How Your Recruiter Can Help You Prepare for Your Next Interview

As your recruiter markets your job candidacy, a key step is preparing you for success in your interviews. Your recruiter wouldn’t have arranged an interview if they didn’t think you were the right person for the job. Now it’s time to prepare you to leave your prospective employer wanting more; in other words, solidify your shot at a second interview or a job offer.

To equip you with this competitive edge, your recruiter should have a checklist that enables you to:

Show Your Passion

To emerge as a front-runner, you need to do more than simply show your interest in a position. You need to convince your interviewer that you absolutely, unquestionably want the job by:

• Demonstrating that you’re not only qualified, but passionate about the position and the company.
• Maintaining a positive attitude even if you begin to realize the position is not for you. Your attitude will stick in the interviewer’s mind and your paths may crossin the future, so you can’t afford to shut off your enthusiasm.

Take the Lead with Your Opening Question

It goes without saying that your recruiter should provide you with all the logistics of your interview including time, place, directions and names and titles of those you’ll be meeting. But this is only the beginning. You need a strong “door opener” question that results in you feeling comfortable and confident for the duration of the meeting.

• Work with your recruiter to formulate your strong opening question. This is the one that starts with “Thank you for meeting with me today. I’ve had a chance to look at your website and read about the company’s latest achievements (provide specific details). Can you tell me a little more aboutyour organization and the skills you’re seeking?”

Sell Your Strengths & Strengthen Your Weaknesses

By their very nature, interviews are stressful. And perhaps the most angst-provoking questions are those regarding your assets and liabilities. Here too, your recruiter is your partner in arming yourself with the right strategic approach.

• Prepare a written list of your top strengths and achievements. Include specific examples, which will prove handy when responding to behavioral questions. Your recruiter will help you verbalize your accomplishments.
• Be ready for the “weakness” question. Interviewers use it to see how you react under pressure. As your career coach, your recruiter will teach you how to work this question to your advantage. For instance, a plausible response might be, “I think my greatest weakness is my relentless attention to details. I get so involved in doing a job well that I may lose track of time until I’ve finished what I started.”

Handle the Salary Question

Speaking of salary: don’t. At least don’t be the one to bring it up.

But if the interviewer raises the question, it’s another story. Your recruiter will advise you on how to hit a home run using this curve ball.

• Follow your recruiter’s lead on this question above all others. The key is to answer it effectively, leaving room for negotiation and opening the door to further discussion. If you answer by asking for too much money, it may stop the conversation in its tracks as the interviewer may not realize there’s room for flexibility. But if you ask for too little, you’ve just made it virtually impossible to ask for more in the future.

Partnering with a career coach throughout your job search is a smart move as you shorten search time and realize your professional goals. To learn more, contact the expert recruitment team at BrainWorks today.