Job Interview Tips
From HR Professionals and Intervewees
We asked HR professionals, hiring directors and job seekers like yourself, to give us their best interview tips. Here's a small sample of the comments we collected for Zoom customers.
"Employers are looking for concise, specific information. It's not just words but actual situations, and the details behind the situations become the most important. A lot of people can't convey those details in a way that employers are able to grasp and walk away thinking that this is the best person. Additionally, some other mistakes that I commonly see are people who are not very well prepared. They haven't done their homework, maybe they did an excellent job during the prescreen process, but they haven't gone the extra mile to really connect with the overall mission of the organization.
Troy Freeland, SPHR,
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"I have observed that a lot of people have a mindset when they come into an interview that they're being interrogated. A more productive mindset is to view this as simply a very important business meeting. That is, to enter the interview with your own agenda, your own questions, and your own sense of what's important. This will enable you to have a discussion, rather than to sit there with your hands folded and simply respond solely to the questions that are asked. It provides a platform for you to elaborate and expand, and even introduce different topics that would reflect positively on yourself. A secondary topic that I observe and address is the use of questions at the end of the interview. Almost every interviewer will ask you "Do you have some questions for me?" Interviewees tend to misuse that. They either ask very mundane questions that they could have answered through a little bit of Google searching, or they'll ask more probing questions, that may turn off the interviewer. I believe the really smart way to use these questions is as a platform to introduce some strength in your candidacy that for whatever reason hasn't come up so far in the interview. By using the front end of the question to present something about yourself that's relevant, interesting and valuable then following that with a question about how you could explore this or build on it in this organization that you're striving to get into - that's the smart way to use a question.
Dan Bauer, The MBA Exchange,
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"If I were going to give advice on the interview process to applicants based on my experience, it would be in regards to when they ask about your biggest strength and weakness. When it comes to the weakness, they are looking for something that needs improvement, so you want to focus on the fact that you're improving and the positive of it. I often say that I have really high expectations of myself so it kind of trickles onto others and I have expectations of everyone else, but I'm working on that because I know everyone works at a different pace, has different techniques and I need to be understanding of that.
Julie,
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"One piece of advice that I would give to job applicants is to just make sure that you're really enthusiastic during your interview. I think it's really important for the interviewer to see your enthusiasm and be able to tell that you're really excited about the job that you're applying for and it's not just another job, your millionth interview that you're going into, but that this is something you really want to be doing.
Stefanie Parks,
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"Make sure that when you're answering questions, you really tailor your answers to that company to show them how you can apply your history and your background to the job you're applying for. Make it relevant to them so they see that you are the perfect fit for this job. Show the interviewer that you will fit in no matter what and that you'll be successful there based on all of your experiences.
Iyisa,
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"The most important aspect of the interview is the candidates ability to convey the right message and connect with the actual position in a concise manner. If candidates can do that in a smart way then I think that's really what the employers are looking for.
Troy Freeland, SPHR,
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"When I'm advising people about interviewing techniques and tactics, one of the points that I like to focus on is how they should respond to and interpret body language and visual feedback from the interviewer. People allow themselves to be intimidated by that, or put in the sense of false security because of it depending on how the interviewer behaves. I advise people to essentially look through the interviewer. There is certainly a person across the table that they are speaking with, but the point is, don't count on them for encouragement, and don't be turned off by a lack of that visual support. The main thing is to know your story and convey it with a sense of confidence. You can do that by not counting on what you're seeing on the face of the interviewer, but rather by listening to yourself and preparing very well in advance.
Dan Bauer, The MBA Exchange,
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"The one big mistake people make is not doing their homework on the company. You need to know the background and the history and what the company does. All the public information that's available about that company, you should know prior to going into that interview. By showing you don't know some basic information about the company, it's very easy to disqualify you as a candidate.
Mark Thomson, MBA Graduate,
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"I think a common mistake that people make when interviewing is that they prepare so much in terms of their own experience and how they're going to answer certain questions that they don't think about the company they're actually going to interview with. You really want to know the mission and value of that company, what the job description is and how you're going to relate your own experiences to that specific job description. Really going into that interview being prepared is key.
Julie,
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"I think that one big mistake deals with having questions prepared to ask at the end of your interview. It's definitely important to have questions, but I think a lot of people ask things that are really generic. I don't think it's good to have questions that you could easily find just by going to the website. You want to think more about it and really put some thought behind it so you ask questions that aren't easily found and show that you really are interested and have been thinking about it.
Stefanie Parks,
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"I think a common mistake that I know I've done in the past is that I've gotten really wrapped up in what they're actually asking me and not so much how I'm presenting myself or how I'm answering the question. You have to keep in mind that body language is super important during an interview. You don't want to come across as nervous. Even if you're stumped on a question you should try to compose yourself and answer as best as you possibly can. Don't act nervous and just be very aware about how you're coming across to someone sitting across the table from you.
Iyisa,
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