The economy is always changing. Jobs are jobs; no longer are they really careers. Our fathers most likely worked for one business all their lives, but now, we are a generation where we will end up working for five or more companies over our professional life. With the ever-changing times, you may need to brush up on your job interview skills, which is what we will cover briefly here. You could read entire books about job interviews but what it really comes down to is expressing your experience, being confident, timeliness, cleanliness, and manners.
Experience is important in getting the job that you want. If you have already been through school, internships, or if you have been working in the business, write down your references and make a complete listing of what you have been doing with your time. This is your resume and it will show your potential employer exactly what you can do. If you don’t have enough experience on your resume, look for an internship, go back to school, take a class, get a job in a different part of the type of career you want and work your way up. Experience is something you can accomplish and prove not only to yourself but also to your potential employers so you can become eligible for jobs.
Confidence is something that you have to ‘have’ about yourself. You need to speak clearly, relay your ideas and feelings about life, your job, your friends, and your abilities clearly. If you are shy, meek, and you do not talk clear or loudly your potential employer is going to think you are not confident about your abilities and that you might not really know what it is you do in your job. Being about to express yourself confidently is important during the initial interview, during your time in the place of employment and during the course of your job. Make your thoughts, ideas, feelings, and abilities known continually and you will be more confident about yourself. This is something you can teach yourself if you feel, you are not confident now. Tape yourself talking, walking and change what you do not like. Tape yourself going through a mock interview and learn how to make the changes so you are speaking clearly without shaking hands and you will ‘come across’ as confident and dependable!
Timeliness is important no matter what type of employment you are seeking. If you see an ad in the paper and it says apply between two and four, do this. Do not show up before or after, but only during those hours. If you have an interview, show up ten minutes early and never late. If you are late, your potential employer will think you do not care enough about the interview or the position to be on time. It does not matter if this is a restaurant job, or a corporate position, you need to be on time no matter what to portray what the employer really wants in an employee.
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