Hi--my name is Tony and I've honorably served in the U.S. Marine Corps for 32 years and will officially retire in August 2018. I'm interviewing for a job over the phone this Thursday and I was hoping someone would be available to get on a call with me and advice me on how to best prepare for the interview along with any useful tips for me to make a good impression that'll bring me to the next interviewing stage. I understand that many of you will be busy, so any insight on interviewing best practices that you can note in writing here would be helpful as well. Thank you all in advance for your time.
Best,
Tony
Answers
Tony,
I'm able to go through some practice interview questions with you today. 11A or 2:30p or 3p. Send me email if interested Paul.j.fallace@ms.com
Good luck on interview if we don't talk.
Regards,
Paul
Happy to help. Thank you for your service. You can text me or call 443-790-4900
Tony,
review the job posting and consider how your experience will fit that role. Also, review your resume before the call, you'd be surprised how you can forget something relevant when you get nervous. Keep both handy during the interview.
Most important, make sure you are in quiet location where you won't be interrupted. Dress as if you are actually going to a personal interview, this helps get me in the right frame of mind.
When they ask you to tell them about yourself, they don't want to hear about your hobbies. They want to know about your work ethic, how quickly you can adapt and learn, etc.
Finally, don't try to BS them. Be confident when you speak of your abilities and the experience / leadership that you can bring to the table. But if you don't know, or haven't had experience in a certain task then be honest. You may not know today, but you can quickly learn any task, etc.
Hi Tony,
I just signed up to offer my services here, so I don't know if this is 'kosher,' but I'd be happy to talk with you sometime before your interview on Thursday. I'd rather do that than type a spray-and-pray response.
If that's not in the rules, I bet you'll get a lot of good responses here. If it is, I can call you if you send me your phone number. (There seems to be a private message route here.) You should be able to see my just-posted bio somehow, so you get a sense of me.
Steven
I'm a recruiter. Here are some basic interview prep tips I provide all my candidates. https://careerservices.princeton.edu/undergraduate-students/interviews-offers. Before the interview, read their website and at least a few recent news articles about the company. When reading the job description, practice providing answers on how your background or experience relates, or does not relate, to each item. At least be able to show you understand what the job description is referring to even if you don't have that experience. Smile when you talk - it shows confidence. Have someone else proof your resume for ANY spelling error. For entry level positions, they are not able to judge you based on experience, so they need to use things like evaluating your attention to detail. Thank you for your service!
Interviewers love enthusiastic candidates. If you come across as confident and positive, your interviewer will be more at ease and more likely to want to engage you.
The single most important thing to remember in an interview is to focus on answering one question: "Can you tell me a story about why you're a great fit for this job?" If you answer each question with that in mind, you'll be giving specific examples that quantify and explain why your past successes indicate you're a strong fit for the position.
A few good rules to remember about your the stories you tell as answers:
1: Be specific, but avoid too many details. You don't have to tell me every facet of why something worked, how you did it, or who was involved. Just focus on the headlines, result, and why that's relevant to the job you're pursuing.
2: Focus on "good news only." I recognize the business of war fighting is not always good news. Your stories should focus on the parts of your experience that are the most positive, best results and outcomes you've had.
3: When possible, use someone's name in your stories. This tactic will help keep yourself in check to ensure you're telling an actual story and not merely describing your job description or espousing your theories of leadership or technical skill without examples. Using someone's name also helps make a story memorable for the recruiter or hiring manager.
Good luck in your interview today!
-Scott!
Tony,
Most phone interviews are screenings to see if the employer wants to go further. They are looking for basic skills and experience as noted in the position description as well as why you are interested in that particular organization and position.
Always do your research on the employer and good luck,
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