20 Job Search And Interview Tips People Loved In 2023

20.

“Your interviewer is just as anxious as you are.”

“As part of my job, I have interviewed what feels like hundreds of people, and I realized that many candidates don’t think about how the interviewer feels.

The best way to make an excellent impression is to think about how to make the interview pleasant for the interviewer:

1. Be friendly. Make small talk at the start. Engage, chuckle. By doing so, you set the tone for the interview as, ‘thank god, I won’t be pulling teeth with this one.’ 

2. Don’t monologue. If you’re asked a question like ‘tell me about yourself’ or ‘tell me about your experience with X,’ keep the answers to under two minutes. Monologuing, unless it’s for a very technical answer, shows you can’t get to the point, and it’s tiring to listen to a story you don’t care about. All the questions we ask can be answered in 1-2 minutes, so if you take more, you’re rambling.

3. Follow the S.T.A.R. pattern of answering when asked questions like ‘tell me about a time you had X problem.’ This is the best way to form answers and the gold standard we’re taught to look for.

4. Have at least two questions for the interviewer. There’s nothing more awkward than sitting through 20 minutes of me asking you question after question, then you say you have nothing to ask in return.”

—u/kari-kateora