The 1st of our 10 tips for anyone looking to progress their career.
The Good News About Interviews – Tip 1 of 10
Going to an interview can seem a daunting prospect, but keep a positive and confident frame of mind by remembering that:
- The interviewer has a problem and thinks you might be the solution to it.
- He/she already believes you can do the job, or you wouldn’t be there.
- What you say about yourself is completely within your own control.
- Your success depends largely on your ability to master interviewing skills, and that’s easy when you know how.
- People will take you at your own evaluation of yourself.
- If this is the advertised route you have already cut the odds from hundreds to one, to ten or less to one.
- You can’t lose – if you don’t get the job, you at least have gained a good contact and some practice.
So how do you go about giving yourself the greatest chance of securing the role?
Over the next 10 weeks we will be sharing with you 10 tips that you can use to reassure an employer that they made the right decision to talk with you – and offer you the job.
Tip 1 of 10: Pre-Interview – Managing the Process – Research
Find out as much as you can about the organisation and the job before you go. Get a job description, do your research, talk to people, create your own interview preparation sheet with the key information.
Understand the company, its sector and products. Research the latest developments in the sector, do a STEP (social, technical, economic and political factors) analysis and consider the impact of each factor. Talk to customers, staff, competitors and analysts.
Identify the key issues the organisation is facing and the likely challenges of the role. Find out about its history and culture – what are the qualities that it values?
Find out as much as you can about the person(s) interviewing you: their responsibilities, the way they like to work, major issues they are facing, likes and dislikes etc.
Interview Preparation Sheet
Make sure that you have the following information.
The Company
Ownership (private, public, joint venture, part of a Group)
Role
Research
Sector
Competitors
STEP
Key challenges
The Job
Title
Reports to
Key responsibilities
Main challenges
Capabilities needed
So, performing well in the interview might not be as daunting as you first thought and may not require anything more than a fresh perspective and way of looking at it. It sounds simple and it is, it’s just not always easy, especially when trying to do it alone.
For practical advice on how to make the change without being overwhelmed contact us to discuss how we can help.