By Dorcas Karuana,
Recently, a friend called me a day before her job interview. The moment had arrived, except much sooner than she anticipated. A blue-chip company wanted to meet with her! And, as luck would have it, they had an opening in their schedule – tomorrow! Her day was quite busy and therefore had little time to prepare. This was a golden opportunity for her to move jobs and she needed to put her best foot forward so as to get the job. Her question to me was; how do I prepare for this interview when I have been given next to no heads up?
Even if you have fewer than 24 hours, a little job interview preparation can help you stand out from the other candidates. Interview preparation builds confidence and leads to success.
Here are the 3-R’s of Interview preparation plan she would work in the limited time she had.
1.Research– Do all the research on the employer you can find. Research both the organisation and the position that you are applying for.
a) Inside view: Check the organization web site to get as much detail as you can on the organization, the mission, the leadership, the products and the financials.
• How big is the company in terms of annual sales or employees?
• What does the company say about its products or services?
• What recent news (such as a new product, a press release, an interview with the CEO) can you discuss?
Also, check social media sites like Facebook for organization or product fan pages, groups or other pertinent information. LinkedIn profiles can give the company information, job postings, career paths of employees, and profiles on anyone you’ll be interviewing with.
b) External view: Google the company for news feeds, press articles or controversy or praise. More so, identify key competitors (if appropriate) and key customers.
Distill your findings:– Come up with a quick summary about the most significant points you discover. Define your point view on them and their work. Get clear on what you know, and why you want to work there. Come up with five to seven good questions for the employer based on your research. Identify what you’d like to know about the interviewers and their experience in the company. Include this on your list of questions.
This information will help you to give a concrete, well thought out answer to questions like: tell us what you know about the company and why you want to work here?
2. Reflect – Brush up on yourself. Scrutinize the job description, skills and competencies the job requires. What deliverable and outcomes does the employer expect? Create your five to seven behavioral stories that showcase your skills, abilities and prior results. Align your stories to showcase standard interview questions, and, the qualities that the employer is looking for in the position post.
Come up with 15-20 things you want the organization to know about you. Get your salary requirements in hand, in case you are asked. Pull materials together you want to bring to the interview: Multiple copies of your CV, notebook and pen, and business cards.
Pull together any work product you may want to share. Coordinate your wardrobe when you’re done with your other research.
This will help in giving information about you, and what you can offer. Listing the things you want an employer to know about you shifts your focus – quickly – to prepare to talk about myself in value-added terms.
3. Recite – Now you start visualizing the live situation and verbalizing your thoughts. Practice your delivery as “Practice practice makes perfect.” Review your behavioral stories, aloud; repeating four or five times. Then start telling them in your natural voice, using inflection and tone as you would in an interview. Also, get comfortable talking about your competencies and skills. Go through the list and then start at the top again, and again.
Take what you’ve learned and start talking out loud, as if you were telling a friend about this organization. Talk about what you learned in your research. Talk about why you want to work there.
If you haven’t been interviewing in a while, you have to learn to talk about yourself. In the interview, you don’t want to be “composing and delivering,” you want to be delivering great responses.
This helps in smooth delivery during the interviews hence showing you were well prepared and understand the position as well as the company.
It is your responsibility to ensure you research and prepare for an interview. The interview is your opportunity to shine. Never assume that the panel knows you or has read your application.
Dorcas is the Head of Recruitment at Corporate Manpower East Africa.
Email: dorcas(at)corporatemanpower.co.ke