How To Score At The Job Interview

So you want to walk into a job interview and come out with an offer. There are a dozen ways to go about it, and plenty of writers will happily tell you theirs. Susan P. Joyce wrote one such piece, Very, Very Nervous about an Interview? How to Overcome Those Nerves?, and it's full of useful advice. What struck me was what she left out. She hands you a long list of things to ask and things to watch for during the interview, all worth knowing, but she never talks about picking the right job in the first place. To my mind that comes before anything else.

I've sat on the other side of the desk as a job seeker more times than I'd like to admit. Here is something most people don't realize: even the folks who seem unshakable in an interview are nervous too. Practice is what smooths that over. The more interviews you sit through, the better you understand what the person across from you actually wants to hear. Still, it helps to walk in knowing the questions that come up again and again.

The usual suspects: What are your strengths and weaknesses? Why should we hire you? Tell me about your past work experience. And what do you know about this position?

Rule number one is to find the best job, and this is the part all those how-to articles skip. Only apply when you already meet at least 75 percent of the minimum qualifications. A former supervisor of mine put it well: when you apply for a job, you should already know how to do about half of it, and you pick up the other half once you're in the seat. Some people will take whatever they can get, and when you're between paychecks that's a reasonable call. We're only now crawling out of a recession, after all. But if you aren't backed into that corner, start by reading the job description closely. I've shown up to interviews where the posted description had almost nothing to do with the actual duties.

Rule number two: research the organization before you ever hit apply. My grandmother used to say that not all money is good money. A fat salary usually comes bolted to a heavier set of responsibilities, which can translate into more grief than it's worth. You have to decide whether you want to live inside that trade-off. Weigh your other options too. Sometimes the smarter play is to stay put, earn more experience, and build your network, even if the pay isn't moving. Some jobs pay well and go nowhere, with no path upward.

This matters even more when the job is in another state. A lot of out-of-state positions pay more simply to match a higher cost of living. A $100,000 salary in New York can leave you with the same money in your pocket as a $60,000 job in a small town. If you're thinking about relocating, dig into the housing market, rents, and yes, the tax rates. Atlanta, for instance, draws a lot of people because professional salaries stretch further there, and the cost of living stays within reach for working families. New York doesn't offer that same math.

Now the interview itself. Once you've looked at your options and confirmed you actually qualify, go ahead and apply. Going after jobs where the minimum requirements line up with your skills cuts down on the nerves before you even arrive. You feel steadier, and that lets you put real energy into preparing. At that point the kind of tips Joyce lays out start to pay off.

Dress for the place you're walking into. Employers want someone who fits the culture, sometimes more than they want the strongest resume in the stack. The visit is your chance to read the room. If the people around you look frazzled and miserable, take that as a warning. Watch the interviewer's body language and how they phrase their questions; you can usually tell whether they're genuinely considering you or going through the motions.

Keep one thing in the back of your mind: the interviewer often already has a candidate in mind before you ever shake hands. Don't let that sink you. That's just how it goes. Your job is to outshine everyone else in the running. You might not get it, and that's fine, because this is one interview out of many. The real mistake is chasing a single job at a time. If you're serious, send out as many applications as you can manage. The one you'd bet against may turn out to be the right one.