Auditioning for Your Next Job - CareerAlley

Auditioning for Your Next Job - CareerAlley We may receive compensation when you click on links to products from our partners. Every time you have to speak, you are auditioning for leadership. James C. Humes When I was a teenager I was in a band (who wasnt in the 70s? yes, Im that old) and also involved in community theater. I remember those auditions. There were all these people in an auditorium waiting to audition for the part. Not only did you have to get up on stage and audition for your part in front of the director, but all of you competitors were in the audience waiting for their turn and waiting for you to fail. And, if you were both talented and lucky, maybe you would land one out of every 30 or 40 auditions. Can you imagine if you had to interview for your next job in front of everyone else interviewing for that job? So maybe job interviews are not as tough as auditioning for a part in a play. But you know what, your interview is not all that different if you think about it. You are trying out for your next part and unless you have your part down pat you will be cut from the audition and someone else will get the part. Have you rehearsed for your interview? Todays post is all about being prepared and interviewing for your next job. If you manage to get an interview, dont blow it. Make sure you are well prepared and clearly the best candidate for the job. What is the best way to do this? Read on. Preparing for your interview: Research the Interviewing Company If you are not familiar with the company, you will not get the job its as simple as that. It might be the perfect job for you. Your skills match, there is a good fit in terms of corporate culture and you think that you hit it off with your potential future manager. But when you are asked and what attracts you to XYZ Corp? you must be prepared to answer the question. If you lack a basic understanding of the interviewing company it will probably cost you any chance you had of getting the job. Employers not only want the right person for the job, they want someone who selected the company for specific reasons. You must do your research on the company before you interview. This will allow you to be proactive in the interview process. How to Research the Company Before Your Job Interview Guide to Researching Companies, Industries, and Countries Are You Prepared for the Interview? Although it may not seem so, getting to the interview is the easy part. We all know how few and far between we get a real live interview (so it may not seem like the easy part to you), but this part of the process (getting there) is the passive part of the process. The real work is now convincing the interviewers that, not only are you the right person for the job, but you are so much better than anyone else they may have in mind. Interview preparation is not just about being able to answer a set of strange or standard questions. It is about ensuring the hiring manager knows you are the right person for the job. Some of this can be leveraged from your work on your elevator speech, but the rest must come from being prepared in several different ways. Elevator Speech A brief description The Perfect (Elevator) Pitch Exactly what you need Preparing and Rehearsing for a Job Interview This article, from Moneyinstructor.com, provides a great overview of preparing for your interview (and rehearsing). It talks about the dress rehearsal as well as proving some questions to ask. Preparing for a Job Interview: Questions, Answers, and Tips This is a really great article from thejobexplorer.com. The article is crisp and covers content, format and questions. Interviews Questions: Traditional Employment Interview Questions A great list of typical job interview questions from Quintcareers.com. You know, like why should I hire you?. If that is not enough, take a look at their job interview questions database. Unusual Job Interview Questions Help Select the Best Unusual job interview questions are not so unusual these days. This article is provided by About.com and includes tough questions, behavioral interview questions and links to additional questions. Not so good Interviews: Worse Job Interviews Weve all had them, but its much more fun to read about them. Take a look. We are always eager to hear from our readers. Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions or suggestions regarding CareerAlley content. Good luck in your search,Joey what where job title, keywords or company city, state or zip jobs by