{"id":146,"date":"2009-02-27T13:00:00","date_gmt":"2009-02-27T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bcjobs.ca\/career-advice\/stand-out-job-interviews-%c2%96-do-your-homework-and-speak-with-confidence\/"},"modified":"2019-10-19T09:31:00","modified_gmt":"2019-10-19T16:31:00","slug":"stand-out-job-interviews-do-your-homework-and-speak-with-confidence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bcjobs.ca\/blog\/stand-out-job-interviews-do-your-homework-and-speak-with-confidence\/","title":{"rendered":"Stand out job interviews, do your homework and speak with confidence"},"content":{"rendered":"

Gayle Hallgren-Rezac co-author Work The Pond! <\/a><\/p>\n

\"Stand_out_job_interviews__do_your_homework_and_speak_with_confidence\"<\/p>\n

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Standout job interviews can help you land jobs. But, if you want to stand out at job interviews, you need to make the right impression. Benjamin Franklin said it best: \u201cIt\u2019s hard for an empty bag to stand upright.\u201d If you don\u2019t have some substance behind you, it\u2019s hard to make a great impression. There are two key areas where doing your homework can really help you to make the right impression with potential employers.<\/p>\n

In conversation <\/strong>
\nConsider that life is a never-ending job interview<\/a>. Every time you meet someone there\u2019s a possibility of new opportunities, and one of those opportunities could be enhancing your career. But, the content of your conversation says a lot about you. For example, someone recently engaged me in a conversation on global warming, and when I mentioned \u201cKyoto\u201d (shorthand for the Kyoto Protocol<\/a>), they replied, \u201cWhat\u2019s Kyoto?\u201d What, were they living under a rock? Sorry to say, but not having this very basic knowledge of the climate issue changed my opinion of the individual. You don\u2019t have to be a Jeopardy nerd, but some knowledge of current affairs, politics, economics and global issues is important. And, there\u2019s no excuse because there\u2019s the World Wide Web and it\u2019s free!<\/p>\n

Of course there are other, less serious, topics of conversation that make great firestarters. But there\u2019s nothing that can douse a conversation more quickly than someone who proudly states: \u201cI never read the newspaper.\u201d \u201cSorry, I\u2019m not into hockey.\u201d You don\u2019t have to have an encyclopedic knowledge of the Sedin twins\u2019 stats but you should have a passing acquaintance with local sports teams, local business leaders and community issues.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a quick quiz: Can you describe these popular business concepts?
\n\u2022 Tipping Points?
\n\u2022 Blue Oceans?
\n\u2022 Black Swans?<\/p>\n

If you think these concepts have something to do with \u201cThe Biggest Loser\u201d, offshore racing or bird watching, it\u2019s time to find out more. When you\u2019re in the job market, the more involved and knowledge seeking you are, the better. You don\u2019t have to agree with these theories but having a working knowledge helps you take part in interesting conversations.<\/p>\n

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Over \u201cThe Desk\u201d
\nSitting in the hot seat at a job interview is very stressful, but you\u2019ll feel more confident if you show up well versed in interview basics<\/a> and information about the company, the interviewer and the industry. One of the biggest frustrations I hear voiced by executives is a potential job applicant who comes to the interview with very little knowledge about the company. They use their time with the executive as part of a \u201cfact finding\u201d mission. Do your homework first. People are impressed when you ask in-depth questions about the company and the industry.<\/p>\n

For starters, know the company\u2019s history and read the annual report and the corporate social responsibility report. You\u2019ll be memorable if you can throw some real facts into the conversation (the number of offices worldwide, number of employees, their ranking on \u201cbest companies to work for list\u201d, or their positive impact in the community). And, above all else, know the company\u2019s products and services.<\/p>\n

Look up key players in the organization and read bios of the people interviewing you. Knowing they graduated from the same university as you or possibly share some interests helps you make a connection. Look for opportunities to make comments, such as:
\n\u2022 \u201cI went to McGill as well.\u201d
\n\u2022 \u201cI read that you are an avid scuba diver. I\u2019m a scuba instructor in my spare time.\u201d
\n\u2022 \u201cI see you worked at Company XYZ. My economics professor does consulting there.\u201d
\nYou may have had the same professors, dived in the same places or met some of the same people. By bringing that up, you can make a real connection — and that\u2019s powerful. The bottom line: knowledge makes you memorable.<\/p>\n

Related to standout job interviews<\/strong>
\n\u2022 Interview gone bad? You can recover<\/a>
\n\u2022 Interview brainteasers<\/a>
\n\u2022 Passing the telephone screening interview<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Standout job interviews can help you land jobs. But, if you want to stand out at job interviews, you need to make the right impression. Benjamin Franklin said it best: \u0093It\u0092s hard for an empty bag to stand upright.\u0094<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[16],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bcjobs.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bcjobs.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bcjobs.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bcjobs.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bcjobs.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=146"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.bcjobs.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6614,"href":"https:\/\/www.bcjobs.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146\/revisions\/6614"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bcjobs.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=146"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bcjobs.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=146"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bcjobs.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=146"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}