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Interviews

Preparing for an interview is a significant step towards securing employment. Getting ready includes doing comprehensive research about a company and a reassessment of your skills and abilities. In addition, it’s important to develop answers to potential questions, practice those answers, and prepare questions to ask the interviewer. Remember, practice makes perfect; it is the best way to prepare.

For a successful and rewarding interview process, you must:

  • Do Your Research! Almost every interview will contain a question asking you what you know about the organization. Information can be found on the company’s website and internet, as well as in press releases and news articles regarding the company.
  • Practice answering the questions that you think you will be asked. Use the job description to identify possible questions. The more prepared you are, the more eloquent you will sound.
  • Be prepared with three of your own questions to ask the interviewer or interview committee. Questions can be about the job and organization, but avoid inquiries about salary and benefits. That discussion can happen once the company has made you an offer.
  • Bring a copy of the job description, your resume and three references.

How To Formulate Your Answer:

To create your answers to the interview questions, we recommend that you use the STAR method. Search the job description for required skills and then formulate your answers to reflect these skills:

  1. Situation: Give an example of a situation you were involved in that resulted in a positive outcome. Keep this portion of your answer brief, but be sure to include key details such as who, when and where.
  2. Task: Describe the tasks involved in the situation by clearly explaining what you did.
  3. Action: Explain what you did in response to the situation. This should be the heart of your answer as it demonstrates your skills, knowledge and experience. Remember to highlight skills mentioned in the job description.
  4. Result: Focus on the outcome, accomplishments or improvements that you made.