Six Strategies for Getting Hired

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As a job seeker, putting your best foot forward isn’t always easy.  Fear of rejection, embarrassment over past job performances, or anxiousness can set in.  Don’t let your emotions overtake you.  Here some strategies to get you hired:

1. Research the company and position before the interview. Read current articles, press releases, and visit the company’s website for any pertinent information. Write down anything and everything an interview might ask about what you know about the company.

2. Find a way to determine what a “good fit” means to the employer.  Your objective is to find out how you might uniquely enhance the company through the position you are interviewing for. Example: “How would you describe your organization’s culture?”

3. Don’t divulge too much information during the interview. You may believe revealing information about your previous working environment, your family, or your hobbies is important to the interviewer, but revealing too much gives him/her an opportunity to formulate assumptions and possibly draw negative conclusions about you as an employee.

4. Remain open minded during the interview. Before the interview, clear your mind of any assumptions, fears, and expectations you may have so you will be emotionally neutral and can maintain an open-minded perspective. If you start to feel expectant or apprehensive, needy or overconfident, change your position in your chair, take a deep breath–do anything to distract yourself and get back to neutral.

5. Don’t appear desperate for the job. The very appearance of desperation can kill your advantage in a job interview.

6. Concentrate on what you can control during the interview. Basically, there are only two things you can control in the interview- your demeanor and your responses to the interview questions. Listen to the questions carefully, take notes if necessary, answer questions by constantly keeping the interviewer’s objectives in mind. Answer questions demonstrating how you fit in with and can advance the employer’s goals.

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