4 Simple Ways to Ace Your Interview Every Time

That's not a valid work email account. Please enter your work email (e.g. you@yourcompany.com)
Please enter your work email
(e.g. you@yourcompany.com)

Colored PencilsSo, your resume is buttoned up and the interviews are starting to roll it, but you have yet to seal the deal. Perhaps you think the interviews are going well, but the bottom line is you aren’t getting job offers, and there is always room for improvement.

Follow these four tips to boost your interview skills and impress your potential bosses — and finally land that job you want!

1. Think of the Interview as Just Another Metting

Your mindset has much to do with how well you interview. Think about it: when you come into the interview, you’re nervous, you’re anxious, you’re worried. Simply put, you’re a wreck! Interviewers feed off your nervousness. If you aren’t too careful, your nervous energy may come off as desperation.

So, just try to relax, and realize that this is just a meeting to see if you’re a good fit for the company and if the company is a good fit for you — that’s it!

2. Be Yourself

This is a big one, and here’s why: people can see straight through you. They can tell when you aren’t being authentic. Plus, if you go into the interviewing as a “yes-man” (or -woman), you become who you believe the employer wants you be. This is no good: even if you get hired, you will eventually find your resentment building because, sooner or later, you’ll get tired of having to act like this imaginary person. Or, you may just slip back into being yourself and your boss will wonder who she hired! It won’t end pretty.

Your best choice is to just embrace who you are. If the employer doesn’t like you for you, then perhaps that company isn’t the right place for you, anyway.

3. Tell Stories

TieThe art of storytelling is a very powerful method of conveying your message. For example, if an interviewer asks situational questions about how you would react to a harsh client, you can recall a real scenario from your past experiences and use this scenario to answer the question. This makes you more real and paints a vivid, more reliable picture of how you would react. If you just try to theoretically describe what you would do in a hypothetical situation, the interviewer has little reason to trust what you are saying.

Using real stories from your past to answer your interviewers’ questions builds trust and credibility, and it strengthens your responses. You’ll become much more memorable in the interviewer’s eyes.

4. Start Working Before You Get Hired

Yup. You heard me: even before the interview, you should start researching ways that you could help the department get through whatever challenges it may be facing. Talk to folks who already work at the company and get some inside info on what’s going on. Then, you can share some of your solutions.

If you are unable to get the scoop, find out for yourself during the interview. Simply ask the interviewer, “What are some of the biggest challenges your department is facing right now?” Once the interviewer answers, you can pose a solution. Later on, after the interview, you can elaborate on your suggestions in your thank-you letter to the interviewer.

It is important to realize that a multitude of the factors involved in the job search are beyond your control. The real key is to never give up on your goals, stay positive, and believe that it will happen for you!

Happy self-marketing!

For more career management tips, advice, and inspiration, join my online community

By Melanie L. Denny