Students: Career Planning: Interviewing: Step 2

STEP 1 | STEP 2 | STEP 3 | STEP 4

Preparing for the interview

• Conduct a self assessment-you should have a handle on your skills, abilities, and past experiences (these could come from paid work experience, volunteer work, club and school organizations, etc.)
• Be aware of the critical factors that interviewers want candidates to exhibit-those could include: intellectual competence, leadership, team/personal skills, flexibility/adjustment, motivation, communication, administrative and technical skills.
• Be alert to employers' questions so that you can discuss your accomplishments-be prepared to demonstrate accomplishments by citing specific examples of things that you have done, projects you have completed, and results achieved.
• Research the organization before interviewing-you should know the relative size of the firm, its competition, and its prospects for the future, any recent developments, location of major plants and its reputation within the industry. Knowledge of this information instills confidence in you as a candidate and insures a more productive interview.

Utilize library resources for company information-company literature, videotapes, as well as information on the Internet are available in the Career Resource Library in University College, 3^rd floor. In addition, publications such as Standard & Poor's, The Indianapolis Business Journal, the Wall Street Journal, Business Week, etc. are available at the University Library, as well as the Indianapolis-Marion County Public Library.