Don’t Forget Your Job Interview Toolkit!
Posted in Career Search Tools & Education, Latest Leadership Posts, Talent Development & Training on Mar 01,2016
Congratulations on your interview! You tirelessly applied to positions of interest that matched your skills, knowledge and talents; customized your résumé and application; and just got off the phone after agreeing to meet with HR and the hiring manager next Tuesday.
Now the real work begins! You’ve got to assemble two different toolkits designed to help you move to the head of the pack. Consider placing your toolkits into a professional carry bag (leather or cloth, sans advertising or promotional logo). Place the bag on the floor next to your chair where you can have easy access to it, but it is not in the line of sight for the interviewers.
Toolkit #1: What to Bring For Yourself
1. First and foremost, a winning attitude. Are you well-rested, fully prepared, and confident? Friendly and warm? Execution often reflects having the right attitude, which goes a long way toward making you a more likeable candidate.
2. Your pre-interview research – what you learned about the organization, job, and each interviewer, condensed into a page or two of notes. Review these notes while waiting for your interview to begin.
3. Your brag book, a professional three ring binder of proof documents. What should it contain? Original documents (each in a protective clear plastic sleeve) including letters of commendation/recommendation, awards, customer letters, reports, publications, patents, A-rated performance reviews, and other similar items that demonstrate exceptional performance. Occasionally refer to them as proof to support a point you are making.
4. Questions for this specific employer. These should be developed from your research of the employer (its market, its performance, its latest news, and the like) and each of your interviewers. Arrange questions by functional area, and ask when given an opportunity to do so.
5. Your employment and education fact sheet. Sometimes employers ask you to complete a detailed application or other demographic form that calls for specific dates and other details. Build a master form that contains education, addresses, and employment details such dates, job duties, compensation information, and other things that you probably haven’t memorized.
6. Applicable examples drawn from experience to support your answers. Your interviewers are likely to ask you to describe a time when you solved a problem, dealt with a challenging person, or overcame obstacles. As part of your prep, it’s good to build a quick list of examples where you delivered measurable results to answer the common, “Tell me about a time when you…” questions.
7. A professional pad and pen for taking notes. Here’s where a professional looking padfolio comes in, with a clean pad of pages, along with a professional pen (not a bic or someone’s promotional pen). Be at-the-ready to take notes during your interview. The padfolio can be used to house your notes about the employer, interviewers, and the questions you want to ask.
Toolkit #2: What to Bring to Leave Behind
1. Crisp extra originals of your résumé. These are customized for the position, perfect in appearance, grammar, spelling and facts. Offer one to each person who interviews you.
2. Crisp professional business card. Not one from a current or previous employer (unless you own the company), but one that provides your name and professional contact information (including social profile addresses).
3. Crisp originals of your Career Impact Matrix℠. A Career Impact Matrix is a powerful one-sheeter that provides both quantitative and qualitative descriptions of the positive impact you’ve made thus far during your career.
4. Crisp copies of items from your brag book. Whenever you reference your brag book during the interview, make sure you have several crisp photocopies behind each original in the plastic sleeve, so that you can hand it to your interviewer(s).
5. Folders into which to place your leave-behinds. Here’s a touch that shows you go the extra mile. Have a few extra crisp, clean folders to use to house the leave-behinds you provide to an interviewer. Choose a folder that has pockets for your proof documents and a place to affix your professional business card.
6. Your thank-you kit. These are your thank you cards (blank inside), along with envelopes and stamps, that you’ll send to each person who interviewed you. Write a personalized note inside, hand-address them, include a business card (your professional card used for job search), and mail them from the closest post office to the interview, immediately following your interview.
Bottom Line
When you are fully prepared for each interview, and bring the appropriate toolkits, you cannot help but to project a positive and confident attitude during your interview. You’ll also distinguish yourself from the average applicant, who brought no toolkit, and who now looks pretty dull compared to you.
Boyer Management Group works with today’s job seekers and some of America’s best companies, universities, and organizations. For job seekers and universities, we offer tools, assessments, books, and curricula to help connect people with careers. For employers, we offer world-class talent management, acquisition and onboarding tools and programs to help employees and volunteers achieve consistent, optimal performance. To find out more, please visit us at info@boyermanagement.com, or call us at 215-942-0982.
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