How to break a leg in job interview?
I have joined a webinar with Talentbank on how to break a leg in a job interview. The speaker shared useful tips for a job interview.
First, while applying for an interview, whether to choose the career we are trained to or the one that we want to do, it depends on the circumstances like a financial burden and market demand. You can list out all the related and relatively unrelated jobs that you can do and which benefit from your skills. Then, you can either choose to join another field for a better opportunity of success or go on in the field you are trained to be. Sending your CV to multiple companies increase the chances of getting employed. Besides, you must have several constantly updated CVs on hand anytime which include a general CV and specialised CV that elaborates on the achievements related to skills required for the certain field as stated in the job description. Never omit any achievement on any CV but you may elaborate those related to skills required for the job applied with the STAR approach. The situation faced, the task needed to be achieved, action taken and results must be elaborated briefly with eyes catching sentences.
Next, you must study the company in terms of location, environment, development, products, achievement, job description and culture. You must show that you are prepared and passionate about the interview. Employers hire people for their passion and attitude instead of their skills. You can arrive at the site of the interview 30 minutes earlier but do not bash into the office. You must follow the proper dress code for an interview and behave starting from entering the company until you leave the building because the interview does not end within the session. Take note on your posture, facial expression and speaking tone. Avoid applying too much perfume and make sure you have fresh breath. You can bring a hardcopy of your CV and a notepad containing questions you prepared to ask the interviewer. The questions should be portraying that you have done some research on the company and avoid asking questions that have been answered or those that show off your knowledge. The content of the questions must let you understand the company more to show your passion to work with the company.
Other than that, do some research and prepare answers for some most popular questions during job interview before the interview. If the interviewer asks you to tell him/her about yourself, briefly introduce your academic and working background, top three achievements, acquired skills, good values, and reason of choosing the job and company and what you hope to achieve in the company with your skills. Avoid long elaborations. If the interviewer asks about your disadvantages, do not lie and do not afraid to reveal them but do not reveal too much. Try to focus on how you overcome the disadvantage and reflects it as an advantage. Your social media accounts and LinkedIn account must be constantly updated with your skills and achievements because nowadays the interviewer often checks on the potential employees’ social media and search for employees on LinkedIn. Remember to also behave yourself on social media.