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• Review your qualifications for the position and write down all your professional accomplishments. Be ready to talk about your accomplishments. In many cases, you will be asked Behavioral Based Interview questions. The interviewer will ask you questions that draw on your past experience and are real-life based. For example: Give me an example of a time when you……? Tell me about how you handled this situation in the past?
• Learn as much as you can about our organization.
• Prepare answers to broad questions about yourself.
• Review your resume.
• Practice an interview with a friend or a relative.
• Arrive before the scheduled time of your interview.
  

Personal Appearance

• Be well groomed.
• Dress professionally.
• Do not chew gum or smoke.
• Be well rested.
  

• Smile, be polite, and try to relax.
• Make frequent eye contact.
• Respond promptly and as directly as possible. Try to avoid being too wordy.
• Be very descriptive. If your answers are vague, it will come across as if you are not as skilled in the particular area you are discussing. In order to avoid vagueness, utilize dates, times, amounts, costs, number of people involved, particular steps you experienced, challenges that were resolved, actual actions you took to be successful, etc.
• Use good manners.
• Listen carefully to the questions asked. Ask the interviewer to restate a question if you are confused.
• Be upbeat and make positive statements.
• Learn the name of your interviewer and greet him or her with a firm handshake.
• Use proper English—avoid slang.
• Use body language to show interest.
• Use examples of how your skills and abilities will match the job.
• Ensure you get contact information for the individuals interviewing you. Thank the interviewer(s) when you leave and, as a follow-up, in writing. It is acceptable in today’s world to send a thank you via email.
  

Information to bring to an interview:

• Several copies of your resume.Determine your job search objective and career path interests prior to writing the resume.
• Fact sheet with telephone numbers and addresses of your references and former employers. Ensure the references provided are professional business references (if possible) and the contact information is absolutely up-to-date. It is best if you provide business phone numbers and not personal cell phone numbers.
• Samples of your written work (if appropriate for the position you are applying).
  

• Use a design that grabs attention. Is the resume font pleasing to the human eye or difficult to read?
• Create content that sells. Review job postings and other information on professional internet career sites to help create strong content.
• Be concise, brief but effective. Do not leave off vital information just to keep your resume to one page. The length of your resume should be contingent on the amount of work experience you have.
• Quantify your achievements and use action words. List metrics or statistics to describe your accomplishments, for example: decreased costs by 35%, increased revenue by 80%, won national sales award 8 out last 10 years, saved company $200,000 in 2006.
• Analyze job descriptions for which you are applying. Add key words to your resume that exemplify the past experience you have for the key responsibilities listed for that particular job or industry.
• Sell the benefits of your skills.
• Prioritize the content of your resume. If you have been out of college for 20 years, you will want to list your business experience before your education. If you are fresh out of college, you will want to highlight your educational experience.
• Run a spell check to make sure your resume is free of errors and typos.
• Have someone else review your resume before you submit it.

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