PARADE Update You Got The Interview! Now What

PARADE Update You Got The Interview! Now What PARADE Update: You Got The Interview! Now What? PARADE Update: You Got The Interview! Now What? July 13, 2010 by Career Coach Sherri Thomas Leave a Comment PARADE Update: You Got The Interview! Now What? One hour after Meghan sent her hot-off-the-press professionally updated resume to a hiring manager, he called to see if she could come in for an interview the next day! Interviewing is intimidating, nerve wracking, and can make you feel like youre two beats away from a heart attack. But preparing for the interview is much simpler when you realize that there are just five key questions going through your interviewers mind. Here are three of them: Can you do the job? You need to be able to talk about the skills, knowledge, and training you have that will help you perform the job successfully. My recommendation is that you walk into your next interview with 3-4 personal career stories that showcase a career success. Your stories should include: what the goal was, what the challenge was, and what the result was. What extras do you bring? For most job openings, about 90% of the work has been defined but not the remaining 10%. This means you have a terrific opportunity to flaunt any bonus talents that may be of value. For example, if youre going for a job as a Pubic Relations manager, you may have some experience in marketing or desktop publishing that is not required for the job, but might be valuable to the company. Where are you a risk? Every new employee is a risk to a company, whether its a job requirement that you dont meet or a skill you dont have, or the potential that youre overqualified for the position. I recommend that you beat the interviewer to the punch by stating where you a risk and then reassuring him why it wont be a problem. If youre asked what weaknesses you have, respond by bringing up an area that could improvement but quickly add what you are already doing to strengthen that area. For a complete discussion of all five question, see my best-selling eBook, Interviewing Smart: Insider Secrets to Getting the Job