The competition in landing a job gets higher every passing year. Your resume might get noticed by the employer, or you can get invited for an interview, but there’s no guarantee that you’ll get hired after it.
One thing you can make sure, though, is to increase your chances by acing the interview portion of the hiring process. This is where you could get the opportunity to impress your employer and show them what you got.
If you want to ace a job interview, careful preparation is crucial. There are a lot of things that you should take into consideration, including your appearance, being on time, and of course, answering the hard interview questions correctly.
Here are several steps that you can take to prepare for hard interview questions:
Research About The Common Questions That Employers Might Ask
Different companies throw almost the same questions every time an applicant steps on their doors. That said, you must think about these questions so that you can create articulate and polished responses.
Research on how to answer ‘What are you passionate about?’, ‘Can you tell me about yourself?’, ‘What interests you about this job?’, and ‘Where do you see yourself in five years?’.
Those are only some of the many general interview questions you may encounter along the way. The last thing you’d want to happen is to get caught off-guard. So, prepare for them and give your best shot every time the HR officer asks.
Use The Job Description As A Guide
Most job ads that you’ll see around the streets or online come with a list of background and qualifications that employers want to see in applicants. As part of your preparation, you can use these details as a guide since questions during the interview will mostly revolve around them.
Align your answers to the job description to show the company that you’re the one they need to fill the role.
Research About The Company
Aside from learning about the possible questions that may come out during the interview, as stated in the first tip, you also need to research and learn more about the company that offers your dream job.
Chances are, one or two of the questions that they’ll ask are related to their business, and you can answer it effectively if you know how they operate and what products or services do they sell in the market. Some of the details that you’ve to gather are their mission and vision and their team members. You can also go through the company’s blog and review their press releases to obtain more valuable data about them.
Correct Your Body language And Speaking Voice By Practicing Them
As already mentioned above, the interview process is your only chance to make the right first impression with your prospective employer. The last thing you’d want to happen is breaking it by showing a weak speaking voice and an unfriendly body language.
The bottom line is that you have to sound and behave confidently, while still showing respect to the company. Most people stay confident before the interview, but loses it all when they’re already in the venue, and the HR officer starts asking questions.
If you’re one of those who tend to get nervous during the interview proper, perform a mock interview with your family or friends and pay attention to your voice and your body language. The good thing about practicing these things in front of other people is that you can ask for feedback, which is going to be helpful as you find areas for improvement.
Establish Rapport
Chances are, you already heard about how important it is to establish rapport with your interviewer during the interview proper. But how do you actually do it?
It’s pretty straightforward. All you have to make sure is that you’re going to express your interest in the company and show your appreciation for the job you’re going to apply for as you talk. Doing so would increase your likability.
It also helps if you’ve conducted a bit of research about the interviewer to know about their background. You can use the background information of the interviewer to raise topics of mutual interest. Also, don’t forget to praise them for their recent achievements.
Please take note, though, that you have to avoid overdoing the part where you establish rapport and still go back to the main question asked about the job.
Final Thoughts
Accurately answering the hard interview questions is one thing that would increase your chances of getting hired. However, everything still boils down to how you sell yourself.
As you know, you have professional experiences and skills that others don’t have. Build on your skills and experiences during the interview process, especially ones that relate to the role you’re applying for in the company. Essentially, let the employer realize how you can be an essential asset for them moving forward.