Jun 02 2009
Is Your Poker Face Ready?
Driving into work today my iPod was helping me get ready for my sunny day I have in store for myself here in Spokane. All of a sudden, Lady Gaga’s “Poker Face” (one of my favorite songs for the 2009 summer), came on and I made a connection back to Career Development: the all important interview.
Think about it: entering an interview full of confidence and not allowing any line of questioning to affect your well constructed “Poker Face”. There is no question too difficult or confusing, as you are knowledgeable in your strengths, accomplishments and skill sets. You have done your research which allows you to be an expert of both the company and position that you are applying for. There are no “giveaways” of your weaknesses, as you are also aware of your body language from fidgeting to eye contact and the dead ringer of conversational fillers of “Uh”, “Um” and “Huh” do not exist.
Are you prepping for an interview soon? Here are my top tips for you:
1. Know yourself. Seems pretty basic, right? You’d be surprised. Many interviewees don’t come prepared with accomplishment statements, strengths and future goals. Have an idea of how your answers will be structured to highlight these elements.
2. Know the company. Again, pretty basic. But even more so job hunters neglect that having knowledge of the company along with mission, clients, history, etc is critical to have a conversational style interview rather than the uncomfortable grill.
3. Know when to stop talking. Keep answers short and concise. The idea of the interview should be closer to 50/50 rather than the interviewee talking the entire time. Ask questions throughout to engage the interviewer in the process as well.
All before I had my iced Americano, pretty impressive…right?
