Getting the interview is the first, and probably the most important step of landing a job. Here are some tips for your next interview, as well as some things that you should and shouldn’t do.
Make small talk
A lot of the questions that employers ask on an interview tend to not directly apply with the job itself. They may ask you about your interests, how you heard about the position, and maybe even about your hobbies. This is to get a sense of your character and who you are as a person. Employers take personality into account when hiring for many positions. This even happens on interviews for simple positions like food service or retail. These are customer service type positions, so the employer wants to know the you are capable of holding a conversation and helping the customer with anything that they may need.
Don’t overshare
This is a big one! It’s best that you don’t share too much about your personal life during the interview, and after you actually get the job. Many employers can make judgements really quickly, which is unfortunate, but very true. An employer may make assumptions about your availability, reliability, or work ethic, based on the smallest things that you may say within the conversation. Although you want to appear as being very cordial and friendly, don’t give out any unnecessary information about yourself.
Never talk about negative past job experiences
With most fields of work, we all have had experiences that were very upsetting or frustrating for us. Never bring these unpleasant circumstances up in a job interview. The last thing that an employer wants to hear is a potential reason for you hating the field that you will be working in. Your interview is only a short conversation, and a mere peek into your work history and abilities. Use this time to highlight your most featured experiences, and leave the unpleasant stories for another time.
Some jobs specifically ask you to talk about an unpleasant situation and tell them how it went. This is not an opportunity for you to complain! Employers use your responses to measure your professionalism and how you react to challenging situations as a whole. When responding to these types of questions, state the problem, your response, and how your response created a solution to the issue at hand. Never speak about an issue that was left unresolved or that didn’t have a good outcome for the customer/client or yourself.
Dress professionally
This is the simplest one, but the amount of people that don’t actually dress the part for an interview may surprise you. Even if the job is in a field where you won’t have to dress up, you still want to have a professional look when you attend an interview. This lets the employer know that you are on top of things and ready to take the job seriously. If the job is a common food service or retail job, you may want to just wear a simple collared shirt or blouse, and plain slacks or pants. If the job is a more professional managerial type of position, you may want to go for the full suit or business apparel look. Whatever you decide to wear, make sure that it is neat, modest, and respectable.
Going to an interview will never give you a guaranteed position within the job that you are looking for. But, if you are going to do something, why not do it to the best of your ability? These simple changes in your speech and manner can make the world of a difference in the outcome.
