Working Girl

Ayyyyy. You got a callback, and now you’re going in for the interview 👏🏾👏🏾. This part can actually be fun. But being prepared is essential. This is my recipe for the perfect interview.

1 DRIVE THE CONVERSATION

One of the scariest things about an interview is the awkward silence when neither you nor the interviewer knows where to take the conversation next. But there are definitely ways to avoid that. Do your research so that when it's your turn to speak you have a few talking points. Or better yet, take your turn. Turn a question into an opportunity to talk about something you hoped to get to address. Make it specific to the company, department, and people you would be working with. And if that uncomfortable pause should come up, use it as an opportunity. Drive the conversation to an area you feel comfortable speaking on. This gives you a chance to show off your expertise. Talk about a unique challenge of the job that you figured out a solution for. Describe a piece of useful information that shows you’ve been reading up on the topic. Bring in a personal account on the job that taught you a lesson. If there are holes in your resume, be the one to address them first. Integrate it into the conversation and explain why it shouldn’t be a concern. An interview is a lot about connecting from person to person. So use your personality to your advantage. Make jokes, share your opinions, take the lead. Showing authority in this way tell the person on the end of the conversation that your certain of what you have to offer and they should be too.

2 BRAG ABOUT YOURSELF

You poppin’ right? Make sure your interviewer knows that. 😂😛 I like to think about the interview process as a chance to brag about myself. Dig up all your relevant accomplishments, list them out, and decide which ones seem most relevant to the position your applying for. If you’re applying for a position as a staff writer for example, maybe your “best investigative journalism” award from writing for school paper is something you might want to mention. Then go into detail about the work that earned you the recognition. Talk about what inspired you to do it. Address the challenges you faced getting it done and how you overcame them. How has the work been received? What are your next plans? Take any opportunity to make yourself seem interesting and active. Or, bring attention to what makes you uniquely qualified to do the job you’re about to get. What experience do you have that no other candidates can claim? When you get to the part of the interview when they ask you to “tell them a little more about yourself”, start off with some basic information about your interests, and hobbies, and use that to direct the conversation into the work you’ve done that has made you qualified to work with them. The good thing about talking about yourself is, you get to decide what's important. Whether its a class you took, a trip you planned, an event you were booked for, spin it so that it seems like an experience that prepared you for this position. This is the time to be confident and sure of yourself so that they can be sure you're the person they need to hire.

3 ASK QUESTIONS

Just the other day I had an experience where I spent the majority of an interview asking all the questions. This is where doing my research came in handy. Giving myself some time to prep beforehand meant when the conversation started to fall a little silent I was able to reroute it. An important thing to remember is that the interview should work both ways. It’s about finding a good match more so than the employer picking the right employee out of a lineup. Ask good questions so you can figure out if this is the right environment for you. Some things you might ask:

What’s the leadership style at __?

What kind of projects would I be working one?

Who would I directly report to?

What’s the work-life balance?

When is the next time I would be up for review?

Is there room for growth at_?

Did you have any questions/concerns about my resume?

I  think I’ll follow up with a separate quick tip that lists a few more good questions to ask. LMK if you think that would be helpful.

HMU with questions/comments or if you wanna roleplay for an interview you have coming up. I have skype and all that. 😘😘😘  Next, we’re getting into how to make yourself at home at the new job.

What I listened to while writing this:

Chanel Orange

Chanel

Raf

Blonde

Still Striving

**It was a Frank Ocean kinda night alright.

A cool TED Talk: