You`ve read all the books on how to take a job interview; you`ve noted the advice they gave you in school. Yet when you get out in the actual world, job interviews appear to go quite differently. Why do real interviews appear to make office in a different universe? Because a lot of the conventional wisdom is little more than oft-repeated myths.
CNN Money recently tacked this issue head on when it rounded up ten myths about job interviews. If you`ve been about the stuff a few times, you likely already know a lot of these. But if you`re fresh out of college or look for play after a long sentence in your previous role, some of these myths could be quite illuminating. Here are my five favorites:
1. Politely accept beverage offers. Your interviewer is just request to be civilized and would much favour to simply get on with the interview. And if you end up asking for something other than a can of Snow or cup of water, you could end up wasting a lot of valuable interview time (and teasing your interviewer).
2. Your interviewer is trained to conduct interviews. Well, maybe the HR contact is. But the hiring manager and his or her peers is only some line manager who - at best - took a 2-hour class from HR on how to take an interview. They`re winging it. You can help out by finding ways to make concrete examples and explaining how your knowledge or skill set is useful, since the interviewer might miss the skills to ask great probing questions.
3. The interviewer is prepared. Again, no - he or she probably scanned your resume five minutes before you walked in the door; he wasjust too busy to do otherwise. You can help out by giving detailed answers that meet in the details the interviewer might be looking for, but couldn`t ask for since he hadn`t had enough time to plan.
4. There`s ever a "correct solution" to interview questions. Sometimes interview questions are the 21st Century adaptation of Captain Kirk`s Kobayashi Maru scenario. You aren`t necessarily expected to experience the correct answer - if there still is one. More often, the interviewer wants to see how you think. Do you give thoughtful answers? Do you near a job like an entry-level or more senior candidate?
5. If you`re qualified, your appearance doesn`t matter. This one is tough, but the fact remains that multi-colored hair, extensive piercings, bizarre clothing, and neck tattoos are still red flags that people make a difficult time looking past, no matter how dependent you look to be. And projecting energy and authority is important - your position is an important attribute that people notice.
Looking for more avail with job interviews? Here`s some more help preparing for that next job search:
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