Acing Your On-Site Interview

In the last week, I had interviews at a company I hope to get a job. In the past this experience has made me incredible nervous and I could barely get through the process without having a heart attack. However, during my most recent experience, I have felt reasonable calm and left feeling as though I did everything I could do to get the position. Several things have helped me gain this confidence. A few may seem odd but if you read the explanation, then they will make a lot of sense.

First, researching myself.
This may seem like an odd concept, but it is very helpful in making a good first impression. Reminding yourself what you have accomplished in your career will be helpful when asked the specifics of your career.

For example, I was asked during the interview if I had ever a done the return on investment for a project. Fortunately, I had spent a lot of time (including writing about the project on Linkedin) articulating the most significant ROI I had done at a previous job. I had spent so much time working on this because in past interviews I had been asked similar questions. This is why it is important to remember previous interviews when researching yourself.

Second, Remember the past
No two interviews are ever the same but they are often very similar in the questions that they will asked you. If you are interviewing with someone in HR, then they will usually asked you question about yourself and high-level information about previous work experience. This will help them determine if you will fit into the company culture and if what they discussed with hiring manager matches your skills. Also, the can determine if you will bring passion to the position.

If you are fortunate to get an interview with a hiring manager, then this is when knowing your own career can come pretty handy. These people usually know their stuff and are going to grill you so that you know yours. This can become unnerving because often times early in your career you will be learning on the job and not be able to give concrete ways you would solve problems at the company. When this happens it is important to show off your critical reasoning skills and let the hiring manager know how you would complete tasks. If you have learned transferable skills in unrelated situations then you will show them that you can succeed in the position. Often times it also valuable to bring up problems at a company before they mentioned them. This is why it always important to research a company before you visit them.

Recommendation for Young Professionals
I know that it may be very difficult for young professionals to relate to the first two recommendations. You have few experiences to draw discuss in an interview and you have little or no interviews in your past. I have a few further recommendations. Always remember your past but use transferable experiences. If you had a group assignment where you were leader, then discuss how this required project management skills. To prepare for the question, have a practice interview with an established professional in your field. Their questions will often times give you insight into what you will be asked. The final two preparation steps can be used by just about everyone.

Third, know the company
I think just about everyone has heard that you should always learn about a company before you go and visit them. This advice is given because interviewers often times ask you what you know about the company. They usually want to see that you spent as much time learning about them as they did learning about you. In the past, I used this question to show that I had at the very least looked on the their website. While this is great and shows you put a little effort into the interview. It does not go nearly fair enough in impressing the interviewer. Take this opportunity to actually think about your position and what kind of problems you will be dealing with on a daily basis.

For example, the job I interviewed for is to help the logistics department at a distribution facility. The products they sell are often endorsed by celebrities which makes predicting demand, in turn supply, very difficult. I realized this and mentioned in my interview. The interviewer had an example of this type of celebratory endorsement and how the product sold out in under 12 hours. Me bringing this up led to us having a five minute conversation. I could tell that this critical thinking on my part really impressed him.

Also, be absolutely sure you know the location of your interview. Even if you have gotten direction on your phone still give yourself to get to the interview. Before one of my interviews, I printed directions off of Google Maps. There is error in their maps that required me to drive down a road that doesn't exist. This meant I had to spend an extra half an hour looking for the site and barely arrived on time for my interview even though I left with 90 minutes to get there (it was 30 minutes from my house). While all of these preparation are great at helping me acing my interview, I refuse to do them they day of an interview.

Finally, relax the day of the interview.
All through college, I chose to cram for finals in the days before instead of actually learning the material beforehand. This required me to continue studying right up to the test instead of taking the time to digest the information. I can tell you that it rarely workout in my favor and my GPA will show this mistake.

I have learned from these poor choses and apply it to my interviews. First, once I have an interview I became very diligent and complete the three preparation steps discussed previously. Then on the day of the interview I stop getting ready for the interview. My theory, and what I have experienced, is that this only makes me nervous. This has required me to come up with different techniques for morning and afternoon interviews.

If the interview is in the morning, then I am always sure to set my alarm 3 hours before the interview. This sucks when you have an 8am interview but it helps get the hour relaxers complete without feeling rushed. After getting up, I take my dog running. I know in a past post I said this was not something I would do. I retract my previous statement. As I mentioned before, this really helps calm the nerves. Next, I take a shower and shave(boys only). I might recommended shaving the day before depending on how long it takes you to get a five-o-clock shadow. Finally, I am sure to make sure to eat a bowl of oatmeal with some fruit and brew a cup of coffee. This was good advice (minus the coffee) when we were kids and it is great advice now. A few more items need to be added if the interview is in the afternoon.

For an interview that is later in the day, I still do the above items but set my alarm clock later. Also, I need to do a few more activities. I recommended coming up with a chore list the night before. This often included laundry, dishes and cleaning one room in the house. This distracts me from what I have later and makes me feel as though no matter I have accomplished something with my day. Also, I will up the intensity of my runs. Before a morning interview, I will only run about 2 miles. On days I have an afternoon interview, I will often do 6+ miles at race pace. When I complete the run, my confidence is through the roof.

Once you arrive at your interview, everything else is pretty much on you. Just remember that you have the skills to do the job and all the company wants to do is determine if you are the right for them.