It's All About Attitude: How To Sell Yourself In An Interview

By Victoria Robertson on February 13, 2015

This article is brought to you by Dream Careers, the largest global internship program for college students offering all-inclusive programs in 11 cities worldwide. To learn more about Dream Careers, please visit us at SummerInternships.com.

Interview: the dreaded word. Reducing recent graduates into a pile of sweat, shaking them to the core and stripping from them any confidence they thought they had upon arriving.

Okay, maybe that’s a bit of an exaggeration, but I think that everyone can agree interviewing is a process we’d all rather fast-forward.

Whether you’re graduating today, tomorrow or so far down the road you can’t see an end in sight, it’s never too late to learn the basic skill of interviewing. And yes, I said skill.

An interview isn’t something that you can “wing,” at least not if you want to do it well. Interviews take preparation, and this all starts with your resume.

If you haven’t yet, visit your university’s career center. They will help you to construct a killer resume, and many of them offer mock interviews in which they can show you what you are doing right or wrong to help you gain better communication skills in the interview environment.

With the resume, any bullet point you include is something you want to be able to discuss in detail with your interviewer. This is a great way to get a feel for what talking points you will be touching upon in your interview, which puts you in the offensive. So long as you know your resume well and are capable of talking at length about any of the points you’ve included, this part of your interview will be a breeze.

Another thing that will help in terms of preparation is looking at the language used in the job description. This language will often tell you what a company values, which you can use to your advantage in the interview. So long as you are able to make a few claims (and be sure to have examples to back it up), you will do well to discuss how you fit the ideals shared by the company.

This research also extends to the staff currently on hand. If you can find staff bios or any other relevant information on the company’s websites, it doesn’t hurt to know what they do and how they got there. Plus, this could also provide the opportunity for you to bring up questions. This not only makes you look more professional, but it also makes you appear genuinely interested in the company and its employees.

It’s also important that throughout the conversation, you appear as natural as possible. If you are stressed, it shows. Maintain eye contact whenever possible as this demonstrates your engagement in the conversation. Body language is a huge part of a person’s perception of you, so remaining calm and avoiding any fidgeting or nervous ticks will make you come off far more professional.

Speaking of professionalism, keeping a conversational, yet professional tone goes a long way. You don’t want to seem too mechanic in your answers as if they are rehearsed, but you also don’t want to talk to your interviewer as if they are your best friend. Finding the happy medium here is incredibly important, and always follow the interviewer’s lead.

Finally, there is the task of answering the interviewer’s questions. There are always the basic questions: why are you qualified for this job/why do you want this job, etc. However, the key to answering questions is to listen intently to the entirety of them. There’s nothing more embarrassing than forgetting a question, and it doesn’t look good on your part either.

Now that the basics of the actual interview are taken care of, let’s move on to the pre and post interview routines you should be in the habit of.

Before the interview, as stated earlier, you want to do your research. And lots of it.

Any questions you think you may have, look them up. The more you are able to learn about the company before you go into the interview, the more likely you are to outshine your competitors. Plus, this knowledge could lead to better conversation during the interview rather than you listening to a job description you should have already read.

Another important, and oftentimes overlooked, aspect of interviewing is the attire. The best way to put this: dress to impress.

After the interview, don’t just assume you’re done until you hear from them again. The second you get the chance, follow-up with them. This is usually done by e-mail, so as not to be too pushy, and it will express your gratitude to the interviewer for their time as well as articulate some of the points you made in your interview, hopefully solidifying yourself as a good fit for the company.

Interviewing is all about confidence, so make sure you exude it throughout the interview process.

It may be stressful, but by following these steps, you hold the key to a successful interview.

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