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At one point or another unless we are trust fund babies or are lucky enough to not work, we will have to go through the interview process. Now usually when people go through the interview process they just wing it and whatever comes out of their mouth, comes out of their mouth. But some people, actually enjoy saying the right things and quizzing themselves beforehand. Lucky for the people there are websites online that will answer or ask you a ton of job interview questions.

There are also available articles on these sites for a run down on what you should do at a job interview or what is expected of you. This is great for the people that don’t know what to say, how to act, how to dress or how to answer all those really hard questions like; "Where do you see yourself in ten years" or the ever dreaded "how much pay are you expecting". If you say too high you look pompous, if you say too low, then you look like you don’t think your worth much.

These sites are good for whatever position or job you are going for such as Bluetooth, Java, Communication Skills, Presentation Skills, etc. But they also have other things besides job interview content such as how to write a resume, how to write a thank-you letter after the interview, and action words to be used in the resume. These are all great tips if you’re a beginner or if you have already gone on several interviews. These sites are also really cool for communication reasons. Here is a little sample from the "body language guide, just so you can get a better understand about these sites:
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Phone interviews are de rigueur with many organizations.

Companies conduct phone interviews for a number of reasons.

It’s a way to screen out the dead wood.

It gives the next interviewer baseline information from which to work.

It saves money.

So, how do you prep for a powerful phone interview?

And how is it different from a face-to-face interview?

Recently, three of my clients aced their phone interviews. Here’s what we learned works.

Prepping for the phone interview:

If you need to call from work or from a phone booth or a cell phone, tell the screener/interviewer what the circumstances are. It’s better to explain ahead of time than to suddenly have to stop midway through because of noise or an interruption.
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An interview generally is, or ideally should be an interactive process. In that case it important to know what are the questions that you, as an interviewee, can ask at an interview? Asking questions is not the prerogative of the interviewer alone. As an interviewee you have the right to ask questions; the trick is to know which ones to ask and when!

Recruiters are not being merely polite when they ask if you have any questions for them. It is in fact another way of screening the candidate, as your questions can also reveal a lot about you. Questions put forward by you show the interest that you have in the company and its industry. It is however an art not to ask too many questions. The best way of preparing your own counter-questions is to think of the following aspects:

1. The Stage of the Interview Process: Every stage cannot elicit the same kind of questions from you. Form the questions depending on the stage of the interview process. If it is the early stage, say at an on-campus recruitment interview, questions should be general and broad-based in nature. This can include the company’s strategies and priorities, career development opportunities, the work culture, etc. At a later stage questions should be more specific in nature, dealing with your job profile and your role in the company, expectations from and of the employer etc.
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Tips to navigate the job interview

Let’s face it: All job interviews are challenging. Even on the most pleasant interviews, you still need to keep your guard up at all times and fight the urge to become a smidge too comfortable. - What are you supposed to do, though, if a job interview begins to go horribly wrong? Is there anything you can do to salvage the situation? The following tips can help you navigate these tricky waters like a true professional.

1Be prepared before you walk in the door. A time-tested technique for feeling confident on a job interview is to be hyper-prepared. Research the company in question, of course, but also research each individual who is scheduled to interview you on the big day. You can do this by using the search engine Google (www.google.com), as well as the search engine on your potential employer’s Web site. Also do what you can to learn about the person who held the job before you.

2 Have a plan for dealing with frazzled interviewers. Let’s say one of the people on your dance card shows up late and utterly unprepared to talk to you. Be gracious about the situation by allowing the person to get settled and offering to reschedule. If the interview can’t be rescheduled, kindly acknowledge how busy the person must be, and then say, "Would it be helpful for me to tell you about myself in relation to this job opening?"
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Mastering quirky questions may help you get the job

Tell me a joke. Or a funny story. Actually, what’s your favorite food truck on campus?

These questions may not seem out of the ordinary to the average person, but when they appear in the middle of an On-Campus Recruiting interview this week, students may be thrown for a loop.

Strange questions are not a staple of the OCR interview, but they can help recruiters get a better sense of a student’s personality so they may be mixed in with the traditional inquiries about why a student is seeking a particular position.

For the lucky students who score the coveted interview slots, knowing what will make or break one’s interview is essential, counselors say.

“I think students really need to be able to specifically articulate why they’re interested in and are a good fit for the position,” said Barbara Hewitt, the senior associate director at Career Services.

And while Hewitt’s department exists to help students be as prepared and knowledgeable as possible, sometimes they just have to know how to field the unexpected.
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Once you complete your job search package, then the next step in sequence in the job employment network process is to contact your job search network contacts. This is best done to expand your career job employment options and opportunities. The early bird gets the worm. Because your network members are certainly as well as statically the strongest source of job leads, they can form bridges and conduits to the perfect job- the career of your dreams.

What are the basic standard and accepted job employment as well as career networking guidelines to follow?

First it is always best to make an appointment to meet in person. Impromptu may seem fine and as well show that you are a person of great personal initiative - the type to get the job done, to go around roadblocks and obstacles yet experience has shown and demonstrated that overall appointments provide for the best results. No one is taken untoward. Both parties can prepare mentally and physically. Nowadays most corporate job placement is awarded as a “team” or “committee” effort. By making an appointment the authority that you care calling on can solidify any decisions that are too made. This way they can have the accurate and timely data that you want - that you have been awarded this job or perhaps an alternate position with the firm or organization.
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When looking for our dream accountancy job or public sector jobs we spend a lot of time researching, preparing our cv’s and rehearsing interview questions, but a lot of people overlook the importance of your appearance in a job interview. One of those things we get told growing up is, “don’t judge a book by its cover” but unfortunately it happens in life and a lot in the job interview process. The interviewer will have probably made an assessment of you before you have even spoken a word. So in this guide we will discuss some general rules and tips for how to dress for a job interview, obviously all situations are different, so you should use some personal judgement on how to apply this advice.

Research How do you know what to wear for your upcoming banking job interview? Well there are general rules that we will talk about as we go. But to get an extra advantage you could ring up the receptionist or HR team to ask what the dress code is. If you would like to use a less direct approach, then try visiting the offices/workplace a few days before your interview to get an idea of how the other employees dress.

Clothing This is one of the main parts of your appearance that you need to take into consideration when preparing for a job interview. Make sure your clothes fit right. Try and avoid very baggy or very tight clothes and when it comes to women you should try to avoid showing cleavage and too much of other body parts. Your CV and personality should be getting you the job and not what is on show. Men should avoid the faux pas of wearing a whacky tie, not everyone enjoys these and you will give the impression that you are not serious in the workplace. Ultimately when considering what to wear, you should bear these tips in mind but make sure you are comfortable. If you are confident and comfortable you will appeal to the interviewer.

Grooming People need to match their hair to their outfit. If you are dressing smart it is best to make sure your hair is tidy and smart as well. Traditional hair cuts will always be better suited over the latest trendy cuts, unless you are applying for a creative role. Men should shave and trim facial hair before the interview as this will add to the neatness of your look. Bring a comb or brush to the interview to you can have a quick tidy up for it starts, this is especially important when it is windy.

Jewellery and Piercings Jewellery should be kept to a minimum when dressing for an interview. A few pieces of gold or silver jewellery will help accent your interview outfit, but too much will be distracting and may make the interviewer dislike you. Piercings are generally considered an interview faux pas. Women can get away with a few piercings on the ears, but all facial piercings should be removed as they do not always create the best impression no matter how nice you actually are.

Tattoos This is a similar subject to piercings, tattoos are also another traditional thing you should cover up when applying for a job. No matter how proud you are of your body art, the interview is not the best place for showing it off.

Make-up This one applies mostly to women, although it is an increasing trend for men to now wear make up. The best advice for make up is to make sure its subtle and professional. Try getting advice from friends and family of whether something looks right. You are applying for a job and not going on a date, so keep everything subtle and toned down. You don’t want the interviewer to be distracted by bright red lipstick.

Smell No this one isn’t aimed at body odour, although it is a good thing to make sure you are showered and fresh. This is more about the amount of aftershave or perfume you wear. It is nice to wear a subtle scent to an interview, but make sure it is not strong and overpowering.

Misc Things that you may not automatically think of are things like teeth and fingernails. Try and make sure your teeth are clean, nothing stuck in between them and your breath is fresh and minty, but don’t chew gum in the interview. Nails also come under grooming, you should make sure your nails are trimmed and clean, there is no need to have anything as extreme as a manicure but interviews may notice dirty nails.

I recently had a discussion with a candidate that went for a interview at a well known insurance company. The initial contact was made through a friend of a friend who worked within the company. A week after the candidate had sent their CV in for review their mobile phone rang with an offer of an interview the following day. Excitedly the candidate said yes immediately, as soon as the phone conversation ended they jumped on the internet and started to research the company, when it was formed any recent news stories and financial reports. With so much info to sift through it was difficult to know what key points to remember just in case they where touched upon during the interview.

The next day the interview flew by, the candidate was confident that they had done enough to at least be seen again. They had also been informed should they be requested to return for a second interview the guy who would be conducting the interview was company man who’s life was dedicated to work. As such it would be a good idea to know as much about the company, in particular its CEO and its core principles. So the candidate went away and researched all these subjects further. Creating ways to remember the details should the need arise.

Soon enough as expected the phone once again range with some good news. The all important second interview. All that needed to be done now was to come back to each question with a positive answer and the job would be in the bag.

This is where candidates need to expect the unexpected. The second interview went fine. In fact it went so well the candidate was asked back for a third interview. They had been advised by other sources that as this was with HR the representative would only be asking the sort of question that would uncover what the candidate was like as a person. What made them tick. This is exactly how the interview went until the candidate mention they had done a lot of research on the company. At this point things started to go very bad. The candidate had spent the last week neglecting what the company actually did. They had been advised by other sources that these questions had been covered in the first two interviews and to now concentrate on question related to the person. Big mistake.

Luckily this article has a happy ending. The candidate went blank. Froze and couldn’t speak for a few seconds as their brain tried to search for the information that they had spent so long trying to remember. But nothing much come out. What little did come out was enough to secure the job offer. Although after this interview the candidate was convinced that they had blown it.

The moral of this story is to make sure you go into every interview armed with as much information as possible. Just because a question has been asked by one person it does not mean that it wont be asked again.

Good luck.

For most people, a job interview is both an exciting and terrifying prospect.

Being called in for an interview means that your job application has passed the basic requirements for the role and your would-be employers are interested in knowing more about you.

Usually it is this prospect of making a good impression on your employers during that interview that can - and does - make a simple job interview go very wrong. So instead of getting the terms and salary you deserve, or the job itself, you end up with a lot less than you had hoped for.

Now, the first thing you have to tell yourself is to stop worrying about it. Of course this isn’t going to help you not worry at all, but the point is to at least try.

Starting the day before your interview, focus on the job you are applying for, rather than thinking up all sorts of interview questions that they may or may not ask about you. Yes, they will ask some of these questions, but with your focus on the desired position, you will cure some of the worst job interview diseases ever known, including:

1. Running off at the mouth. Especially if you tend to babble when you’re nervous, you might find that after one question from your would-be employer, you’ve already told him your entire life story. If you’re focused on what you are able to do for the job you’ve applied for, you’ll be answering interview questions according to what the job demands - and what your employer would want to hear - and weed out the unnecessary details.

2. Stuttering, stammering, and basically not making any sense at all. All too often, when an interview question catches us off guard, we tend to try to spout an answer, even if we do not have one. That’s very dangerous when answering interview questions because many times, you can keep talking, hoping that you’ll eventually start to make sense, and sadly you never do. Returning to the focus will remind you of what you’re in that interview room for and help direct you back to sensibility.

3. Hitting a blank wall. Another nervous reaction, some people tend to just blank out during a job interview and fail to say anything at all. With your mind focused, there’s less chance of losing it, and it’s easier to center yourself and find the right responses.

Additionally, make sure to listen to the interview question being asked and take a few seconds before replying. Although the first impulse is to answer right away, sometimes even before the interviewer has finished talking, don’t worry about time wasted and really think the question, and your answer, through. If you think you need to take a deep breath before opening your mouth and answering interview questions, then by all means do so.

And do smile. A smile will help you relax. Of course, don’t spend the entire job interview with a grin plastered on. Instead, listen intently to your interviewer and when they acknowledge you or wait for your response, give them a reassuring smile that will show them confidence and optimism. And don’t reserve the smiles for the good guys, either. Many have found that smiling at people who are verbally attacking them works even better than attacking back!

By Catherine Z Jones

One of the most important influence moments in your career is the moment where you must convince someone to hire you. Whether you are just out of college, looking for a change, or a contractor who must convince others of your services almost daily, you will find that a set of simple influence skills will propel you through the interviewing process on your way to a successful career.

Assert

It is imperative that you state your objectives clearly. Most organizations are looking for people who take action and will engage in helping the organization move forward. Your organization will first see your potential for such behavior in the hiring stages.

Jay and Mary are both interviewing for a position at an engineering company. Each is highly qualified for the position and holds some great recommendations. As Jay enters the interview, he is asked a series of questions. He ponders each and answers to the best of his ability. When asked, he pulls out his portfolio and demonstrates his skills to the employer. His work is excellent and the employer is notably impressed with it. He is sure to take Jay ’s information and informs him that he will be contacted with their final decision.

Mary ’s interview comes later, and when she enters, she introduces herself and instantly pulls out her portfolio and references. During her presentation, she highlights the portions of her work that seem to fit with what she has seen advertised for the position for which she is applying. When she is finished, she asks the interviewer if there are questions that he has. She ponders each question and answers to the best of her ability.

When the board makes its decision, it is determined that Jay ’s work was excellent, but Mary ’s assertive presentation of her work was what the company needed in order to progress in the competitive engineering market. Mary made good use of her first influence skill.

Ask Questions

Your ability to draw your interviewer in through active questioning is another important influence skill. Open-ended questions gather information and find out what the other person is thinking. Focused questions help the other person to focus on alternatives. These questions promote a greater inclusion of the other person and lead to openness and increased rapport, understanding and commitment.

During Mary ’s presentation, she asks her interviewer, “Is there a specific set of drafts that you would like to see?” Her question prompts the interviewer to indicate that he is most interested in what she has done with mechanical design. Though Mary had intended on showing him other drawings, she realizes by her open-ended questioning that it would be better to focus on what her interviewer is most interested in. She has two sets of drawings in her portfolio and asks the focused question to determine exactly which he would like to choose from.

Summarize

You will want to be sure that you and the other person understand each other. By repeating and summarizing important elements of the influence situation, you will be sure to remain on the same page.

When Mary finishes her presentation, the interviewer asks her, “How do you feel your employment would benefit our organization?” Mary is unsure of the exact response that the interviewer is looking for, so she uses her summarizing skill to clarify the situation. “So what you’re asking me is what will change within the organization when I am hired?”

The interviewer responds, “Yes, I would like to know how you feel your set of skills will make a fit with our organization and its mission statement.” Mary ’s keen use of her influence skills brought out a much more specific question where she could determine precisely what type of answer the interviewer was looking for.

Offer Incentives

Make it easier or more attractive for the person to do what you are asking. This will help you further promote agreement and commitment.

When the interview is finished, Mary is sure to express her feelings to the interviewer. “This interview has shed new light on your organization, and I am enthusiastic to begin my employment with you. I guarantee that you will not be disappointed with your decision. I plan to immediately put into action the skills that we discussed and help the company move forward in its objectives.” Mary ’s statement offers concrete rewards that the company will receive by hiring her.

The influence skills listed are only a few of the skills that you can develop which will help you progress in your career. They can be applied in a variety of circumstances; and when used effectively, they can achieve outstanding results for your career development.

Alan Vengel is a consultant in management training and organizational development and author of The Influence Edge - How to Persuade Others to Help You Achieve Your Goals. He offers cutting edge training and skill building workshops on influence and negotiation. http://www.vengelconsulting