Interviewing: The Day Before (Part. 2) Sunday, October 7, 2007

Interview Series

Make sure your resume gets through to recruiters

Before the Interview (Part. 1)

The Day Before D-Day (Part. 2)

During the Interview (Part. 3)

At the end of the Interview (Part. 4)

Negotiating for a Higher Salary

THE DAY BEFORE D-DAY

Prepare for the actual day

It's great that you got an interview........ but don't leave it to the last minute to find out the time, date, location, name and position of the person interviewing you.

Having those details down, as well as Google Mapping where to go from your house, will relieve the stress on the big day because you're prepared.

If you're Prepared with a capital P, you should be able to show up at least half an hour early (some employers really look for punctuality as a sign that you're responsible and you live up to your word), and it'll give you time to collect and compose yourself, your thoughts for half an hour before actually doing the interview.

Picture this: You're going for an interview.

You run in at the last minute, all sweaty, stressd out from the traffic, lost a button along the way, coffee is cold in your car but you dare not drink it because you don't want to get coffee breath because you forgot your mints/gum at home, PLUS you don't have time and your shirt is askew. You smack a hand to your head when they ask if you have your certifications and portfolio, because you left it under the car seat, have to run out to the car and scramble to dislodge it from the car floor, and brush off the crumpled pieces of paper dotted with McDonald's McMuffin grease spots....

Alternatively..... :)

You show up half an hour early, you can either walk in and let the secretary/receptionist know (and he/she can probably report to the person interviewing you after about how early you were, how you behaved, whatever.. trust me, they notice). Laura from Sparkly to Spouse wrote:

“ I will I think showing up half an hour early is perhaps a bit of overkill. 10-15 minutes early, definitely. But I was in an interview recently and the room we were in had a glass door, so we saw when the next interviewee arrived - 35 minutes early. The interviewer made a sarcastic comment about him implying he was a bit of a brown-noser to show up so early. If you arrive that early, I'd honestly wait in your car or a coffee shop for a few minutes and aim to arrive in the office about 10 minutes early.”

Or you head to a cafe around the corner and you're able to take the time to sip your coffee, have 15 minutes to chew on some gum to clear your breath, you review over your resume and make sure you have the list of certifications they asked for tucked away in your bag in a professional portfolio to refresh your mind on what you want to highlight, you run to the washroom and fix your hair, check your teeth, and psych yourself up.. you walk out, and you're smooth, composed, and confident - ready to wow them and you are FOCUSED on the interview at hand.

You do not get a second chance to make a first impression.

Dress properly

This goes without saying. Pick out your outfit the night before.

I’ll do a more detailed post on this later, but you know the drill – err on the conservative side. It’s easier to laugh off being overdressed and coming off as eager and excited for the job, rather than being underdressed and lackluster.

And if the company is more laidback and relaxed, don’t show up in full buttoned up suit – go business casual, or else they’ll get the impression that you don’t “get” them and the company’s culture. BUT take this advice with a grain of salt because some interviewers have said that even at a casual, laidback company, dressing up in a suit impresses them. Although I do think they meant that even though the company dresses in jeans and flip flops on a daily basis, show up in business casual, and not in jeans and flip flops.

*shrugs*

Ultimately, you make the call, it’s your gut feeling of what you know from meeting the recruiters, talking to them on the phone, whatever. If you can, Google it or ask around about the company dress code, but when in doubt, wear business casual with a suit jacket or something similar. You can always take the jacket off if you feel uncomfortably overdressed. And I find that dressing up in a suit makes me take everything more seriously, and feel more professional/polished, and confident.

Have your materials ready

I’m talking about spare resumes, your portfolio, your notes, WHATEVER. Examples of your work are also good too. And if you have a list of references, make sure you clear it with them that they may be called upon to give a reference – don’t wait until the last minute, and have the reference caught off guard. You also want to be polite and ask if you can use their name, what number or email to reach them at, and give them a copy of your resume and a short job description (if you want) so they know what you’re going for, and how they should be focus their answers. Remember, your references are there to HELP you.

Memorize your resume

Know it inside out. They’ll have it in front of them, but it’d be unprofessional and a bit shady to keep staring at your own resume in front of you going “Uhhhhhhhhh….Hang on.” It faintly reeks of deception.

ON THE DAY OF THE INTERVIEW

Trick yourself into feeling confident

The way I find myself to be more confident and project an air of confidence is when I psych myself up to keep saying I'm confident. (How cheesy is that?!) Cheesy like melted mozzarella but true. Envision yourself being smart, articulate, funny, calm, confident (picture the interview going great in your head), and it normally works out that way because you already have a vision in mind of how you want it to go. If you are nervous about it, and just know you're going to say something wrong - then it's going to happen.

However, even though you feel confident, use language in the third person and don't assume that you already have the job.