How to Prepare for Job Interview #2

You are a contender! If you have successfully navigated your first job interview and have been asked back for a second, the company is seriously thinking about hiring you. This time it is all about research, polish, and personality. Follow the steps below to ace your second job interview.

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

1. Research the company. You should have already researched the company, but now is the time to know everything you can. Use the site map of the company’s web page to view everything publicly provided. Use the link in the resource section below for a tutorial on researching companies.

2. Connect with your references. If your references have not already been contacted, it is likely that they soon will be. Send them a friendly email letting them know they may be contacted. Provide a little information about the company and the job. Also include a list of buzz words from the job description that they can use during the conversation (customer service, detail-oriented, motivated, etc).

3. Reflect on the first interview. What went well? Try to duplicate the highlights of your first interview during the second interview. What buzz words kept coming up? Did you find a theme developing in your first round of questions? Use the questions that were asked to develop a snap shot of what the company is looking for. Did they want customer service? Did they want a hard worker? Also think about the questions you struggled with. Now is the time to develop better answers to any questions that stumped you. It is likely they will come up again so be prepared to provide better answers.

4. Try to network. Do you know someone who knows someone who knows someone who works at the company? Perfect! Try to get in touch with someone who actually works at the company and chat with them about the job and ask for advice about the ideal employee.

5. Prepare for being offered the job. You may be offered the job on the spot. Be prepared for this. Most people advise not to accept right away. Instead, ask when they need an answer and use one or two days to think about it. But, if you have thoroughly done your research and know this is the job you want, go ahead and accept. Also, be prepared to negotiate salary during the second interview.

Resources

• Company Research Tutorial
• Acing the Interview: How to Ask and Answer the Questions That Will Get You the Job

[sonni57]

on 7/19/2009 Thanks for the good job interview tips I need them since I'm looking.