She’s just finished her liberal arts degree and although she’s worked part-time since she was sixteen, she’s now is looking for full-time work in New York. She e-mails me and asks for advice--after all, I have her weekly advice when she was my student last year. She’s young, smart, and hip but scared: who would want to hire her? What can she offer?
Another friend is also looking for work. Senior by twenty-two years to the former student I’ve just mentioned, she is just as nervous and feels, perhaps, even more unprepared. After being at home with her kids for fourteen years, she’s decided it’s time to get a renewed sense of accomplishment outside her family. And she needs the dough. She’s desperate for the financial independence. She wants and needs a job.
Both asked advice about facing an interview. I know they’ll make terrific colleagues wherever they land and I’d hire either of them in a heartbeat--but I also know they are terrified. So here are ten tips from the heart:
1. Initial impressions are crucial as everybody says there are. If you like the person within the first nine minutes of your first meeting, odds are that sense of a “good fit” will endure. You need to think carefully about how to make the best of you available during that first meeting. It doesn’t mean creating a new false character out of thin air but rather choreographing your own role with precision.
2. Don’t buy fancy new clothes. Dress in a way that doesn't call attention to itself unless you’re applying for work as a hooker. Black trousers or skirt, white or black top, comfortable shoes, a scarf with some color--that’s it.
3. Be entirely attentive during the conversation. Don’t zone out while others speak; don’t spend so much time wondering what you’ll say next that you don’t hear what’s being said to you. Make eye contact; ask questions. SMILE--not idiotically or at all times, but enough so that others in the room see you enjoying yourself. Putting THEM at ease is the smart thing to do.
4. Appear to enjoy yourself, even if you are so nervous you want to throw up. Don’t cry. No quivering lower lip. No cow eyes. No icky girly stuff. No thongs.
5. Make sure they know they can count on you to accept responsibilities. They want to be sure you’ll work on your own without being fearful or asking for permission for every little thing; they want to feel confident about you. If you are not confident, fake it.
6. Keep you hands in your lap or on the arms of the chair. Don't play with your hair or your fingernails or anything that shows nervousness. Don't jiggle your legs or feet. Fiddling is distracting and memorable. You want them to remember what you said not that you braided your hair during the interview.
7. If you don't know something, don't pretend you do, but TELL THEM YOU ARE EAGER TO LEARN HOW TO DO IT. Saying "No, I've never done that" or "No, I have no experience" won’t help your case. Instead say "That's something I've been fascinated by but never had a chance to grapple with before" or "I'm a quick study, and if somebody will give me pointers I’ll learn it." Unless you’re looking for work in an abattoir, you’ll probably enjoy learning new stuff even if the prospect worries you now.
8. Remember: there are a lot of jobs out there, just like there are a lot of apartments or potential true loves. You only need one. (You might want more, but you only need one.)
9. Final details: show up early. Bring a newspaper to read while you wait. Shake hands--don’t offer fingertips as if you had no bone structure in your extremities. Laugh when something is funny or absurd or if you screw up. Send a thank you note or e-mail immediately and make it enthusiastic. Don’t call the office to see how you did.
10. Take what feels right from this list and ditch the rest--I've scattered my offerings. Decide what you need to carry in your pocket for luck.
If they’re smart, then they’ll be the lucky ones: they’ll have you in their lives.
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