Bill:
What you mentioned is a very, very important part of the interview process. The question now becomes, "How do I relate this to the interviewer".
You do this in what I call Part 1 of the interview. This is what I call the "managerial questions" section of the interview. And the reason I keep recommending the "Knock 'Em Dead" books. BTW/ I am not affiliated with any publisher, etc - just wanted to make that clear.
Part II is the technical interview (for those who are wondering).
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For the managerial portion (Part I)
Now, what you do (called interview preparation), is come up with 3 or 4 stories (job related) that highlight the points mentioned in Bill's previous post.
When the managerial interviewer asks: "Tell me about a project you succeded in", "Tell me about your most favorite project", you can tailor your story to the question. See what I am getting at here. You work the points that Bill mentioned in his previous post into your story. Don't need all of them - but 2 or 3 points would be nice.
Remember, people love stories. And one of the keys to successful interviewing is good story telling abilities. The worst thing you want to do is give a 1 or 2 line answer and then clam up. Some questions you may need to do this with, but most of the time you generate a story.
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Going out on a limb here.
Watch the Saturday/Sunday morning "Meet the Press" type interview news shows. There are successfull people (both govt. and private sector) being interviewed on these shows.
Look how they dress. For the guys, every single one of them wears a grey or dark colored suite and tie and classic leather shoes (Florsheim wing-tips we call them).
Pay attention to how they answer questions. You almost (99% of the time), never get a direct "YES" or "NO". Look how some of them take the question and run with it. Most reiterate their strong points thoughout several questions.
These people know the rules of interviewing, and follow them to the letter. They never deviate - at least the successful ones.
I know you never heard this piece of advice before - watching "Meet the Press" - to pickup interviewing skills. But try it sometime.
You don't have to agree with what they are saying. But look at the "body language", and how they respond to questions. They use "ah" and not "um". They NEVER swear - EVER!!. They don't meet questions head on
alot of the time. And occaisionally they tell a story or two - and that's where it really gets to be fun.
And yes...I'd rather be fishing that watching some Sat morning news show. But sometimes you just gotta make those sacrifices.
Any other opinions/interview success stories out there?
Johnny
(jpcoxey@aol.com)
[This message has been edited by John Coxey (edited March 05, 2001).]