Nail Your Next Job Interview… 3 Proven Tips

You found the internship of your dreams. You’ve made it past the phone interview and your hopes have been raised. Next up: the in-person interview. How will you nail it?

Do your thorough research, dress professionally, and follow these three tips – and you’ll interview with confidence.

Compete

No hiring situation pits you against the recruiter. Instead, it’s you against the other candidates – the competition. Too many opportunities are lost simply because we don’t understand that the recruiter wants us to succeed. In their eyes, it is our job to lose when we walk in the door – or you wouldn’t have been offered the face-to-face interview.

Knowing you’re there to compete is the first step. Get psyched up, smile like you’ve already won, and perform like the job is already yours. In almost any arena – athletics, personal, and career – good things happen when you expect to win.

Sell You!

Practicing in the mirror is great. But what are you practicing? What is your game plan?

Define what sets you apart. Perhaps it is your online influence? The quality of the blogs you’ve written? The internships you’ve already completed? Maybe your passion and enthusiasm?

None of those work for you? Good…make it about the company. Research them thoroughly; website, Facebook and Twitter account to start. Dig into what put them on the map – or the technology or service they hope will put them on the map. Be able to speak the language, and know their pride points.

Now, be prepared to sell it – whatever “it” is. By selling “You, Inc.” for the next 45 minutes, you’re in the best position to compete, and win.

Impress by Going Above & Beyond

You’ve already researched the company’s online presence. Now, use that knowledge to go way above and beyond the recruiter’s expectations – by walking in with a plan that shows you have every intention of being offered this internship. For example:

• Create a bullet-point marketing plan specific to that company
• Construct an analysis of that organization’s top competitors
• Build a social media strategy (be sure to incorporate your followers, contacts and influence)
• Whatever your specialty, build a plan designed to impress!

And now, the one piece of advice that puts you in the proverbial driver’s seat…

With your value proposition in hand, introduce this unsolicited (and unexpected) contribution to the recruiter with these words: “I’ve taken the liberty to…” As in: “I’ve taken the liberty to perform an analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of your competition…”

By utilizing this one guaranteed-to-impress tool…you’ll show confidence, passion, and a precedent for exceeding expectations.

Integrate these three proven tips and the “liberty” advice – and nail your next internship interview!

About the Author: CEO and Founder of YouTern, Mark Babbitt is a serial entrepreneur and mentor. Mark has been quoted in the Wall Street Journal, Mashable, Forbes and Under30CEO.com regarding job search, career development, internships and higher education’s role in preparing emerging talent for the workforce. A keynote speaker and blogger, Mark’s contributions include Huffington Post, 12Most.com, The Daily Muse, Alltop, PRDaily, StudentBranding.com and Intern Advocate.

Mark has been honored to be named to GenJuice’s list of “Top 100 Most Desirable Mentors” and was recently featured on HR Examiner’s “Top 25 Trendspotters in HR” and several top blogger lists, including JobMob’s “Top Career Bloggers of 2011”. Contact Mark via email or on Twitter!