You’ve printed five copies of your resume, dry-cleaned your best interview outfit and even drove by the location to make sure you wouldn’t get lost on your way. While you feel like you are ready to take on the world, there are a few more items that you need to take care of before you leave for your interview.
Do Some Research on the Company
Research the winning factors for the position such as the job requirements, goals, pain points and culture aspects of the staff. Match yourself to their needs: narrow their needs down to the 3-5 most important winning factors. Research what the company does, and what they are seeking in the open position. Seek to understand the company Mission Statement and values. The Mission Statement and values contains their lingo, which you can adopt to demonstrate you are like one of the team.
Perfect That Elevator Speech
If they ask you to tell them about yourself, they don’t want your life story, and they don’t want to know about your hobbies or your pets. They want you to provide a broad and concise overview of your professional experience before they start to get into specifics.
Your answer should be about one minute and it should summarize where you are in your career based on an extended version of your WIFM Commercial Script. Don’t know what a WIFM Commercial Script is? Ask your AppleOne Hiring Advisor to point you to our Navigating the Hiring Process workbook.
Prepare Some Questions
At some point the interviewer will ask you if you have any questions. You must be prepared for this with some great questions that will set you apart from others they interviewed. Employers have noticed that too many candidates do not have tangible questions and simply state the deal killer, “I don’t have any questions – you were very thorough.” The interview wants to see that you’re trying to figure out if you can do the job, so come prepared with thoughtful job/boss/department/goal related questions, and you can instantly set yourself above other applicants.
AppleOne Blog 
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