Use paper and pen to prepare for your Interview.
Writing helps us organize our ideas to identify gaps and to see if the great solutions and logical connections we think up are really all that. It also enables us to have a different perspective, to look at ourselves as our interlocutor would.
1. Make a list of the questions you think the interviewer might ask in order to check that you have the necessary technical skills, the experience required and the right soft skills.
2. Write the answers, consider the importance of any elements you may be missing and possible ways to overcome them in the short or medium term. Be honest! The more you know about yourself at this stage, the better you can prepare to give answers during the interview.
3. Ask yourself how the new position would fit into your life plan. Outline your experience so far, including achievements and major setbacks in relation to your goals. Highlight room for improvement in terms of satisfaction, personal and professional growth.
4. Do some research on the company, to see how it might meet your expectations and list the pros and cons.
5. Analyse your character traits in relation to the vacancy. Be ready to acknowledge all of them and propose ways to balance the less positive ones.
6. Consider your relationship to your boss, staff and colleagues in your current position and how you might want that to be similar or different. Don’t dwell on criticism or blame, focus on what you wish for and how you can make it happen.
7. Make a list of questions that you hope the interviewer doesn’t ask. Find honest, reassuring answers and learn that there really is no monster under the bed.
8. If you feel anxious or lack self-confidence, give yourself some space for free writing to say thank you for all the good things in your life, yourself and your career. It’s the best medicine!
Gaps: a space or interval; a break in continuity. Think up: invent, devise, think
Interlocutor: a person who takes part in a dialogue
Soft skills: personal attributes that help someone interact effectively and harmoniously with others
Overcome: succeed in dealing with a problem or difficulty
Outline: a general description or plan showing the essential features
Achievements: a thing done successfully with effort, skill, or courage
Setbacks: a problem, a reversal or check in progress
Room for improvement: a possibility or hope that someone or something will improve
Pros and cons: the favourable and unfavourable factors
Traits: a distinguishing quality or characteristic
Vacancy: an unoccupied position or job
Acknowledge: accept or admit the existence or truth of something
Dwell: think, speak, or write at lot about a particular subject
Blame: give responsibility for a fault or wrong
Reassuring: comforting, restoring confidence
Lack: be without or deficient in
Free writing: writing continuously for a set period of time without regard to spelling, grammar, or topic.
How do you prepare for a job interview?
What’s the secret of your success so far?
[easy_contact_forms fid=1]
This post was created by Ines, big fan of free writing.