Interview tips from an experienced recruiter - Membox.com

Interview tips from an experienced recruiter - Membox.com
Although your technical abilities are most important, interviewers don ’t only consider your qualifications and on job experience. See the "In the Interview" section near the bottom for some tips to help you stay sharp.

In my skimming of the article the one thing I didn't see which is the most important thing in an interview, is to really know the reasons why you would be good for this job and to sell those reasons throughout the interview. This doesn't mean that you necessarily want the job (because you can't really know that until you have finished interviewing) but it does mean you know why you would be good for the job.

A few things I think should be emphasized from my brief experience hiring a replacement for my own job:
- if I'm dressed better than you, you're not getting the job
- resist the urge to downplay an achievement, trash talk a former employer, or share in a nasty observation about a past job. If you do it to them, you'll do it to us.
- if you arrive late, you will not get this job. If, by circumstances unavoidable, you simple won't make it, phone and say you've been delayed and offer to reschedule the interview to any time that suits them. They may be willing to wait for you to be late, but don't just walk in 10 minutes late.
- have answers ready for the character questions. I've been nailed by the "what are your weaknesses" question and didn't have an acceptable answer handy. I still got the job, but I felt like an idiot when I had nothing to offer. Many job "experts" tell you to turn a weakness into a strength (eg. "I guess I try too hard to be perfect!"). Idiocy. Your lame attempts to manipulate the interviewers just show you don't think much of their intelligence. A safe answer is "I don't know of any weaknesses that affect my professional life, as any time one is pointed out to me I do my best to overcome it." You can still imply you have flaws without it being a problem on the job.