Job Interview 101

It’s a tough job market out there. It is sufficiently tough that when you are lucky enough to get a job interview, make the most of the opportunity.

Dress properly for the job you are being interviewed for and the company giving it.

If you interview for a job as a mail clerk with a bank, for example, you might think “mail room equals casual clothes.” If the employer is local, it is a good idea to stroll through the lobby before the interview and absorb the ambiance. Ask “How do the people here dress?” Follow their lead.

Employers spend a lot of money training new hires. Yes, even mail room clerks need to know more than how much postage costs. Companies like to spend money on those with the potential to move up the ladder. As they interview you, they ask themselves “can this person become part of the total organization?”

The person whose interview says, “I can I make it in the mail room, and if you train me, I can be upwardly mobile,” is the person who gets the job. Companies like to promote from within.

If you interview for a job where you go home dirty at the end of the day, casual clothes for the interview are fine. Dirt, however, is not. People associate cleanliness with honesty and ethics. You may go home from work dirty, but most companies do not want you to show up at work looking that way. They want you to look fresh… and clean.

When you fill out an application -- or, submit a resume -- be truthful, be brief, and be neat. If an interviewer is unable read your writing on an application, how will they read it on company documents or correspondence or invoices if they hire you?

Watch your grammar and your spelling. It may have been more fun in school doing things other than learning to write proper sentences and spell the words in it, but you are in the real world, now. People with jobs don’t put your enjoyment of life ahead of their profits.

Regardless of who interviews you, your very first communiqué with that person is a silent one. Within the first few seconds of meeting the interviewer, you will shake hands and you will (or will not) establish eye contact.

A lack of eye contact places you below other, less-qualified candidates on the interviewer’s score sheet.

So, too, do weak handshakes. Parents often do not teach their children proper handshakes. A wet noodle handshake tells interviewers you lack the confidence to deal effectively with the public.

A proper handshake is accomplished by putting the empty space between your thumb and index finger against the other party’s empty space between their thumb and index finger. Both hands close, and a satisfactory level of pressure is applied by each of the two hands.

“Satisfactory” does not mean squeezing so hard you would be better off at an arm wrestling match. The purpose of a good handshake is to make the other person to think, “Yes, this is a solid, stable person.” In my day, it told whether or not a person had character.

The word is “yes,” not “yeah.” It is “going to,” not “gonna.” It is “no,” not “huh-uh.” Slang may be okay for the schoolyard… but you are not there, anymore. The words “sir” or “ma’am” are good, too.

A good way to leave an interview (after the interviewer makes it obvious it is over) is to ask for a business card (if one has not already been given to you). A comfortable way to do that is to offer one of your own.

No, it does not have a company name on it. Not yet. But if you reach into your wallet and present a business card with your name, address and telephone number on it and ask the interviewer if he or she has a card, your preparedness and self-assurance is a plus. It is a simple and inexpensive matter to create professional-looking business cards on computers, these days.

After an interview, it is good to write a follow-up letter. It should be brief, but warm… not friendly. They are hiring an employee, not a friend. Include relevant information about the position for which you interviewed and explain briefly why you find the position of particular interest.

Remember, it is not where you start out in life that is important. What is important is the company you start out with and the potential you both bring to the table to progress further down a career path.

This article provided by ChristianBusinessDaily.com -- The Online Network for Christians in Business. Your source for news, articles, and commentary from a biblical perspective.