or use terms related to industry. You would want to be prepared.
Putting it all together for the Interview: Undersanding the Job Profile and how its fits with you:
- Understand the job profile and what skills are required. The assessment of the skills required should be technical skills, education and experience, managerial and personal traits.
- Look at your resume and identify all the areas where you have a good fit with the job profile. Check the areas where you have exceeded the requirements as this may be a positive or a negative depending on the role.
- Understand the areas where there are differences between the job profile and your background. Work on how to reduce the differentials. Focus on projects, not for profit work, community activities, training that will help you reduce the gap.
- Look at your core skills, key achievements as they relate to the job profile and analyze how they will be interpreted by the interviewer. This will help you assess how you can stand out for this position and your compatability with the job profile. These are elements of the CV that you would like to emphasize in the interview.
- Do a Mock Interview. Focus on the Job Profile by giving examples from your CV of how you fit and giving evidence from your skill base. Also think about what you are able to bring to the table that will distinguish you from other candidates.
