Go through Job Description Carefully
Most commonly asked interview questions like “Brief about yourself”, “Your strengths and weaknesses”, “Why should we hire you” etc. might be covered in detail by hundreds of other bloggers and in books too. To know what kind of questions you will asked at interview, understand the job description carefully. For example, if it is mentioned in job description that the candidate should have good analytical skills then in such case you can expect question like “Brief about your analytical skills” or if it is written that the applicant should have good command over English (written as well as oral) then in such case obviously the expected question would be to write on any topic (they will either provide you the topic or you can choose any topic of yours).
Use LinkedIn to research the interviewer
Today, every professional person has its LinkedIn profile. So it would be better to research about the interviewer prior job interview. On LinkedIn click on the “Advanced” search and look for the name of the company you are applying to. Don’t forget to check the 1st, 2nd and 3rd connections for wide search.
You will get list of profiles related to that particular company. Search for the person who will take your interview and if you are not sure with the name of the interviewer, you can ask the organization for the same if that information can be shared by them. It will be quite efficient for you as you can do research in his LinkedIn profile and get acquainted with his skills, his experience in that organization, his total work experience.
Research about the organization
Just reading the website of the company doesn’t make you stand out of the crowd as for now everybody go through the organization’s website prior job interview. So the places where you can gather more information about the company are:
Glassdoor
Go to Glassdoor.com to read the reviews of the organization, many applicants also share their interview experience with the organization and you can also get information about the salary provided by the company to the employees of different levels.
Guidestar.org
Go to Guidestar.org to get more clear idea about the salaries of the top staff and also see what they spend their revenue on.
Be prepared with plan
If you are applying for high-level position make sure you are ready with the 30/60/90 day plan. This will stand you out from the crowd and the interviewer will also be able to differentiate you from other competitors. In your plan you should cover all the questions including “tentative idea about the percentage of growth in the revenue of the organization after 30, 60 and 90 days”.
Practice!
Prepare as much as you can for the interview even if you have been working earlier with reputed company as long gap of not getting interviewed slows down your confidence so make sure you practice well and remember if confidence at the time of interview can make you then at the same time over-confidence can break you.
