The Interview Process – How it Works in the USA!
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Once you successfully applied for jobs with your US Resume and got invited for an Interview you may ask yourself…
Now what?? Well, the key to be successful at your job interview is to prepare, take notes – and PRACTICE!
One of the key trends in this country is to invite you for a phone interview before you get an opportunity to introduce yourself in a personal interview.
Sometimes applicants get lucky and get invited for an in-person interview right away.
Either way, the steps are to prepare are similar. Here are some key points:
1. Research the Company
What do you know about the company? What products/services do they offer? What is their company culture, their values, and their mission? Why would you love working there?
2. Carefully read the job description:
What are the job duties? What are the job requirements? What skill set are they looking for and how can you present your skills based on that information?
3. Present your skills:
Write down your experience, your skills and provide them with specific examples of your success stories to convince the employer.
For example: “ I was a Project Manager in charge of A-B-C and completed these projects successfully by prioritizing tasks, delegating them to our team members and ensuring that we meet our deadline each time.”
4. Prepare for common questions such as:
What are your strengths and weaknesses? Tell us about yourself/your experiences (follow the same principle as discussed in Point 3). Why are you looking for a new job? Where do you see yourself in 5 years? Why do you think you are a good match for this position?
5. Write down questions for the company/recruiter:
You will most likely be asked if you have any questions for them. If you don’t have any, it may look like you did not prepare or do not really care.
Prepare for all possible questions and take notes before the interview.
A few examples of good questions to ask a company are:
“Can you tell me a little bit about what the daily tasks of ABC position look like? What do you think is one of the most challenging parts of the job? How is the department set up? What is the company culture? What do you personally like about working for ABC Company? What is the next step in the hiring process?
As you can see, there are plenty of topics that need to be covered and that is the reason why preparation is so important!
Prepare for the new Trend
US Recruiters are slowly starting to introduce more creative questioning. For example, Situational and Behavioral Questions.
Situational questions reflect on specific situations that you have been faced with at your past employments. Recruiters ask these types of questions to get an impression on how you act and react in certain situations.
Example:
“ Tell me about a time when you had to complete a project under pressure. How did you deal with the pressure and what steps did you take to handle the situation?”
Behavioral questions create fictive situations to see how you would handle the situation. The Recruiter asks these questions to learn about your ability to handle challenges or to learn more about your communication style/social abilities at the job.
Example:
“You are working on a project and just found out that your deadline was moved to an earlier date. How would you ensure that you meet the new deadline and what steps would you take?
Or
“Your supervisor just provided you with negative feedback based on the mistakes you made on a document you have sent to him. How would you respond? And how would you make sure it doesn’t happen again?”.
This is a lot to digest but- it is something that we had to learn the hard way after not receiving any job offers for several months.
Killer Secrets to Having a Successful Job Interview
We really had to learn how to set our old habits aside and forget everything we learned in our home countries.
You will need to find a brand new approach to make the job hunt successful in the United States!
That’s why we started this training to understand the Killer Secrets of succeeding in a Job Interview!
Let’s keep it real: You can either spend hours endlessly searching random blogs to find a patchwork of half-baked advice, then try to piece together your own strategy from that mess … OR,
…You can become fully prepared for your interview right now with organized, intelligent templates & materials that have been strongly recommended online by hundreds of people.
Last Steps to be Successful
Last step: Practice, practice, practice!
There is nothing worse than talking to a recruiter or hiring manager and stutter, forget your words or talk without confidence!
Practice in front of the mirror, your friends or your family. The more you practice, the more confident you will be in the interview.
And let’s tell you – recruiters and managers LOVE confidence! It makes you look more professional and will make you stand out from the crowd!
Now- If you landed a job offer and would like to know what’s important to know for your first day at work, please read our post (and more about the subject) below:
Want to be successful in your next steps? Read:
Your first day at work in the USA
How to Finally Get a Job Offer in the USA & Avoid Common Mistakes