Interview Tips

Be sure to thank the interviewer at the beginning of the interview for the opportunity to meet with them and then again at the end for their time.

Sell Yourself - You must think of your interview as an opportunity to market yourself for the job. You are selling a real product – YOU!

Dress Appropriately - Remember First Impressions!

  • Wear a suit
  • Be well-groomed (hair combed, pulled back, nails clean, deodorant)
  • No flashy jewelry, makeup, or heavy perfume/cologne
  • Cover or remove any and all body art
  • Travel light – No big bags, books, magazines, etc. (a portfolio for taking notes is ok. Briefcases are typically ok.)

Be On Time - Arrive 15-30 minutes early. Remember to adjust for traffic.

Be Prepared - Always bring 2-3 copies of your resume with you and any Letter of Recommendations.

Watch Your Body Language - Employers watch for non-verbal clues during an interview.

  • Be sure to give a firm handshake, sit up straight and provide eye contact.
  • Place briefcase/purse on the floor.
  • Hands should be in your lap.
  • Remember to SMILE.

End The Interview - Ask each interviewer for their business card. This will aid in completing a thank you note, if you choose.  Ask for the job: From what I have learned here today, I feel like this would be a good fit for both of us. 

Questions Often Asked in an Interview

  • Tell me about yourself.  Be prepared, but don't tell too much personal stuff that would send up red flags such as religion, age, political views, family life, etc.  More about answering this question is below.
  • What did you like/dislike about your previous job?
  • What would former employees or employers say you need to work on?
  • What are your goals in life? (keep this relevant tot he job)
  • Why are you leaving your current job?
  • Why did you leave your previous employer?
  • why should I consider you a strong candidate for this job? (This is your chance to sell yourself).  You may not have all the skills that are looking for,  but you will make up for it with your hard work and dedication.  Skills can be taught.  Work ethic can't! 

Sample Questions for YOU to Ask in an Interview

  • I researched the organization/company and learned A, B, C; however, could you tell me a little more about it? (This shows that you have done your homework.)
  • How am I going to fit into the structure?
  • What is the training program like or is it OJT (on-the-job-training)?
  • Describe a typical day.
  • What are the makeup and overall experience of the team that I will be working with? (This question shows interest, and gives the interviewer a visual of you working there.)
  • When people leave, what is the reason?
  • What concerns or questions do you have for me about my capabilities to do this job? (If you are going to ask this, be prepared to overcome them.)
  • What are the organization's/company's goals for the next 5 years? 

The "Tell Me About Yourself Question" (TMAY)

We already know that interviewing is stressful enough without having to answer stupid interview questions.  But unfortunately, many interviewers, because of habit, lack of preparation time, poor training, or yes, even laziness, often ask stupid questions.  Of those, one of the most challenging is the often used "Tell me about yourself" (TMAY) interview opener.

Candidates tend to respond by saying: "What do you want to know?"  They want to know about you the candidate as a potential employee.  They don't want to know your last vacation was in Disney World, your hobbies, that you like the Rockets, your religious beliefs, or that you were a jellyfish floating here and there in your previous life. Yes, I have had candidates give each of those responses to the infamous “Tell me about yourself” question and I don’t recall any of them ever getting hired by the supervisors/managers who interviewed them.

Interviewers also think it is improper, a sign of your lack of preparedness, or even rude, for you to answer their “Tell me about yourself” question with a question of your own like, “What would you like to know?” If you are prepared, and seriously thinking about making a career change, you will have a prepared and thoughtful answer to this question BEFORE you begin interviewing.

Why? I’m glad you asked, and I think one example should convince you.

Let me share just one story about this opening interview question that cost a candidate a job she REALLY wanted. It is a perfect illustration to make you understand why you must plan a response for this question whether you are asked or not. The scenario was this: The candidate was a financial/accounting professional and the hiring manager was looking to fill a cash services accounting position for a $65K base salary + bonuses. I already knew the candidate and was thrilled to interview him. The candidate stated that he did not like people and would rather sit in the back of the office where he could not be disturbed and could just bury his head in paperwork.

You can guess more or less how the story ended. The candidate didn’t get the job, but please pay attention as to why, because that is the part of the story that matters most. To start the interview the candidate was asked the dreaded TMAY question. Thinking that it was an inconsequential icebreaker question, he retorted, simply intending to cause an opening chuckle, “Well, as you can obviously see, I am 10-15 pounds overweight.”

He was only joking! Yet, due to the impact, this answer had on the hiring supervisor, for all practical purposes the interview was over as soon as he said this. That “amusing” answer to what the candidate viewed as a seemingly innocuous question convinced the hiring supervisor not to hire the candidate. Despite insistence that it was merely a joke, the hiring supervisor declined to make the candidate an offer. The retort was just a joke, but not really. It was no joke to the candidate who lost the $65K dream job. It was no joke to the hiring supervisor who had invested so much time in selecting the best candidates to interview for the position and who was already struggling with obesity, health problems, and had an image or low self-esteem problem. This candidate attempted to humorously break the ice, but the interviewer misinterpreted the response to a stupid question and became convinced that the candidate was not accounting material.

This whole fiasco could have been avoided if the candidate had just been taught a very simple formula for answering this question. Sure, we know this question is a stupid and unnecessary one with which to begin an interview. But because interviewers open interviews with this question, candidates need to know how to respond to it intelligently.

The formula I’ve learned has worked wonders in teaching students and interviewers how to properly address the TMAY question.

Many, in fact, a sad majority, of interviewers open with some form of the TMAY question. It would be an easy question to answer if the candidates answered with a prepared and well thought-out initial marketing statement of themselves, and their skills, which are applicable for the open job.

Candidates must teach themselves to answer this question with a three-part, pre-planned marketing statement that can more or less be reused from interview to interview.

Part I – This is always a one-sentence summary of the candidate’s job history. Here’s an example:

I am a four-year veteran of Airborne Logistics with substantial experience using, PeopleSoft, QuickBooks, SAP, and other proprietary accounts receivable systems.

Get the picture? Your whole career needs to be condensed into one simple sentence that encompasses the most important aspects of your job – the aspects that you want to leverage in order to make your next career step.

Part II – The part of the pre-planned marketing statement will be a one or two sentence summary of a single accomplishment that you are proud of that will also capture the potential employer’s attention. It immediately follows your initial career summary sentence from above. This accomplishment should be one that the employer will be interested in hearing, one that is easily explained or illustrated, and one that clearly highlights a bottom line impact. When done correctly this will build interviewer intrigue about the accomplishment so that they will inquire further, giving you an opportunity to further discuss a significant success. Here’s the second part of the example above:

Recently, as an employee at an international shipping company, I learned that they were about to install SAP and were planning to use outside consultants for the project. I let them know I had done a similar installation at my last assignment, outlined how we could get the job done with in-house staff, and successfully completed the install for $55-65k less than it would have cost without outside consultants.

Part III – This is the final piece of the marketing system and probably the most fluid. It needs to be a one-sentence summary of specifically what you want to do next in your career. The reason this third part id difficult is that it needs to specifically address what you want to do next, AND it needs to change from interview to interview to make sure it matches exactly what the Individual employers will be interviewing you for. Here is the final statement for the candidate above:

For the next career step, I would like to receive continued training in finance and accounting as a senior accountant so I could continue growing my career by getting exposure to multiple accounting software and opportunities.

Here’s a more detailed example:

For the next career step, I would like to receive continued training in finance and accounting as a senior accountant so I could continue growing my career by getting exposure to multiple accounting software and opportunities. As the organization’s finance needs grow, I would love to apply my past team management skills to managing junior and entry-level team members.

These were two very different endings that perfectly matched two very different employer needs. With some simple revising, the candidate can make sure each employer heard that they were interested in doing exactly what the employer was interested in hiring them for. That revising is what makes the third piece fluid and sometimes challenging, as candidates don’t always see the need for being specific from job interview to job interview. Most tend to be generalized, hoping that a shotgun approach will work. But it is the rifle sharpshooters, those who get specific in what they want from interview to interview, who get the best results. With some simple planning BEFORE an interview, you, the candidate, will quickly realize the benefit of a targeted third sentence in these pre-planned opening statements, as employers feel you are perfectly suited to do just the job they are interviewing you for.

Just take the time to prepare yourself. It will be more apparent to an interviewer that you are a prepared and serious candidate right at the beginning of the interview when you answer the TMAY question with this memorized, brief marketing statement, which combines a career summary, an exceptional accomplishment, and an employer-specific goal as in this example:

I am a four-year veteran of Airborne Logistics with substantial experience using, PeopleSoft, QuickBooks, SAP, and other proprietary accounts receivable systems.

Recently, as an employee at an international shipping company, I learned that they were about to install SAP and were planning to use outside consultants for the project. I let them know I had done a similar installation at my last assignment, outlined how we could get the job done with in-house staff, and successfully completed the install for $55-65k less than it would have cost without outside consultants. For the next career step, I would like to receive continued training in finance and accounting as a senior accountant so I could continue growing my career by getting exposure to multiple accounting software and opportunities. As the organization’s finance needs grow, I would love to apply my past team management skills to managing junior and entry-level team members.

Clearly you can understand how the candidate who opens with this type of prepared response to the TMAY question will make a significantly better first impression than a candidate who responds by answering, “What would you like to know?” or worse yet, “Well as you can obviously see, I am 10-15 pounds overweight.” Plus, candidates who prepare in this manner are typically more confident at the interviewer’s start. Make a substantial and positive verbal first impression, give a clear indication of their interest in making a career move, and force the interviewer to get past the icebreaker questions to the parts of the interview that will help both parties begin the process of seriously determining if this is a solid match. As you can see, there is a great deal of bang for your preparation buck. 

Portions of this article have been reprinted from the Jefferson Recruiters Report