Interviewing Tips to Mitigate Your Weaknesses and Make Your Strengths Shine

So you’ve written a great resume, networked and landed your first interview, now it is up to you to get the job. Interviewing can be nerve wracking. What if I say something stupid? What if I can’t answer a question? What if I have lipstick on my teeth? With a these tools you can master your interviews and land that dream job.

We all have our strengths and weaknesses in interviewing. I'm really good in my first interviews and get progressively crappier as I make my way up the chain to the final interviews. I tend to hate to relate the same stories more than one time to people, but I need to get over that. Owning up to your strength and weaknesses will help you learn how to harness them to your best potential.

I’ve been on both sides of the interview both as a potential hire and a hiring manager. In my six years of professional experience I have landed three jobs and hired five employees. Being on both sides is stressful and exciting. As a potential hire it’s all about sharing yourself and experience. As a hiring manager it is all about finding the best person for the job based on personality fit and skills.

Here are my interviewing tips to mitigate my weaknesses and make my strengths shine:

1. Prepare - think about all the questions they could ask you and do some research so you have some information in the "front" of your brain. Write down your answers if that helps you remember how to talk about the big topics with your dream job

2. Google your interviewer - see what info you can find on your interviewer so you feel you know something about them before the meeting

3. Showcase your work – make sure to create a portfolio and practice how you’ll talk about your work. Create a story about each piece of work that speaks to your experience and be specific about your results

4. Say it out loud - go over stories/examples and canned answers as you drive to the interview so you can pull them up quickly and naturally in the interview

5. Walk it off - park further away so you have some time to walk, pump yourself up and burn off energy

6. Be yourself - focus on being yourself during the interview and try not to be somebody else - they want to hire the real you, not some imagined fabrication of yourself. If you are trying to live up to some perfect mental image of yourself, you'll just let yourself down

7. Positive thinking - envision yourself saying brilliant, funny things that wow your interviewer. Imagine them nodding and leaning in to hear more about your experience. It's corny but it works!

8. Turn your nervousness into excitement - it's not that you're nervous about the interview, as much as you are so freaking excited about this opportunity that you are bursting to share it with that person. Get yourself pumped up that you want this job and that you are perfect for it

9. Always ask for water - drinking water or warm tea will help you talk with more fluidity

10. Acknowledge your excitement in the interview - if you are tripping on your words or shaking because you are so excited to share your skills just tell them "Wow, I am really excited to be here. This opportunity is so perfect for me. I have so much to share with you. Let me slow down a bit." Your hiring manager will appreciate your honesty and excitement

11. Breathe! - take a lot of deep breaths during the interview

12. Talk to your resume/experience – yes, you have written a great resume but your interviewer probably doesn’t remember what you wrote. Make sure to highlight the best parts of your resume that makes you perfect for the job out loud during your interview

13. Buy yourself time to think - use pausing statements like "that is a great question, let me think about that a moment" and "I do have some experience in that, let me think about my best example" so you can collect my thoughts before answering

14. Smile in-between answers - this makes you look more friendly and keeps your mouth ready to talk again

15. Make them laugh - figure out one story that will make them laugh, making someone laugh help them remember you because it evokes emotion. During my recent unemployment I used a story about how excited I was to be back in the workforce because I missed talking to people all day since my dog didn't tend to talk back that much. Ha ha, but it addressed my unemployment in a humorous, visual way and emphasized my teamwork abilities

16. Listen well - listen to their questions and answer them to the best of your ability. Avoid giving them the answers you think they want to hear, it’s dishonest and is suspicious when the hiring manager hears everything they want to hear

17. Be honest – as a young professional, you are not going to have all the skills they are looking for. If you don't have experience in something just say "I don't have experience in that but I am interested in adding that skill to my toolbox"

18. It's the job, not you - if you don't get the job, it is because it wasn't perfect for you. Getting a job you like is more about you being perfect for the job, not the other way around. If you ever feel funny about the interview or unsure if the person you met was a good fit consider walking away from the opportunity. If you get rejected it's because it was not were you were supposed to end up. I believe jobs and people come into your life for a reason. Wait for the right fit and it will be perfect.

Do you have another great tip or story to share? Post them here!

Landing a Job in a Soft Economy

I was recently laid off from my job in health care communications and instead of crying in my coffee, I went into full networking mode - informational interviews, reconnecting with my network, volunteering my time. This is a great opportunity to find out what YOU want to be when you grow up.

I used these tips to land a job in 6 weeks.It is hard work, I dedicated at least 6-hours a day, 5 days a week to getting my new position. Now I have a job that is a better fit for me than my last position and I’m happier than I’ve ever been in a job.

While a lot of these tips are focused on the “Available for Hire” (aka laid off) they apply for those lucky enough to be searching while still being employed.

Job Hunting Advice:

• Publicize your “Available for Hire” status - If you are laid off - tell EVERYONE you know that you are looking - friends, family, neighbors, church/groups, etc. If you are not “available for hire” tell your circle of trusted friends/network.
• Find People Who are Doing What You Want to Do - Check for associations and groups in your specific field - there are all sorts of very specific groups out there. In most cases, you don’t even need to become a member to go to the meetings/events.
• Interview Your Dream Job - My biggest advice is to pick your dream job and cold call for an informational interview with a person in that field to learn how to get there and always leave with a new name to call. Be persistent with this one, I email people once a week until they cave in and meet with me. Once you get the interview, dress as if it was a real interview for a real job, prepare a list of questions, leave your resume at home and listen, listen, listen. People love the respect you give them by a professional appearance, love not being pressured with the hand off of a resume and LOVE giving advice. Soak it all in and make a new connection.
• Weekly Update Emails - I send out a list of all the jobs I applied for during the week to my network of contacts to see if they knew anyone at the organizations and I started adding a list of organizations I wanted to get an informational interview. This is also a great way to keep your network working for you by reminding them that you are still looking and have them sending you new job ideas. I also use it as a cheeky check-in with my network, sharing celebrations and updates on my mental state
• Use Your Network - I have a www.LinkedIn.com account and every time I got a bite I search by the company name to see if someone I knew had a connection and added every informational interview to that list. For young marekting professionals check out the Up Hub at http://www.coloradoamaup.ning.com.
  
• Volunteer Your Skills - Doing professional volunteering in the indrusty/focus that you want to work is a great way to get exposure and help balance out the pain/stress of “self promotion” when your looking for a job. One great way to find a nonprofit that fits your passion is visit www.GenerousColorado.org. In my job hunt, I volunteered to do web copy writing for the Colorado Nonprofit Association. This opportunity has allowed me to prove my skills in a new setting, network with CNA staff and the other volunteer freelancers on the project, and I’ll get visibility with CNA Board.
• Be Honest About Your Financial Reality - If you do get laid off, take a day or two to recenter yourself, make a burn book about your old boss, drink a little bit more…whatever makes you get over that loss. Now it’s cup half-full time! Do what you need to protect yourself financially - look at your budget, apply for unemployment, figure out milestones of when you have to “just take a job” to save yourself from the poor house. Also, take a hard look at what you were making before and what you really need to live on. This is the hardest thing for me, I shot up in salary very quickly and now the jobs I’m qualified for and want to do (2 very different things) make a lot less. It’s a hard pill to swallow but your paycheck is not your worth. In fact the position I accepted is 12% less than my previous position but we are doing just fine financially.
• Be Positive - Nobody wants to hang out with a Debbie Downer. Keeping your chin up and know that the perfect opportunity is out there waiting for YOU.

Job Search Links - Here is what I check for new opportunities…

These are the two “google” like job search sites
http://www.simplyhired.com
http://www.indeed.com

Nonprofits:
Andrew Hudson’s List - http://www.prjobslist.com
Regis - http://www.regis.edu/browjob.1.asp?sctn=apg&p1=gp&p2=mnm&p3=npjb
SCFD - http://www.scfd.org/?page=jobs&sub=1
AZA - http://www.aza.org/JobListings/
Colorado Nonprofit Association - http://www.coloradononprofit.org

Universities/Education
www.HigherEdJobs.com
For most state schools and school districts you do have to regularly check their own job sites - some have job search agents that push lists to you email

Green/Sustainability
CORE - www.corecolorado.org - doesn’t have jobs but is a good networking site
GreenBiz - www.greenbiz.com
CASBA - http://www.sustainablecolorado.org/programs/casba

You have to sort but I did get some hits off the national sites
www.careerbuilder.com
www.monster.com
www.hotjobs.com

Associations for Associations
ASAE - http://asi.careerhq.org/search/browse/
CSAE - http://careers.csaenet.org/search.cfm

Specific Professional Organizations
Colorado American Marketing Association - http://careers.coloradoama.com/jobdetail.cfm?job=3034361
Public Relations - http://www.prsacolorado.org/jobbank.cfm
Business Marketing - http://careerlink.marketing.org/search/browse/
Advertising/Marketing - www.talentzoo.com
Young Nonprofit Professionals Network Denver - http://www.ynpndenver.org/partners/become_a_sponsor.php
Boulder Marketing Group - http://www.bouldermarketinggroup.com/
ACC - http://www.advancecoloradocenter.com/
Business Communicators - http://www.iabc-colorado.com/

These were not fruitful for me but they might work well for you

• www.realmatch.com
• www.jobing.com
• Craig’s List
• www.JobFox.com

What sites have worked for you, am I missing a gold mine? Let me know!