Another part of the preparation involves your appearance. Err on the side of being conservative. You will not offend anyone if you wear a business suit; you may seriously hamper your chances for a job if you wear in appropriate clothes.
For men, a well-tailored, dark suit, conservative shirt, and tie are generally acceptable. Excessive facial hair and long hair produce strong negative reactions. For women, a well-tailored suit and blouse or a conservative dress are favored. Pantsuits are not acceptable. Short skirts, low necklines, trendy outfits, and excessive makeup create negative impressions.
Miscellaneous preparation
Know the location of the company and the best travel arrangements before the morning of your interview. If you will be driving, make sure you have access to a reliable car on the days you've scheduled inter views. Leave early so you have sufficient time to relax and mentally review what you plan to say. Punctuality is critical.
The Content
A typical interview consists of three segments: the ice-breaking period, which usually sets the tone of the interview; the body of the interview, in which there is an exchange of information; and the closing, which establishes what will happen as a result of the interview. The follow-up, which is in effect the fourth segment, occurs after the interview has been completed.
The ice-breaking period
This is the first three to five minutes of the interview. You've been introduced to the interviewer. You either shook hands or you didn't. You've quickly looked him over to see what he's wearing. He's done the same with you. You sit down. There's a moment of silence. What do you do? Should you talk? Will he?
Q: What do you expect from the interviewee in the ice-breaking period?
"A lot of nervousness. Courtesy. Eye contact. Answers to my questions. I expect that people will assert themselves early on. Undergraduates are typically bad at that. They let me control the interview. Sometimes I ask an open-ended question to see how they respond. I give them the opportunity to say what they want."
"Job applicants should respond to the ice-breaking. They should not always wait for me to ask the next question. That suggests a certain passivity."
"Sometimes as an interviewer, my day has been rotten. My mind is on many other problems. Sometimes it's helpful if they try to ease things. That requires certain flexibility. If I'm up, then I'll go out of my way to make them feel at ease. If I'm not, they need to sense the situation. They've got to be sensitive to my needs."
"I hope they can demonstrate a certain security and comfort with themselves. It's an uncomfortable time for both parties, so it's important to get started on the right foot. I look for alertness, too. Don't wait for the interviewer to take the lead."
"Probably the ability to be themselves, to have the poise to move right into the conversation. It will show that they can deal effectively with clients. An ability to establish rapport."
The body
The body of the interview should be an information exchange. It should be where the interviewer tells you about his company, and asks you questions about yourself. It should also be where you volunteer pertinent information that he hasn't asked you about, and ask him questions you need answers to. For most graduates, however, the inter viewer's questions comprise the majority of the interview, so that's a good place to begin. The following is a list of the 15 most commonly-asked interview questions.
- Why did you choose your academic major?
- What courses did you like best? Least? Why?
- What kind of extra-curricular activities were you involved with?
- What kind of job are you interested in?
- How did your college career prepare you for this type of work?
- Have you had summer or previous employment in this or a related field?
- What have you learned from your work experience?
- Why are you interviewing with our company?
- What are the most important considerations for you in choosing a job?
- What do you see yourself doing five years from now? Ten years from now?
- What do you do in your leisure time?
- What are your strengths and weaknesses?
- What are your ideas on salary?
- Why should we hire you?
- Do you have any questions?
Q: What are you looking for in an interview when the job-seeker talks about his educational background?
''We're looking for pertinent accounting courses. We're looking for an overall measure of academic success, which would have to be their GPA."
"I'd rather have a liberal arts background, I think a liberal arts student is a more flexible student; they don't become entangled with technicalities. If you understand the humanities, the classics, you can move from there to anything. I look at what they've done at school and what they've done on the outside at the same time."
"Factual information. Their degree, their program, school, GPA. Under what conditions was the degree attained? What commitment did the individual evidence by attaining a degree. I'm very interested in GPA. It's an excellent indicator of an individual's discipline. It shows an ability to stick to a goal. It shows that they are bright people with capacity."
"Self-intuition. Thinking. Motivation. What drives them. What's important to them,"
Q: What do you look for when someone talks about their work experience?
"What they have learned from it, what did they 'take home', but not the overly specific or technical aspects of the job. Did the person work in groups? Did anyone report to them? No matter what the job, they must have learned something positive. Remember, the recruiter has to sell management on hiring their selected candidates, so the graduate must give the recruiter some information to work with. For example, if you spent four summers selling rugs, we need to know what positive things you learned about yourself while selling rugs."
'Tm looking for people that have some involvement with people. We're people oriented. Just the fact that somebody has worked says something. If they worked in a human resources program rather than at a resort, it says something, too...It's also how they explain what they've done. It's how they perceive their experience. Not just paid work experience. I look for some example that the individual has some commitment to something. That they've had a responsibility of putting together a special function. It's a clue that they've had exposure to things not going the way they're supposed to. It demonstrates that they've used planning and organizing skills."
"I'm looking to see if their exposure has been similar to what it's going to be in our environment. What have they achieved? What kinds of problems did they face, and how did they solve them?"
“I don't care what their jobs have been, but I want to see if they've learned anything from working. I'm interested in how they relate to work. Are they responsible? What is it going to mean to them? How does work affect their self-esteem?”
Q: What are you looking for 'when you ask a student about their strengths and weaknesses? Primarily ask about their strengths. Do they demonstrate initiative, determination, and organization? I even look for a bit of competitive aggressive ness."
"I look at the type of things they say. When they discuss weaknesses, I like to see that they have an understanding of themselves. In terms of strengths, I look at the kind of things that make them proud."
“To see how candid they are. To see if they can make a good self-appraisal. To know one's strengths and weaknesses indicates a sense of maturity.”
Q: Who should initiate questions about salary and when?
"The students should initiate it on a plant tour. Engineering is an exception. They've usually got some work experience. If a student wants to know about salaries in the industry, they can check with their placement center. We have salary ranges and salary groups.
That should be part of their research. In an interview, if they start talking about money right away, you begin to think that money is their top priority, and starting salary is not that important. You can start low and end up high; but you're never told that."
"I like to initiate that myself. Generally speaking, there's a fixed salary level for undergraduates...There really isn't any good time in an interview for them to ask about it. If they ask in the middle, it can break up the flow of an interview. If they ask at the end, that may be what the interviewer remembers when he's filling out the evaluation."
"I think the interviewer should initiate questions about salary when he or she thinks it appropriate. When I'm talking to an experienced executive, I'll ask them pretty much at the beginning of an interview how much money he or she is looking for. With a student, I don't think the question of salary should really come up. Most places are going to pay fairly competitive salaries for beginners. There are norms that they can check with to see what salaries are."
Once again, employers may differ on the specifics. There is obviously no right or wrong answer. It depends on the interviewer, the job, the company, and the industry. However, there are some guidelines that have an overall application.
