Acing That Interview During Community College Or University

by A Guest Author

There’s just one tip for job interviews – be yourself.

Going for a big interview? On the web you’ll find a vast assortment of advice for potential interviewees, but there’s only one real rule to remember – be yourself.

Research, presentation, politeness, all these things are important, and are pretty much common sense, but they are focused on like laws. If you’re genuinely interested in a job, and actually have the skills to do it, then you’re a good candidate and have a fair chance.

Being yourself does not mean being informal. You would naturally adopt a more polite attitude when talking to parents’ friends or teachers. But you don’t have to ham it up. ‘Faking’ is something job interviewers look out for, and if you’re putting a spin on your skills, or worse, putting forward other people’s opinions and achievements as your own, then if and when you’re found out it will not look good for you. Sincerity is a rare and valued commodity, and a genuine applicant is going to be an asset to the company.

You may have to undergo a personality test. Some of the answers may look leading, and you may wish to try and make yourself seem more attractive a prospect than you perceive yourself, but resist this impulse. If they don’t want you, they certainly don’t want you pretending to be someone else. Even if you snuck your way in with the odd whitish lie the distinction will eventually show, in part because you won’t be as happy as you would be at somewhere you could be yourself. It’s worth being able to answer for your flaws and talk about how you might learn to work round them, but you don’t have to hide them entirely.

The trick is that there is no trick. You can’t and shouldn’t try to fool your way into a job. You cannot present a cartoon image of what they want and expect to be treated like the genuine article. The best asset you have is your true personality, your skills, your history, with everything as it actually is. A job interview should be a simple thing. It is not a place for games, trying to doublethink the interviewer and say what they want to hear, or pretending to be something you are not. You are simply there to showcase who you are and what you can do, and to check out up close what the company is about. It’s a compatibility test. Think of the best dates you had, were they the ones where you pretended to be the perfect catch, or the ones where you relaxed and let the chemistry happen? If there’s no chemistry then it’s not worth thinking about, and a job is as much a two way arrangement as a relationship. They may have a specific type of person in mind, but if you think about it, you are as particular about what job you want to do. When you find the right one there will be sparks, and your natural charisma will shine through…

Be bold, be honest, be yourself. The rest should come. If you need more advice then you are worrying about it too much. The rest is dressing. Be smart, be polite, be prepared. It’s really not as scary as you think. Ask questions, it shows you’re interested. But you should have genuine questions that you want to know the answer to. Not some prescribed question designed to impress. You should be comfortable in your clothes, speaking in your own voice, naturally and honestly recounting from your own experience. If it’s meant to be, the job is yours.

About The Author:

Sam is a freelance writer and currently writing for Business Energy and has had his fair share of interviews.

This post was written by A Guest Author

This post was written by a guest author. If you have high quality, useful information to share with students, send us an email or click Write For Us to learn more. And in case you're wondering - yes, you can promote yourself in this fancy author byline.

Leave a Comment

Previous post:

Next post: