CageBreak

Got an interview tomorrow or within the next few weeks? Use this 8 point checklist to assess your readiness.

1. Job Knowledge: The hiring manager wants to see if you’ve done your homework on the industry and the company you’re interviewing with. Have you? If not, then do your research asap.

2. Drive and Determination: candidates with high standards and a “can do” attitude are in demand. How can you prove your case? What data points will you use? Have your supporting facts ready. At least one situation should be about ’success after initial failure’.

3. Functional Ability: Each job requires some core skills. For example, if its a sales job, the hiring managers will evaluate your ability to listen to customer needs and give a concise, thoughtful answer. If its an engineering job, they will most likely challenge you on a tricky engineering situation.

4. Planning Skills: You must prove your ability to create a plan of action to meet specific goals. Be ready for hiring managers to test you on this, directly or indirectly. In fact, even if such a question is not asked, use these data points in your answers. Are you ready for this?

5. Judgment and Evaluation Skills: The hiring manager wants to measure your work ethic and ability to receive constructive criticism, among other things. Can you give an example when you received negative feedback from a manager or a client? What did you do then?

6. Pressure Management: How do you handle pressure? They want to see tenacity and emotional resilience after a defeat. What examples have you got?

7. Teamwork: Can you work with different personality types and draw from each member’s strengths to reach a common goal? This is a critical trait and will be covered 100% for any job. Are you ready with examples where you led a team and where you followed a team leader?

8. Common Sense (aka Business orientation): All companies want candidates who understand current business trends, even if you are not going to use them all in your job day to day. This ability gives the extra confidence in your overall ability to see where the business is headed and if you are caught in a tricky situation, there is hope that you will make the right decisions. For example, tell how can spot business opportunities based on customer needs and support requirements. Are you ready to be quizzed on this area?

From your side, plan to cover all 8 areas as part of your answers, even if they are not expressly asked. It will highlight you as a great candidate for the job.