The Basic Rules to Remember and Practice Before Every Interview

You have done the company research and submitted that polished resume...and it paid off! But now that the date of your upcoming interview is looming ahead, how do you keep the winning candidate they have seen on paper present when meeting them in person? I'm not really a strong believer in "practice makes perfect" but when it comes to an interview and essentially selling your best qualities as an employee to the person on the other side of the desk for a position, preparation can make the difference between an actual call back and waiting by a silent phone.

It is easy to quickly forget your interview etiquette in the heat of the moment if you have not done your homework and even the most seemingly simple questions can be a real cause of sudden panic during the interview if you haven't asked them yourself first.

It is probably both important and fair for me to give a little insight into my own interview experience before continuing with any amount of advice on the topic. Like far too many college graduates, I was originally convinced that all I needed to secure a great job was a degree. When I completed my B.A. in media studies (possibly one of the most extreme and vague liberal arts degrees I could have ventured toward), I continued to have this mindset even as I walked across the stage.

I quickly learned that a fancy piece of paper mattered little when it came time to talk seriously about my qualifications. That was back in December of 2002. Since then, I have successfully interviewed (meaning I was offered the position and either accepted or declined it) in a rather broad spectrum of the employment pie, mainly in the areas of marketing, media, non-profit, insurance, and human services. With the latter, I was asked to come in for a second interview and was offered the job a week later.