How to ace your new job interview | Ep. 45

The ROI Podcast

The job interview can be terrifying. It's what prevents many people from searching for a new job, but in this episode of The ROI Podcast, Josh Killey, Director of Career Services, breaks down the dos and don't of the job interview process.

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Show Notes:

(Dramatic Introduction Music)

It can be terrifying. It keeps people up at night, causes shortness of breath, sweaty palms and prevents people from dislodging themselves from their cushiony comfort zone. We’re talking about the fear that unravels even the coolest of minds – it’s called: The job interview. And today, we’re here to tell you what NOT to do, and a great follow-up tip. Let’s do this!

(ROI Podcast Music)

Shane: Have no fear, l, dies and gentlemen. That dramatic intro, hopefully, didn’t bring back any chilling memories, but let’s face it – people don’t like job interviews. We’ve all been in that spot where you’re trying to go over all the questions in your head, telling yourself not to stumble over your words or say something you might regret. But the fact of the matter is – we can nail that job interview when it arrives – and that’s what we’re going to be discussing today on The ROI Podcast. Of course, I’m your host, Shane Simmons. And today, we’re going to tell you why people fear job interviews, and how you can prepare yourself to overcome that fear! This is going to be a fun episode – and who knows, maybe you’re listening to this right now and you know you’ll be interviewing for a job here soon, so pay attention!

(Intro Music)

Josh: In some respects, you’re putting people on the spot, you’re making them tell things about themselves, some people aren’t comfortable with.

Shane: You just heard from Josh Killey, director of career services at the Kelley School of Business on the IUPUI campus here in downtown Indianapolis. Josh has helped hundreds of people ease their fear of interviews and he says it really breaks down to this:

Josh: I think the biggest issue we see with interviewees is the lack of preparation – not completely understanding themselves, the company, the position they’re applying [for]. There’s definitely some things that can help an interviewee if they’ve done the preparation and if they’ve thought through the process.

Shane: Tip number one: Preparation. Preparation is huge with anything we do… And Josh says you’ve got to know who you are, what your strengths are, and how you can really impact the organization. And if you don’t know enough about the organization, because you didn’t do your research, you’re not able to really put yourself into position and standout from all the other applicants. Now here’s an interesting thought: You have two types of applicants who Josh helps: students who have little work experience fresh out of school, and working professionals who’ve been out in the workforce, but are looking for something different, whether that be a new company or position… Josh says the two have some similarities but area also very different.

Josh: I think as far as similarities, there’s going to be a number of them – they’re still going to have to understand their own interests and skill sets to be able to convey that to a company. The experienced professional is going to have considerably more backgrounds, skills, and ability to demonstrate what they’ve done than an entry-level candidate would. This is what we focus a lot [on] when we talk to students, it’s about getting internships and getting that related experience so that you have direct examples of what it is that you’re trying to convey to an employer.

Shane: Tip number 2: Know yourself. Know the skills you have and own them. Whether your new to the job market, or a seasoned veteran, you have to know your skillset and convey that to the organization. And part of that is building out your resume in a way that shows tangible results. Josh explains.

Josh: A lot of times, what you’ll see with [resumes and even] experienced [ones] is they’ve got key results/accomplishments that are embedded in them - that’s a way of saying they’ve done these things at the particular position, but here are the three to five things that really impacted the organization. Being able to speak to those effectively, convey that to the company, and selling your abilities is going to be critical.

Shane: So for example, I helped generate the company an additional $200,000 in revenue through service sales in Quarter 1 of 2017 – or I help implement lean strategy that saved the organization $2 million in wasted manpower. Those are powerful. They stick. And that’s what leaves an impact. Next Tip: Research, research, research. Here are some ways to research the organization you’ve applied for.

Josh: As far as strategies, I think the most important thing is researching as much information as you can get [from] the company and the position beforehand. The job description itself will give you some of it, but [you should utilize] resources like the company website, of course, and another one is Glassdoor. Glassdoor.com is an excellent resource because people go on there and put things the company might not necessarily want you to know – the good, bad, and the ugly, if you will – about the organization, their culture, and even their interview process - a lot of information can be gleaned from Glassdoor.com. Of course, there’s a variety of different resources, like LinkedIn and other things you can do to go through to prepare and understand the organization and position as much as you can. Utilizing those resources to help prepare yourself is key.

Shane: And the final tip – follow up after the interview. Josh says handwritten letters can be very powerful because let’s face it, most people are do everything digitally now. So if you can get a handwritten letter to the right person, this can be very powerful in your follow up. Just thank them for their time, and if there’s anything you wish you would have mentioned during the interview that you didn’t, that’s a great time for that as well.

(ROI Music)

Shane: Closing Comments