Tips for the interview

Style:

• Stay purposeful, but stay alert. Use your intuition; be responsive.
• Shake hands firmly – no vice grips or “dead fish” shakes
•  Use eye contact as a means of connecting with your interviewer(s)
• Sit straight, but not too stiffly; don’t slouch: project poise
• Eliminate nervous gestures as much as possible: playing with rings, your hair, ear, fingers or pens, etc.
• Listen well; keep interruptions to a minimum, reserved for back-and-forth brainstorming
• Don’t smile nervously to handle uncomfortable moments
• Eliminate distracting patterns of speech, such as overusing “uh,” “you know,” “like”
• Be direct in your answers, but make sure to use illustrations to support any assertion you make.
• Don’t speak too long at any point without checking in: asking a question or soliciting feedback
• Don’t be afraid to pause and think momentarily: don’t just fill the pauses with words
• Avoid monotone; don’t be afraid to show appropriate passion on ideas, issues
• Stay crisp and stop when you’re finished: no filling or redundancy

Interview Mind Set

Strategy:

• Solicit and respond to interviewers’ primary needs as early as possible: you solve relevant problems, you deliver return on investment
• Describe your qualities, translate them into benefits, illustrate benefits with your accomplishments, tie your accomplishments to business outcomes

Tactics:

• Determine how much time you’ll have at the outset, keep track for yourself
• Don’t try to control the whole interview, but do make your positioning points and qualify the opportunity
• Asking questions generally gains control
• Make sure to offer up control if you haven’t answered questions
• Don’t be afraid to reframe questions to emphasize strengths, key positioning points or responses to objections
• Solicit feedback while you still have time to respond
• Determine the next step