It is essential to be prepared for your interview. Being prepared means doing your research beforehand and being prepared for potential questions your interviewer can ask you. You can prepare by listing out your professional accomplishments, your strengths and weaknesses, and the strategies you’ve used that helped you reach success in your previous jobs.

Things to think about…

• Did you help increase sales or productivity?
  • How did you do this?
• What was a difficult situation that led to a change in the company?
  • How did you handle this situation?
• Have you ever been promoted?
  • What did you do to be promoted?
  • How long between promotions?
• Have you ever trained someone in a job?
  • What were your techniques?
• What were your goals or objectives at your previous/current job?
  • Did you reach your goals?
• Did you ever take on a challenge in your job?
  • What was difficult?
  • Did you succeed or fail?
  • What helped you succeed?

Bring Your Own Questions

Along with being prepared for questions you will be asked, it is important to come with your own questions you would like to ask during the interview. Think about questions that you would your interviewer to answer that will help you determine whether or not this job opportunity is the right fit for you.

Example Questions:

•  How do you measure success in your company?
  • Tell me about the best person you have ever had in this position and what made that person unique.
• What are some of the common denominators that exist with the more successful employees of this company?
• What are the two most important problems that need to be addressed/corrected in the first six months by the person in this position?
• What are the biggest challenges one will face in this role?
• What are the key responsibilities for this position and which are most important?
• What results are expected of this position?
  • What are examples of the best results produced by people in this role?
•  Tell me about your background and what attracted you here.
• How will I be evaluated, and how often?
• In what areas does this company excel? In what areas does this company have some limitations?
• What advancement can a person expect, in this company and in the industry at large, after doing this job well?
• What are the company or department goals for this year and next?
• What are some of the company’s short and long range objectives?