By taking care of your appearance and maintaining your health and vitality, you enable others to benefit more from what you offer. More so, you show a genuine respect for yourself, and reflect an air of self-confidence that doesn’t happen on its own. You will notice it, others will notice it, and most importantly, it can have a tremendous impact on your meetings and job interviews.
If the prospect of rehearsing your answers to typical interview questions seems rather silly, bear in mind there are many ways, as you go about your day, to rehearse. These are tactics that are often used by public speakers. The point is not that you are preparing to give a speech, but that you have refined your presentation skills, and further, have a solid “self-understanding” that can only be attained by talking about yourself.
When I refer to talking about yourself, I do not mean telling someone your life story. Trust me, no one wants to hear it. Rather, what an interviewer (or a casual acquaintance) may want to hear are about your professional achievements, your goals, your values, and perhaps anecdotes that may have taught you a lesson or had some impact on your personal growth.
For instance, if your resume reflects some kind of volunteer activity, an interviewer or new acquaintance may take notice and ask, “So, what compelled you to volunteer at the YMCA?”
This is your opportunity to answer the question, while also sharing several insights to your values, your character, not to mention your accomplishments!
At this point, whether you are preparing for a single upcoming appointment or simply practicing your interviewing skills in general, don’t concern yourself too much with how to answer specific questions. First, you must become comfortable with articulating just a few key points that illustrate your character, values, and qualifications.
Practice an “Elevator Drill”
The “elevator drill” is an exercise you practice which allows you to explain what you do in the length of time it takes for an elevator door to close. It means condensing your most valuable qualities and services into twenty-five to forty words.
Then, if someone asks, “What do you do?” or “What are you studying?” you have a quick answer ready.
Of course, you may be undecided about your career. But this is not a problem. If you are following the advice in this book, you should still have something to talk about. Place what you do in the context of
what you’re doing today, as opposed to what you think you might do in the future.
Explaining yourself in this way might not always be easy; and keeping it short can also be a challenge. There may be much more you want to say. The good part is that if your listener is genuinely interested and has a few moments, he will ask for more information.
So talk about what you are doing now, be it volunteer work, Service Learning, or a summer job. Relate it, if you can, to what you are studying. Get excited. Show enthusiasm!
As far as answering traditional job interview questions, we will get into that shortly.
Repeat
Quite simply, these are all steps you must repeat again and again. make them a habit. Be consistent. Get used to talking to others about what you do, and what you want to do. Get used to inquiring others about their lives, their goals, their work. Do these things more and more and on a daily basis, and you will find that the awkwardness of the job interview becomes of much less concern.
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The above is an excerpt from The Last Guide to Interviewing You'll Ever Need, which is available for sale for $17 in our bookstore or for free to those who subscriber to our free career newsletter. Students know that good experiences helps to build a good resume and that good resumes help you land interviews, yet how many of us have been shown how to interview well so that we can get hired? Written by Keith F. Luscher specifically for the job hunting students who use CollegeRecruiter.com. To get hired, you must know how to interview well. Read this book and you will. To receive a free copy, subscribe to our free career newsletter. |
