Congratulations. You’ve landed the golden opportunity to sell yourself to the employer of your choice. But wait; have you prepared yourself for this big day? Are you aware of the importance of this first encounter? Your well-structured resume has shown you in a good light to deserve some the employer’s precious time, so make sure you capitalize on every moment you are granted.
Although the resume is an extremely important element in the job search process, it will only get you as far as the interview. From then on, it’s just you and the interviewer, and no matter how good you look on paper, you will have to look as good in person. And you will never look as good as you would like unless you’ve prepared. This preparatory phase is well worth the time and effort invested in it, because a lot of your preliminary research can be used every time you go to an interview, with only small additions, depending on the position and company.
It is also important to approach the interview with a focused mind – this meeting is really a twoway evaluation process. Of course the interviewer will try and decide whether you are fit for the job and the organization. You too are evaluating the interviewer, who is a company imagemaker. You will also be in a position to decide whether you want to work for this company or not. How will you make this decision? Just like the interviewer will make his decision of you: you will observe, analyze, and ask questions. And although this is an added plus of an interview, it comes with it slight drawbacks – you just added even more to your preparation task. Now that we’ve established the 2-way motives of any interview, let’s look at some of the different styles of interviews under which this evaluation process takes place.