Since this is your career, you need to conduct research on the companies you are going to meet with. Today, that is very easy by accessing companies’ web page, researching their products, financial performance, and key clients.
However, don’t stop there! Stay on the web and research their competitors to gain an impressive understanding of the market segment. Remember, if you are committed to making a career change, be prepared to invest YOUR time and effort to be prepared!
At TMG, successful interviews are our business. Following are a few suggestions for handling some of the key issues surrounding a successful interview. Time and experience have shown our consultants that these suggested interviewing preparations are the key to successful candidates being hired for successful positions.
Be early and while you sit in the reception area, get a feeling for the culture of the company.
- Always wear professional business attire, even if the company is business casual.
- If you are 50% ready for a haircut, get one!
- How do the shoes look?
- Do you like jewelry, perfume and cologne?
Great, wear as much as you want, BUT NOT AT AN INTERVIEW! - Be ready for the question,
“Tell me about yourself”
This is a typical warm up question as the interviewing manager is sizing you up. This is not an opening for your verbal rendition of War and Peace! Rather, try responding with,
“Where would you like me to start?”
From your company research, prepare some intelligent questions to ask about the company. Stay away from asking any overly intrusive questions.
- Avoid salary and competition questions. Your safest answer is,
“I am very impressed with your organization and hope you think at this juncture I may be a good fit. I am confident that if our discussions progress to the offer point, you will provide a competitive offer. For your information my last two years W-2 were $XX and my current salary is $XX.”
- Closing is the next step. To our amazement many candidates, for whatever reason, fail to execute this vital step of the interviewing process! Here is our suggestion:
(Many times there are some inadvertent misconceptions that occur that will prevent a next step if not clarified!)
- Finally, following the meeting, it is critical that you phone your search consultant at TMG within two hours of your meeting. Most of our clients will be contacting us to solicit feedback on how the candidate thought the interview went, and if we do not have your feedback prior to that conversation, you have given the client a negative signal about your interest or follow-up skills, or both!