Tips to successful interview; Your self marketing power.

An interview is a two-way street as it's an opportunity to also interview the interviewer. Lots of interviewers want to keep a conversation ongoing but unfortunately most interviewee cannot do that. You don't have to keep the interviewer bored by letting him do the talk alone.

If you're looking forward to get a job, then nailing the interview process is going to be your utmost importance. How well you did your interview largely influence your interviewers' decision to hire you to work for him/her.

"At the job interview, in our argument and even discussion, all we do is trying to sell our ideas and win people to our own way of thinking."

The interviewer listen very attentive to you when providing answers to questions. The truth is this, you may not be able to answer all the questions been asked but there are basic things he/she pays attention to when you speak and not necessary the answer to the question. How you organize your words really matters, your composure and your ability to keep the conversation flowing is important. It is important you sell yourself at this time.

Let me walk you through self-marketing power that leads to successful job interview.

1. KNOW THE COMPANY.

Showing a genuine interest in others will not only win friends for you but may develop in his/her loyalty to you. Take time to carry out a research about the employer and the company prior to the interview. The truth is that the interviewer expects you to be curious and interested in their organization so, he expects you to ask questions to the best interest of the organization. This can only be possible by carrying out a research about the organization before your interview session.

Certificate is not the sole basis of selecting candidates for available job positions. If it was, there wouldn't have been needs for interview. Selected candidates after job interview may not be those with the best results, may not be those with the most relevant skill set. Your certificate qualification and skill set may just be prerequisite for attending the interview. Your performance in the interview is important in getting you a job and how well you know the organization sets you on an edge.

Check the company's website. There, you can review the organization's mission and vision statement, history, products and services render, and management, as well as information about the company's culture. Pay attention to the repeated themes on the site. As much as any stated corporate values and images of the organization, what the company stands for and what they want to achieve, the words the company choose to describe itself. This is very important in interview because it helps you to talk in line with the company's goals.

2. BE A GOOD CONVERSATIONALIST

I left my formal job for a National assignment and when it was time to get a replacement for my position, my boss and his friend (management team) had two candidates interviewed on my last day at work. I asked about the outcome of the interview and he told me that none of the interviewee was qualified for the position. After a while again, I called to know about the latest for the position. I was shocked when he said they have not gotten any replacement, I asked to know if people were not turning up for the interview and he said, that the people coming cannot keep ordinary conversation. Absurd right? Your thought may be right as mine but the truth still remains, good conversation is important in every interview.

The word "Interview" is a formal discussion with someone for the purpose of an evaluation. Both the interviewer and the interviewee will get the most out of job interview when it feels more like a conversation and less like an interrogation. Ask questions to help the interview feels more like a conversation but do this only when necessary. It seems that people are largely unaware that asking questions has social benefits needed in getting you a job. New Harvard university Research shows that people who ask questions during conversation are liked more by the person they're having a conversation with. This will make you more likely to get hired and promoted as the case may be.

3. BE A GOOD LISTENER

What is the secret, the mystery, of a successful business interview?

Dales Carnegie in his book How to win friends and influence people wrote:

Well, according to the former Harvard president Charles W. Eliot, ‘There is no mystery about successful business intercourse . . . Exclusive attention to the person who is speaking to you is very important. Nothing else is so flattering as that.’ Eliot himself was a past master of the art of listening. Henry James, one of America’s first great novelists, recalled: ‘Dr. Eliot’s listening was not mere silence, but a form of activity. Sitting very erect on the end of his spine with hands joined in his lap, making no movement except that he revolved his thumbs around each other faster or slower, he faced his interlocutor and seemed to be hearing with his eyes as well as his ears. He listened with his mind and attentively considered what you had to say while you said it . . . At the end of an interview the person who had talked to him felt that he had had his say.’

Paying attention is very important in almost every setting of communication. Listen to Robert and his Mom Millie Esposito of Croton-on-Hudson, New York. One evening she was sitting in the kitchen with her son, Robert, and after a brief discussion of something that was on his mind, Robert said: ‘Mom, I know that you love me very much.’ Mrs. Esposito was touched and said: ‘Of course I love you very much. Did you doubt it?’ Robert responded: ‘No, but I really know you love me because whenever I want to talk to you about something you stop whatever you are doing and listen to me.’

Listening attentively to someone when talking makes the person feels important. Avoid the temptation of interrupting your interviewer even when you are already where he's headed.

4. SELL YOURSELF TO YOUR INTERVIEWER

Interviewers are most especially interested in what you can help their organization achieve if given the opportunity to work with them. They're not really interested in your person. Selfish right? Nah...! I doubt. At every single opportunity you have gotten to talk, try convincing your interviewer that you are the best candidate, try marketing yourself to him/her. What are the tricks to doing this?

The very concept of selling yourself during a job interview could be daunting but learning how to self-promote in a convincing manner is what the job interview is all about. The good news is that these tricks are learnable and that is exactly what you're learning here today.

It is necessary to point out the impact you have made positively in the place you have worked before if there is any when been ask for experience. Your interviewer may want to know more about how you can be useful to their organization by asking you to tell them more about yourself. This is the opportunity you have been waiting for to market yourself. They're not interested in everything about you. Talk more on your strengths, passions, interests, and your personal brand (if any) that are in line with the findings of the company research you have done. Speak in the interest of your interviewer and the company, this is why it's important to do your company research before showing up for an interview.

OTHERS

Every organization has a culture and/or a corporate image that they want to portray to their clients. Your dressing to the interview should align with the organizational culture. Make your first impression really worth it. The expression one wears on one’s face is far more important than the clothes one wears on one’s back. Your smiles could say a whole lot about you, no wonder they said that action speaks louder than voice. Your smiles could say, I like you, you make me happy, I am glad to see you and all that. Therefore, wear a nice smile not only during your interview session but for as many times as you could.