It’s always a great feeling to be asked to interview for a position with a new employer. That feeling is then, unfortunately, replaced quickly by sinking dread. However, when you are preparing to go in for an interview, being nervous can distract you from some of the most important things that you need to be focusing on. So, the next time you get a call, take a minute to remember the four things you should never do when you go in for an interview.

1. Disregard Your Presentation

The first thing you need to consider before you go in is your outward appearance. People will make snap judgments about you based on your appearance, and there is no reason to give anyone cause to overlook you just because you don’t have a style that fits with the office culture. Look into the office dress code before you decide what to wear, and make an effort to dress like someone who would fit in perfectly at their office. You don’t want to try to fade into the background, but save the major style statements for another day. Stand out with lines and fit, rather than bright or distracting clothing and accessories. Make sure your car is looking good and that you have something to carry your resume in. Get a tote, shoulder bag, or briefcase to carry your things.

2. Neglect to Interview Them

We can get so caught up with striving to be desirable when we go in for an interview that it’s easy to forget that we are also there to see if this position will work for us, as well! Make sure to do some research on the company and list any questions you have for them or talking points that you would like to address further. Failing to ask your interviewer questions about the position looks immature, and it comes across as though you are not in very high demand or are not seriously considering whether the position is right for you.

3. Don’t Understand Why You Deserve the Job

You should have a very clear idea in mind about what the duties for the position will be, and why you are uniquely qualified to take them on before you interview. Even if the position is a little mundane, or someone with any degree could easily fulfill the requirements, make a list of specific experiences you have had that prepared you to take on this job now. Write down why you deserve the job and why you will be a good fit with this company, just so you can get it clear in your own mind. This is very important because, if you don’t know why you deserve the job, how will anyone else believe you do?

4. Be Clueless About Why You May Not Deserve the Job

As important as it is to know why someone should hire you, it is just as important to know why they shouldn’t. Take some time to list all your hesitations about why you may not be qualified or deserving of the position. Things like long breaks in employment or being fired from your previous job are always difficult to talk about during an interview, but it’s important to bring those things to light, at least for yourself. Next, figure out how you will work to overcome those potential limitations. Or, even better, think about ways that your unique experience may have provided you with even better preparation that what the average candidate may have had. If you are clearly able to address your limitations with your interviewer, he or she may be less likely to write you off for things that would usually get someone’s resume thrown out.

Byline:

Jane Smith is a freelance writer and blogger. She writes about criminal background check for Backgroundcheck.org. Questions and comments can be sent to: janesmth161 @ gmail.com

Jobseekers feel worried even when it’s a one-on-one interview. And when it’s a panel interview (group interview), it might cause more worry among applicants. One thing that you always need to remember is that employers don’t hold panel interviews to create a fearful situation. They adopt this approach so that you can meet all the important people (who you’ll actually work with) in a single seating. That’s why, it’s important to prepare yourself to achieve success in a panel interview, no matter how many people are there in the group.

Given below are some key tips and useful pieces of advice that you can use to win a panel interview and get hired quickly.

Don’t Stare at a Single Person

A panel interview is a group interview, where you won’t be talking to a single person specifically. Each of the professionals that attend the interview are equally important. If you stare at just one person, you’ll only lose the essence of a panel interview and leave a bad impression.

Be Ready for Further Explanation

Everyone has their own listening style. When you respond, it might be just possible that you won’t send the same signal to everyone. Those who don’t get you instantly may ask you to repeat a response or ask for further explanation. These things happen in group interviews. So, you should be ready for that.

Practice Answering a Range of Questions

Questions asked during a one-on-one interview may be very limited. However, panel interviews are different in that sense. Different interviewers in the group might throw different types of questions at you. Apart from practicing commonly asked questions, also prepare on how to answer tricky, critical and behavioral interview questions to achieve success.

Ask Intelligent Questions

Since it’s a panel interview, you will need to convince most of the people in the group. It may be a little easier to convince or impress when you face a one-on-one interview. That’s why you should never ask very general or common questions. Ask intelligent questions to impress many in the group.

Give Examples

If you want to leave a lasting impression on each of the interviewers in the panel, you need to talk with examples. While explaining a point, talk about your own personal experiences from the past. Also remember to use figures to support the claims that you make.

Write Thank You Notes to Each Panelist

End the interview on a positive note. In any case, don’t forget to send thank you notes to each of the professionals who participated as interviewer. You can also use this opportunity to highlight your most essential skills and build important connections in the industry.

James Tomerson writes regularly on career, education and latest job trends. To read more from him, you can visit Jobdiagnosis.com, which also offers jobseekers a free career test to choose a career which is in tune with their career, aptitude and skills.

If you’ve ever been unemployed, your experience will tell you that interviewing is probably the hardest part of any job search.  The hunt for a new job itself can be grueling, but all the pressure of landing a job seems to be concentrated into one half hour meeting with your potential employer.  Given the high-stakes nature of interviews, they can be nerve-wracking, and if you are a naturally shy person, interviews can be tortuous.

But they don’t have to be.

Most of what makes interviews so intense is psychological.  Because a job is on the line, every move you make is scrutinized and any little thing could be the deal-breaker.  That’s how it feels, at any rate.

When you strip away everything else, an interview is just a celebrated meeting with a stranger.  The best way to succeed in an interview is not to succumb to the pressure, to be confident in yourself and your qualifications.  The man or woman interviewing you is not some omniscient being, but just a person with interests, goals, and concerns, just like you.

The trick is to find where those interests, goals, and concerns meet, so that you feel more comfortable talking to them.  Here are a few tips for finding intersections of interest between your interviewer and you, so that you can be your best, confident self at your next interview:

Research

Everybody knows that you’re supposed to research the company you’re interviewing with before you walk into the interview.  A lesser known piece of wisdom is that you should also research the people who work for that company.  You can call and ask who will be interviewing you, or ask for a list of interviewers, and then start a search on those people, looking for similarities you share with each of them.  This will give you an advantage, as you will know a little bit about the person (or people) across the table, so you can feel a little more relaxed.  Think of it this way: you gave them a resume and a ton of other information about yourself; why not look into their history a little?

Attentiveness

After you’ve done your research it’s up to you to look and listen for any of the things you found.  As you enter the office, look around for items of interest: a photograph, a book, a product you want to try; anything that will give you some common ground with your interviewer.  Common ground helps you remember that your interviewer is just a person, and will relax you enough to succeed.

Furthermore, listen for any opportunities to find shared interests or commonalities during the interview itself.  Remember, an interview is as much about finding out your personality as it is verifying your background, so try to be amiable and establish some rapport with your interviewer by engaging with her on a personal (but not too personal) level.

Storytelling

Most interviews will begin with the interviewer asking you to tell her a little about yourself.  Use this opening space to work in some interests and entertaining stories (as long as they’re relevant).  Especially if you already know some of the things your interviewer does and likes (see why research is important?) you will be able to find that common ground and relate with your interviewer more confidently and naturally.

These strategies will help you “break the ice” with your interviewer a little more quickly and will give you a better chance at being impressive, just by being yourself.  It is important to note, however, that you should work in shared interests only when relevant and appropriate and should not be forceful or insistent when asking questions.  Act naturally, and let the information come to you after you suggest it.  Doing so will make interviews seem less hostile and more friendly, again giving you the best chance at success.

Byline:

This is a guest post by Kimberly Wilson. Kimberly is from accredited online colleges, she writes on topics including career, education, student life, college life, home improvement, time management etc.

Appearing for a job interview is one of those activities nobody likes to do, but must do to land that all important job, especially in this day and economy. The fact of the matter is that there are more people willing to do jobs they normally would not consider. Hence, the whole interview process has become tougher and more competitive. This is because employers have more choices as far as whom they want to pick, compared to 10 years ago. Therefore it is all the more important to ace the interview stage. However, there are a few things that need to be kept in mind to accomplish that.

The first thing any interviewer will see when the interviewee enters the room is how they are dressed. This is what creates the first impression. And as the old saying goes “the first impression is the best impression” seems to work for interviews to a certain extent. Of course, this does not mean that the candidate is going to get the job based on how they are dressed. It just means that the interviewer’s attitude towards the job seeker will go up a few notches, possibly making the interview process go smoother.

The first thing that needs to be understood is what type of job the candidate is interviewing for. If the job has to with corporate world, then going conservative would be the thing to do as far as dress code is concerned. For men, neck ties are an important accessory. The type of tie chosen can make or break the interview. Showing up wearing a daffy duck or polka dot tie may be fine for an interview at the circus, but for a bank job it would most likely be mistake. Who knows how many people failed to get a job they were perfectly qualified to do, because of a wrong choice in neck ties.

The point is that for most “serious” jobs, the standard dress code of shirts, pants and nice tie can never go wrong. The next item on the list is shoes. The only the rule here is, the nicer the shoes the better. You can never go wrong with dress shoes in most interviews. The point of all this is that even for smaller, ordinary jobs, dressing well has never hurt anybodies prospects. Even if nice shirts and ties are not worn, never go the other extreme which would be completely casual attire.

Jane Turner is working for Web Designers Sydney as an HR consultant and is writing blogs on the topic of people’s image and presentation in her free time.

A person’s body language can tell the interviewer a lot about that person. So it is very important to know what you should and should not do during an interview.

Interview Do’s

The first thing is to make sure that you sit up straight in your chair and then lean forward a little. This will the interviewer that you are very interested in the job. The second thing is to always keep a smile on your face. Also nod and give the interviewer positive expressions when you are talking to them. The third thing is to try not to get into the interviewer’s personal space. This is usually about 20 inches away from each other.

The fourth thing is to not wear a very strong perfume or cologne. The fifth thing to do is address everyone in the interview if you are being interviewed by more than one person. Every time a person asks you a question, turn to look at them. The sixth thing to do is let the interviewer know that if you need to leave so that they can have some privacy to handle some important matters. The seventh thing to do is to stand up and smile after the interview is done.

Interview Don’ts

The first thing is to not rub the back of your neck or head. This is because it makes you look like you are not interested in the job. The second thing is to not touch or rub your nose. This means that you are not being honest with the interviewer. Plus it looks gross. The third thing is to not cross your arms. This makes you look like you are unfriendly. The fourth thing is do not cross your legs. It makes you look like you are very uncomfortable.

The fifth thing is to not point your body towards the door. This makes you look like you are ready to go and desperate to get out of the interview. The sixth thing is to slouch in your chair. This makes you look like you are not interested in the job or unprepared for the questions that you are being asked. The seventh thing is to not stare at the interviewer with a blank look. This is what a person does when they are trying to distance themselves from the interviewer.

These are just some of the do’s and don’ts of your body language during an interview. Pay attention to them but still do not forget to act naturally and present yourself the way you really are and naturally.

Jane Turner is working for Web Designers Sydney as an HR consultant and is writing blogs on the topic of people’s image and presentation in her free time.

Some common sense interview tips from Jimmy Sweeney

As things tend to often come in bunches, he went months without any real action as he was looking for a new job and then suddenly received 3 interviews with 3 different employers in a short period of time.

Talk about feast or famine.

These days you really want to make full use out of every job interview you get especially since the economy doesn’t appear to be getting noticeably better for job searchers.

In recruitment we often got to find out the real reason that someone got the job and everyone else didn’t.

Maybe it was because the person who got hired simply had certain skills or experience that the others didn’t.

Maybe they just gave the interviewer(s) the impression that they had the “right” personality for the job.

Maybe they just interviewed better!

The bottom line is that most times you won’t actually find out why you didn’t get the job (or why someone else did) so you’re often left to wonder what went wrong and what you could have done better, if anything?

My friend Jimmy Sweeney comes to the rescue again as he has written a nice PDF with some interview advice and tips that you can use to ensure you’re doing your part and aren’t making mistakes that are costing you jobs.

As with the other PDFs Jimmy has offered, this one is free! It does have some interesting suggestions and common sense rules for job interviews that you might other forget about or simply didn’t even think of.

Small mistakes can kill job interviews which I guess means that the mistake wasn’t so small afterall…

Make the most of your interviews and check out Jimmy’s free PDF Job Interview Secrets.

How can you find jobs that don't exist?

The first placement I ever made in recruitment was with a senior IT professional who interviewed with a bank who was a client of ours who didn’t actually have a job open but when they heard about this candidate’s background in IT security, decided to interview him anyways. They ended up creating a job for him and hired him for this newly-created position.

In another instance, I had a candidate who was relocating to a particular city and a big hiring company in that area was looking for new staff so with her permission I floated her name and resume past the hiring manager to see if they might be interested in her. She had a background in project management and they were in fact building a new project management team so I felt there was a good chance they’d be interested in her. Sure enough they were interested and after flying her in for an interview, ended up hiring her and relocating her to their city.

So in these two instances, two people were hired for jobs that not only hadn’t previously existed but that had never actually been advertised either. So not only did these two people get a new job created for them based on their skillset they essentially managed to avoid the typical interview process where they have to compete with other candidates for the same position.

Situations like this do happen albeit probably not as frequently as you’d like, where a job is created basd on your skillset and experience. The common aspect of both of these instances was that the two hiring companies in question needed people with a specific skillet and based on their immediate need, were happy with hiring people to fill jobs that hadn’t previously existed and also bypass the need to interview a number of people for this position. Obviously if you’re the only person being interviewed for a job your odds are better than if you were competing with numerous other people!

How can you identify opportunities for yourself like this?

In my case, I identified both companies many months earlier and had in fact called the hiring manager numerous times and over time, the hiring managers shed light on what was happening in their respective companies so I learned more about what they might need every time I called them. So when I came across the two candidates mentioned above I felt confident that the company would be interested in them based on what I’d learned about them over the previous talks with the hiring authority.

Certainly you might not have this time to contact a handful of companies over and over again and hope that something pans out. Having said that I’ve also seen cases where a person identifies a company that interests them and gets an interview but based on what sort of job they’re looking for and based on what the hiring manager needs at that time, sometimes both sides agree to keep in touch until a job opportunity arises that meets what both sides are looking for.

To help you find a job opportunity that might not currently be advertised or might not currently even exist, the first thing you need to do is figure out what skills, experience, education, traits, etc that you have that sets you apart from other people. What do you have in your background that other candidates applying for the same jobs you are don’t have? What is your competitive advantage?

Depending on your experience and background, you might find that you have one or more aspects of your background that a potential hiring company would be very interesated to hear about. The next step of course is to identify companies who would potentially want to directly hear from someone like yourself. When I say directly, I mean you contact the company directly yourself and not through a recruiter for example. Going through a recruiter means that not only does the company then have to decide whether or not they want to hire you, they first have to decide if they want to work with a recruiter who they’d have to pay money to should they hire you. By contacting companies directly you’re cutting out the middleman and decreasing the decisions that the company has to make.

These days, there are companies who exist who would love to have a solid, hard-to-find candidate literally drop in their lap. I’ve seen it happen including recently with a friend of mine in the oil business who directly applied to many companies even when they had no job advertised and even when many were laying people off. He eventually applied to one who was open to meeting with him and in fact desperately needed someone with his skills and after one interview, they basically hired him on the spot.

Are you willing to hand over your keys?

I read an interesting story online this week suggesting that some employers in parts of the US were asking for the login information for the Facebook accounts of prospective employees.

The employers who were mentioned in the article who were asking for this information included a police department, municipal government and a correctional institution. So based on the list I saw these employers were largely limited not to publicly-traded companies – who perhaps know better! – but to government institutions and public service ones.

What an odd situation but I guess it was bound to happen. With people spending more and more time surfing various social media websites – including during work hours in many cases – companies perhaps think they have a right to know what you’re doing at work and out of work.

The article went on to say that the employers in question had largely changed their mind and stopped asking for the Facebook passwords once the public uproar got big enough but still, should they have done it in the first place?

What would you do if a hiring manager asked you for your Facebook password or your login information for Twitter, your email account or something else?

How far can a prospective employer go before your privacy becomes more important the job itself?

Even if you don’t necessarily have anything to hide or even if you don’t have a Facebook account in the first place – what would happen if you didn’t get a Facebook account until after you were hired? Are you obligated to let them know? – how would you feel about an employer asking for your password to anything of yours?

I guess if you’re bold enough you could say something to the effect of “sure, as soon as you give me yours first” but I’m not sure that would help your cause getting the job assuming you were not turned off by working for an employer who was requesting such information in the first place.

I guess if I was asked for this sort of information in an interview, I’d first ask why they wanted it and then decide if I wanted to pursue things further with this company based on their response. If you don’t actually have a Facebook account of course, it’s probably going to be a shorter conversation.

While I understand why a potential employer wants to ensure the person they’re hiring isn’t hiding something and perhaps wants to see what the person is really like amongst their friends, asking for someone’s password goes against everything we know about doing stuff online.

Whenever anyone asks for a password to something of ours, we’re immediately conditioned to be suspicious and rightly so. Identity theft isn’t going away anytime soon and sharing login info with others is the best way to spread it and make yourself a victim.

Further, if in fact you did hand over your password to the interviewer and then in the future someone hacked into your account and caused your grief, could you go after the employer legally for possibly compromising your account? Afterall, they had your login info and who knows who else they shared it with? Sure, you can change your password but presumably the employer wants to access your account at some point and who knows what they’ll do while in your account. Unless you already know the person hiring you, you don’t know the person hiring you of what they’re capable of.

While I understand the need for ensuring you’re hiring the right people especially in fields like law enforcement, corrections, etc it’s difficult to figure out if accessing someone’s social media accounts will help much.

Having said that, an aspiring UFC fighter from Canada who was also training to be a police officer was recently removed from the police training program after photos of him were discovered online during a time earlier in his MMA career when he dressed up in a top hat and cane and was nicknamed Pimp Daddy. While the official word from the police was that his MMA career could detract from his dedication to becoming a cop, most people seemed to believe it was the photos that did him in and that a police officer who dressed like a pimp probably didn’t send the right message…

In this case, the guy was done in without use of his login information and was simply caught by his past which was still documented online.

How's this for a first impression? Nice jacket though.

When it comes to job interviews – and really anything that puts you in front of someone who can positively influence your job search and career – you have to put your best foot forward and not disqualify yourself from consideration. People often lose out on job due to small things but sometimes I think it’s because they just don’t think about the image they’re projecting.

Like when job searchers – it’s typically males who do this – bring a backpack to an interview rather than using a briefcase or some other professional form of carrying their stuff. Even a laptop bag is acceptable so why someone would bring a backpack is beyond me. It may sound like a small thing but when you show up carrying a backpack you look more like a boy scout of a teenager going to high school than an adult looking for a job.

The same goes for when you show up to an interview looking unorganized and messing around looking for your resume or a pen or something else. When you give the impression of being unorganized in a situation where the person you’re meeting expects you to be on your best behavior, it can really hurt. First impressions matter and sometimes you don’t have a second chance to make a good one.

I’ve seen cases where jobs are lost before the interview even starts and typically it’s related to dress issues. Mind you I’ve also seen jobs lost in the first minute of the interview too.

The bottom line is that you don’t want to give people a reason not to hire you and some times that can be half the battle right there especially if you match up closely to other people who you are competing with for the job in question.

We're number 1! Or number 2. It depends who's counting.

One popular job search myth is the believe that the most qualified person always gets the job. First off, “most qualified” is clearly up for debate especially if there is more than one person making the hiring decision and most likely there are no two candidates that are exactly alike so at the end of the day, the person who is most qualified is largely something determined by intangibles that are ranked differently by different people.

In recruitment, we got to see a number of cases where the person that we felt was very qualified for a job ended up being less qualified in the eyes of the person who actually made the ultimate decision i.e. the hiring authority. It doesn’t mean we were wrong – we might have actually been correct – but if the hiring authority hires someone else, it could be for a number of different reasons and being the best qualified for the job might not actually be the primary determinant.

Here are some reasons I’ve seen where a person gets a job (or loses one) based on something other than how qualified they were:

1. Money: How much money are you asking for? If a company can hire someone for cheaper, they’ll often do it even if you’re a better fit for the job.

2. Money II: Another reason that money comes into the equation is if you applied to a job through a recruiter. Typically if you get hired through a recruiter the recruitment company gets paid a fee by the hiring company. That’s how recruiters make money. If a company can hire a candidate without paying a fee – when the person applied directly to the company rather than coming through a recruiter – the hiring company can save themselves thousands of dollars – and perhaps tens of thousands of dollars – by hiring the person who applied directly and not the person who came through a recruiter. Don’t think this happens? It does, and quite frequently in my experience.

3. Favoritism: Favoritism can come in all sorts of shapes and sizes. Perhaps the hiring manager hires a friend. They might hire someone who they were told to hire by their superior. Maybe they hired someone who was referred to them. That’s a form of favoritism although it’s not necessarily a bad one. These days companies probably feel more comfortable hiring someone referred to them by someone they trust rather than hiring someone they don’t know. Obviously if you’re the one they don’t know, that can put you at a disadvantage.

The worst part is that you might never actually realize why you lose out on a job and simply assume you did something wrong when in fact the opposite might be true. Sometimes the cards are stacked against you and it’s an uphill battle that you just can’t overcome.

Not all hiring decisions come down to simply hiring the most qualified person.