I recently participated in a job group panel and was asked for my interview tips. As I answered the question, I realized that I've come up with a whole bunch of additional suggestions since I last wrote about interviews for JobsBlog.

The first thing isn't a tip, so much as a philosophy of interviews: when faced with an interview, it is important to recognize that the process serves a dual purpose.

1) Interviews gives us a chance to find out whether or not you can contribute to the company, add value to your team and do the duties that are listed in the job description. This is the obvious purpose of an interview.

2) An interview is also a chance for YOU to interview the team to find out if it is a place where you want to work, a role that you want to take and a manager and team with whom you will "fit in."

It is imperative that you remember this second purpose. Interviewers will almost always open the floor to the interviewee at the end of the session to ask THEM questions. So be prepared!

Next? Think about what you love and do NOT love about your current or most recent position. Then come up with a list of at least 5 questions that specifically focus on those areas. WRITE THEM DOWN and take the list with you to your interview.  Usually, by the time you get the opportunity to ask questions, you have been poked, prodded, grilled and are pretty spent.  Writing down the questions you want to ask is just a quick reminder of the things you need to find out for YOURSELF.

Next?  Make a list of at least 5 things that you are REALLY good at and how those things could be important to the company, the team and the role for which you are interviewing. Then work those things in at the end of your interview so you are leaving the interviewer with positivie thoughts about you and your abilities. 

For example - if you are really good at working across teams, bringing people together and driving agreement on certain things… you could say “I think I am really good at cross-group collaboration because (list your specific examples) and it seems that these things could be very important to this role. How do you (interviewer) think this might help in being successful in this role?

It gives you the opportunity to talk about your strengths as they relate to the position AND it leaves the interviewer with positive thoughts of you as you walk away from that session. 

Try it!