How To Conduct A Job Interview

Autopsy
Dawn Rasmussen

August 10, 2015

We’ve all had that awful job interview where either we bobbled a question someone

tossed at us (Like, “If you could be any animal, what would you be?”), or we gave a bad

answer and smacked our foreheads afterward because we realized we could have
given a much better answer.

Watch: 2 Steps To Being More Likable During Interviews

I talk to a lot of people who are very stressed out about interviews and loathe them

because they’ve had bad ones. Many say they would rather go have a root canal than
go through the painful examination of an interview.

But you know what?

Interviews are actually good for you.

Why?

Think about it. They put us on the spot in a way we usually don’t encounter on a daily

basis. An interview actually is a very powerful experience because you learn how you
react under pressure.
If you really want to get over those jitters, you’ll need to do an autopsy to discover what
you need to know and/or work on to improve your skills in these situations.

How To Conduct A Job Interview

Autopsy
Here are some tips on becoming more comfortable and at ease:

1. Interview Often

Practice makes perfect. The more you do it, the more it’s like staying on your bike. And
if you do happen to fall, it’ll be a lot easier to get back on again.

2. Dig Into The Interview And Autopsy It

What did you do well? What did you do wrong? What did you expect? What happened
that was unexpected? Did you feel prepared or totally unready?

3. Write Down The Questions You Can Remember After The Interview

By keeping a running list of real interview questions you’ve encountered, you can gain
skill in knowing what might be coming your way the next time you meet an employer.

4. Do Your Research

Did the employer field a question to you that had something to do with the company? If

you had done your research, confidence comes with knowledge and even buy you

some time. Sometimes, even deflecting those questions with similar but different
detailed information can help you wiggle out of tight spots.
5. Trust Your Gut

Trusting your intuition is important… if you are feeling not-so-great about an interview

and your performance in there, there might have been something perhaps non-verbal

the interviewers were exuding that put you off. If you aren’t walking out pumped up and
energized, is this really the right opportunity for you?

If you don’t take the time to truly examine how you performed in an interview, and don’t

dissect the pieces you did well versus the ones you had an #epicfail on, you won’t learn

about yourself and you won’t learn what you can do better for next time. In your lifetime,

you’ll have a lot more interviews than job offers, so mastering the knowledge of your

strengths and weak points is incredibly important to your career… otherwise, what you
don’t know will hurt you.

This post was originally published at an earlier date.

http://www.careerealism.com/job-interview-conduct-autopsy/