Successful Interview Planning

This week, I thought I would return to my thoughts on interviews and tips for preparation.


Successful interview planning is marketing put into practice based on the market research of the companies/ organizations you want to work for , and their needs and wants by doing an in-depth analysis of such needs and wants, and of how to meet those needs to impress them.

The principles of successful interview planning are similar to that of marketing and promotion:

1- Product: - you are the product that is being offered and that you passionately believe in .

2- Pre- planning – you do a needs assessment/ analysis and the due diligence required for the orchestration of the finest details of that interview.

3- Promotion -you promote “You” -the product, through results-oriented social media applications i.e. YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, MeetUp, Plaxo, etc.. to get the word out about your skills, and competencies.. You can also post testimonials, and video clips and audio clips on some of these sites to heighten interest in your professional profile. But, do this professionally and tastefully, self-promotion is not about broadcasting, spamming or shouting. Using social media applications is about creating and fostering vital one –to- one relationships that will help attain your career goals.

4- Personal Touch- you develop a personal connection with the interviewers . For example, never forget to include the authentic and professional touch by addressing the needs of the company to create a fit that is right for you and for them.

5- Strategic Implementation- you follow through on a well structured plan- including all parties involved- for different scenario planning( have numerous back-up plans) to cover the Murphy’s Law aspect. Do an assessment with a SWOT analysis ( strengths, weakness, opportunities and threats for yourself and for the company to address specifically related questions that may be asked at the interview) to develop these scenarios for the interviews.

6- Perseverance in Follow up- you follow up after the interview with the prospective employer using a phone conversation, and personal thank you letter and/or email. As part of the follow- up stage, have a debriefing process/ meeting with yourself by creating an interview journal . In this interview journal, you also do a SWOT (strengths, weakness, opportunities and threats) as part of this post -planning portion to improve the quality of your next interview and its success.

You basically have to consider the interview as a project and apply project management techniques with a strong commitment to maintaining a genuine and professional connection.

Social media applications and your career

I am taking a break from strategies for interviews by visiting a subject that is very "hot" today-- the use of social media applications in career management.

Recently, I got a reality check re: blogs, social networking sites, and social bookmarking sites ( e..g. LinkedIn, Facebook, Meetup, Twitter, Plaxo, Digg, Delicious, etc.) and their ability to significantly impact our career development and our professional lives.

If you fail to connect and interact with these sites, you are missing the opportunity to leverage their tremendous power to promote yourself ,your key skills/ competencies, and talents to the targeted companies in your job search/career plan. By making full use of these sites, you are truly optimizing your competitive advantage, because they are the primary results-oriented, self- marketing tools of the 21st century for all “careerpreneurs”, particularly for those who wish to be proactive about implementing a well-designed strategic career plan.