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Keys to a Successful Interview Process |
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Being successful during the interview process goes beyond simply showing the interviewer you have the right qualifications for the job. In fact, being qualified for the job only guarantees you will be granted an interview—it does not guarantee you will be hired for the job. The key to being hired is selling yourself to the interviewer, and that means you have to go beyond proving the extent of your impeccable skills. Do not be too confidant—the most qualified applicant can lose a potential position because he or she possessed poor interviewing skills.
One of the worst mistakes someone can make is to apply for a job for which they are not qualified and try to convince the interviewer they have the skills to perform the job. Even if you think you are the most trainable person in the world, if a company says they want someone with experience you had better either have the experience or be able to learn it quickly. A few years ago a young woman took a temporary job at a university entering information into Excel. The agency did not ask if she knew Excel but she learned it quickly and finished the job in two weeks instead of the month that had been projected. She was ultimately hired by the university and today is a help desk administrator, but not everyone has the capability to do what she did.
No matter how qualified you may be if you do not project the right personal image you will not be hired. Many young people fail miserably in this area because they do not accept the advice of others concerning proper dress for an interview. It is never acceptable to wear jeans, t-shirts and sneakers to job interviews yet many people, especially teenagers are guilty of doing this very thing. The problem is sometimes that if it is their first job they do not own anything else, but if you want to be hired you need to buy proper clothes for interviews. Although restaurants and many retail outlets may not care, many other businesses will certainly reject your application based on the way you dress when you come to an interview. You want to be dressed in professional or at least business casual attire and arrive on time. If you are going to be late because of circumstances beyond your control, call and let the interviewer know and give him or her the option of still seeing you or rescheduling the interview.
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