Preparing For A Job Interview

by Yuan-Wei Tan

If you're nervous before a job interview there are two things you must remember. First of all, you're not the first person in the world to feel this and absolutely no amount of preparation will quell the suspense, anticipation and downright stressfulness of preparing for a job interview. Second and lastly, there are ways to channel that energy into actually preparing for the interview.

Here are some tips:

1). Use the job description to anticipate questions.

Read the job description carefully and turn the requirements into questions. Look at each qualification and duty of the job and turn it into a question. Ask yourself those questions and practice until you come up with good answers. If you have a past-experience with a similar situation, share it in a relevant story.

2). Research the company you're applying for.

Just reading the website is not enough if you want to stand out and learn about the organization. Here are a few places to gather great information:

• Go to Guidestar.org to view the 990 tax return and see what they spend their money on (and the salaries of top staff).
• Go to Glassdoor.com to read organization reviews (and, often, sample interview questions they are asking other candidates).
• Check Lexis-Nexis (go to your local library to get free access if possible) to read news articles about the company. Or try Google News. Be sure you know the name and bio of the executive director. Look at their competition and trends/news in the field as a whole.

3). Learn the STAR response.

This is a technique recommended by The Guardian to answer "Tell me about a time when.." type questions. STAR stands for:

• Situation – set the context for your story.
• Task – what was required of you.
• Activity – what you actually did.
• Result – how well the situation played out. For example,

There are a few things to note with this response: it's important to speak in specific rather than general terms and quantify your success. From a listener's perspective, this makes the story more interesting and they are more able to gauge your success. Secondly, as there are likely to be many questions and interviewers have short attention spans, it's important to keep your answers concise: convey the maximum achievement in the minimum time. Finally, it's important to finish on a positive note so the overall impression is strong.