The Interview Handbook

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When writing a resume or attending an interview remember you are selling yourself, think about what you have to offer the employer and why you are the best person for the job, what can you do to make yourself stand out and make sure the employer remembers you. Successful resumes and interviews are all about matching what you have to offer, your particular skills and achievements with what the company is looking for.

Before the interview takes place concentrate on your five best skills and how you can put them across to the interviewer in a way that will make you stand out from the crowd. Your objective is to match your best skills with the job on offer and get these points across, so when you leave the interview you will not be forgotten easily.

Think of ways that you can get your achievements across, for instance if you are having an interview for a position that requires great communicational skills and the interviewer starts off by saying “tell me a little about yourself”, now is the time to make a start on getting your point across and selling yourself of how well you communicate to other people. Why not start by saying “one of my key skills is in being able to communicate effectively” and continue with examples of skills in your previous jobs.

Later in the interview you could bring communication skills up again in a different way, say for example as a story you tell.
When asked “what makes you the best person for the job” again reiterate how good your communication skills are and how you could be a positive part of the working team. By repeating your best skills over and over you are far more likely to remain on the interviewers mind than by just mentioning them once or twice during the interview.

What are your strong points?

You not only have to identify your strongest points or skills but also make sure they relate to what the job has to offer, make sure you read through the job description several times and know what particular skills the company is looking for.

For example if the job description includes report writing with the sales department think about what is needed to accomplish this and what kind of person the company are looking for.

This particular example would require excellent writing and interpersonal skills, if you are particularly skilled in these areas then make sure you keep letting the interviewer know this.

Remember the point of the interview is to sell yourself as the best candidate for the position; by focusing on just a handful of skills and pointing these out, you will more than likely leave a good impression on the interviewer that won’t quickly be forgotten.