Get your mind right.There are a number of elements to consider during the interview, but your mental state is most important — being in a positive upbeat mental state. You need to feel like you are the best. What people don’t realize is that when they don’t feel good about themselves it shows. So those who defeat themselves even before the interview by saying, “It’s another interview, I didn’t get the last one,†are already canceling themselves out. There is no room for negative thoughts. A call for an interview means that out of hundreds, maybe thousands of resumes someone has determined that you can do the job. No one is invited into an interview without the hiring manager believing that. So in the essence of that phone call, you technically have the job. It’s up to you to close the deal.
Send a thank you letter. Please do it! We still get only two out of 10 thank you notes from interviewees. I don’t know what people are thinking about. You need to send a thank you note even if you don’t get the job. What people tend not to realize is that they may be second best. If No. 1 doesn’t work out, then you’re the next one to get a call. So if No. 2 doesn’t send a thank you note and No. 3 does, guess who’s getting the job.
Have questions. If there is one thing that can shoot a person down is not having questions. If you don’t have any questions you don’t have a job. Because it says that I’m just looking for the next job, I’m not looking for a good match. It’s impossible to not have questions, because I couldn’t have told you everything you need to know about this company. I once interviewed a CIO who came in with four pages of questions, and I answered every one. He actually got the job.
Talk money–really. When you receive the first phone call asking you to come in for an interview, it’s important to ask about compensation then. And the script is simple: “Thank you so much. I’m very excited about your call, but I would like to know what the compensation range is for this job.†A couple things will happen. They may say it’s commensurate with experience.
Then you should get excited. Or they may say, for example, “The range is $45,000 to $60,000.†If that’s in your range, then you are good to go, but if your range is beyond that, you may not want to expend the energy. You don’t have to seal the deal, but you want to know before you go through the process that what they are offering is in the range of what you need to live on. Because of today’s tight market most just want the opportunity to get in, but everyone knows what they would like and what they can’t go below. Where are you willing to start negotiations? What is going to keep you satisfied and most important, what, if you get the job, is going to keep you from being angry that you settled.
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