Preparing for Interviews

Interviews for jobs or internships are your opportunity to present yourself and your qualifications for the position you desire. To prepare for an interview you need to 1) know yourself, 2) know about the position and the organization, 3) know general interviewing guidelines, and 4) prepare for typical interview questions and plan how you will answer them.

Know yourself

• Be sure you are easily conversant on all aspects of your education and work experience, especially the ways in which they are of value to the prospective employer. Be able to "talk" your resume.
  
  
• Identify your areas of interest, your skills/abilities/strengths, and your values/priorities. Be sure you know which personal qualities you want to highlight.
  
  
• Be prepared to cite examples that give evidence of your personal qualities.

• Understand as much as you can about the nature of the position and the qualifications needed. You can get this information from the description of the job or internship. It is also helpful to talk to other people who have held the position or a similar one in another organization. The alumnae mentor database in eRecruiting can help you find people to talk to. If you are unclear about what a particular type of job entails, you may also want to consult general career guides that describe the nature of the work, typical salaries, etc. for different careers. These are available in the Career Development library. The Vault Career Library, accessible through eRecruiting, is another valuable resource for industry and career research.
  
  
• Know as much about the organization itself as you can reasonably be expected to know. Most large companies print information about their products and services, the history of the company, and career opportunities within it. If you want to be extremely thorough in your research you can use resources in the Business School library to find out more about particular companies. It is important to know as much about the organization as you can, and at least enough to be able to convey why you have an interest in working for them.

• Remember that an interview is basically a conversation between two human beings. The interviewer's main goal is to get to know you, not to test or trick you. If you feel comfortable in discussing your background and know something about the position and the organization, you have no reason to feel nervous.
  
  
• Always emphasize the positive. If it is necessary to discuss any negative aspects of your background (e.g. jobs or bosses you didn't like), try not to sound bitter or angry and don't make excuses.
  
  
• Don't hesitate to be the initiator in the interview. You know yourself and your background better than the interviewer does, so it is your responsibility to be sure that all important topics are discussed.
  
  
• Be sure to answer the questions. Pay attention to what the interviewer is asking. If a question isn't clear, ask for clarification. Take time to think of your answer.
  
  
• Elaborate on your responses when appropriate. Give examples whenever possible.