What I Wish I Knew: Job Interview 101
I spent the better part of the past few months focusing on job applications and little else. Having made the mistake of waiting until that intuitive feeling about my current job became unbearable, I was desperate. All I could think about was leaving but what’s more stressful than hating your current job? Interviewing. Interviewing can be way worse.
Here are the top five rules I’ve learned and honed over the past few years on how to present your best self, despite the nerves:
1. Schedule your interview for the morning NOT the end of the day.
2. Bring an umbrella, just in case. You can always leave it in the car. It’s better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it.
3. When you’re asked to tell a bit about yourself, you don’t have to share your entire work history. Keep it short, sweet and to the essentials related to the job.
4. Eye contact. Eye contact. Eye contact.
5. Be professional but don’t take yourself too seriously. Show them your personality. After all, this is your chance to see if you’ll be a good fit for the company. You don’t want a job, no matter how fabulous, if you don’t like the people you work with. Just remember, you’re interviewing them just as much as they are interviewing you.
