Keep these tips in mind for your interview:

1. Dress appropriately. Even if the company culture is casual Friday or downright casual, it’s best to dress one step up. It shows professionalism and your seriousness about the position. The time to wear deck shoes and khakis is once you’re hired. For men, get a haircut and trim your facial hair if you have a mustache or beard. For women, keep the jewelry and makeup to a minimum and don’t wear overpowering perfumes.

2. Arrive a few minutes early. Ten to fifteen minutes is advised. It will give you time to relax before you’re called in and will show your professionalism in keeping appointments. To assure that you’ll arrive in a timely manner, drive to the office on a weekday to determine what traffic will be like, where you’ll be able to park, etc. Don’t leave these details till the last minute.

3. Be nice to the receptionist/administrative assistant. If you’re rude or demanding, they won’t forget and they may very well report it to the manager. Be courteous to all. However, it’s also wise to remember that the receptionist or secretary isn’t your best buddy. If she or he starts to talk about the company and disparages it in anyway, keep your opinions to yourself.

4. Turn off your cell phone before you’re interviewed. Nothing is more distracting or irritating than to be interrupted by someone else’s call.

5. Sit appropriately during the interview. Don’t slouch in your chair or bounce your legs up and down no matter how nervous you are. Project an image of success and you’ll be treated accordingly.

6. Never interrupt the interviewer. Yes, you want to get your points across, but barging in on anyone’s comments is rude. Once it’s your turn to speak, take a moment to reflect upon what was said and comment as well as you can.

7. Don’t have a sense of entitlement. If the first words out of your mouth are – “What’s the salary and benefits?” – you won’t be considered for the position no matter how great you believe you are. Always speak about the company’s success and how you would like to make it reach all goals.

8. For the Gen Yers – don’t bring your parents to an interview. Yes, it’s been known to happen and having your mother or father arrive with you isn’t the way to impress a hiring manager.

9. Make eye contact. Don’t stare the interviewer down, but be certain to meet his or her gaze rather than staring off into space or glancing nervously around the office.

10. Be prepared to sell yourself and to answer the usual interview questions. Don’t arrive unprepared. Practice interviewing with friends or family members.

It’s not always easy to ace an interview but it can be done with forethought and practice.

While we all enjoy posting our photos and what we’re doing on Facebook, it pays to remember that one day employers may very well be searching that database before they decide to call you in for an interview.

If you think photos of you getting wasted on a Friday night are funny, it won’t be to a hiring manager. If you rant and rave about a particularly touchy subject, a hiring manager will worry that you’ll do the same on the job.

Even if you behave yourself on Facebook, you may leave a trail of crumbs on various websites where you’ve left comments. For some, it’s sport to let loose with unacceptable comments as long as it’s being done from the safety of a computer keyboard. However, if your email address is tracked by a potential employer and they see anything disturbing in your comments, you can kiss that job opportunity good-bye.

In public, we all monitor our responses, never thinking to reveal our deepest thoughts or prejudices. It’s prudent to behave the same way online.

Before you apply for a position, check your Facebook and other social media pages and clean them up. A mentor from my past once told me, “Don’t write anything down that you wouldn’t want to see on the front page of the New York Times.” Great advice. Revisit those sites where you left comments. If you can be identified via your email address, then change it on your resume before you apply for a position.

We’ve all acted foolishly…it’s human nature. But when your livelihood depends upon you behaving in a professional manner, you better make certain an employer can’t find anything negative about you on the net.

The rule of thumb is preparation, preparation, preparation.

How do you do that? By rehearsing your answers to some of the most common questions asked during an interview.

Here are just a few:

• What specific goals, including those related to your occupation, have you established for your life?

• How has your college experience prepared you for a business career?

• Please describe the ideal job for you following graduation.

• What influenced you to choose this career?

• At what point did you choose this career?

• What specific goals have you established for your career?

• What will it take to attain your goals, and what steps have you taken toward attaining them?

• What do you think it takes to be successful in this career?

• How do you determine or evaluate success? Give me an example of one of your successful accomplishments.

• Do you have the qualifications and personal characteristics necessary for success in your chosen career?

• What has been your most rewarding accomplishment?

• If you could do so, how would you plan your college career differently?

• Are you more energized by working with data or by collaborating with other individuals?

• How would you describe yourself in terms of your ability to work as a member of a team?

• What motivates you to put forth your greatest effort?

• Given the investment our company will make in hiring and training you, can you give us a reason to hire you?

There are obviously hundreds of possible questions you may be asked. However, by practicing on key questions as to what you can bring to the company and what you want from it, you’ll go a long way toward acing your interview.

Years ago, that changed with the advent of professional resume writers. With the increasingly competitive job market, it was no longer acceptable or wise to submit a homemade resume.

Now, a new wrinkle has been added to the job search process. Interview coaching.

Many of you may consider this a luxury or unnecessary. Your skills are solid, your background impeccable, your certifications/education the very best.

Even so, is it enough?

It might not be in this economy. Increasingly, candidates are hiring interview coaches to help them over that last pre-employment hurdle.

So what will interview coaching do for you? It depends upon who’s providing the service. At ResumeEdge.com, we provide only those coaches who either hold the CEIP (Certified Employment Interview Professional) designation from the PARW (Professional Association of Resume Writers) or those that are recruiters/human resources managers who have conducted hundreds of interviews in their careers.

Our editors explain to clients the ins and outs of Behavioral Interviews, Traditional Interviews, Lunch Interviews, Phone Interviews, and everything in between.

They provide job interview tips and conduct mock interviews with their clients, preparing them for every eventuality.

With so few jobs and so many candidates vying for a single position, it’s essential to use every resource available…a professional resume service, cover letter writing, and interview coaching.

Money well spent, especially when you get that all important job offer.

1. How would you describe yourself?
2. To be successful in this career, what do you think it takes?
3. Do you have the qualifications and personal characteristics necessary for success in your chosen career?
4. Why should we hire you?
5. What are your long-range goals and objectives?
6. What major problem have you handled recently? Did you resolve it? How?
7. What characteristics do you think make a manager successful?
8. Why did you apply to our company?
9. What do you look for in a successful candidate?
10. How do you approach critical assignments?
11. If you had to think on your feet to solve a difficult situation, what would you do?
12. Why were you fired?
13. What are the steps you take before making an important decision?
14. Name the most difficult assignment you had and how did you finish it?
15. What kind of supervisor do you prefer?

As you can see, the questions are open-ended, not allowing for a simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer. The more you talk, the more the hiring authority learns about you. That’s why you need to be prepared before you utter one word. Each answer must be crafted carefully to maximize your chances of being hired.

How do you do that? Preparation, preparation, preparation.

1. Know how to dress. If you’re not familiar with the company culture, visit their website or their offices during work hours to see how staff dress. No matter how casual they may be, the key is for you to look professional – you’re not on staff yet.

2. Do extensive research about the company. Know what they’re about. Nothing’s worse for a hiring manager than to interview someone who hasn’t a clue what their company produces.

3. Compose a list of questions about the company that indicates your interest in what is produced and how things work.

4. Prepare a list of answers to the most frequently asked interview questions. For example: Where do you see yourself five years from now?

5. Practice, practice, practice. Make certain your voice and body language don’t give away your anxiety.

6. Know how long it will take to get to your interview so you arrive on time.

To assist you in interview prepartion, consider the ResumeEdge.com JobInterviewEdge service. Details at this link: http://www.resumeedge.com/services/jie-home.html

• Be prepared. Know about the organization and the job to which you’re applying. And practice for the interview before you get there.
• Be well groomed. Even if the company employees dress in business casual, err on the conservative side. For men: A jacket and tie. For women: A business suit. Keep the jewelry, makeup, perfume and cologne to a minimum.
• Arrive early for the interview. Fifteen minutes is about right.
• Be respectful of everyone you meet, including secretaries and other office personnel.
• Listen carefully to the interviewer’s name and remember it. Repeat it periodically during the interview when addressing the individual.
• After a question is asked, allow a moment for it to sink in and to phrase your response.
• Pay attention to non-verbal cues. If the interviewer appears particularly interested in what you’re saying, expand upon it.
• Ask how your role in the company can positively influence their bottom line.
• Be friendly, interested, engaged and confident – but not arrogant.
• At the end of the interview thank the interviewer and ask when you might expect an answer as to your candidacy.

Interview Don’ts

• Don’t behave as if the job is already yours or beneath you. Be confident, not arrogant.
• Never interrupt the interviewer.
• Don’t ask about salary or benefits unless the matter is brought up by the interviewer.
• Don’t trash your current or former employers.
• Don’t mistake an interviewer’s politeness for more than it is. You are not friends. Don’t be too familiar or chummy. Remain professional.
• Don’t bring up anything negative about the company you’re targeting, even if they’ve gotten bad press.
• Use appropriate English and business language. Avoid slang.
• Don’t let your body language (squirming in your seat) give away the fact that you’re nervous. Try to calm down and focus on your attributes.
• No matter how desperate you are for the position, don’t make it obvious to the interviewer.
• Don’t dwell on your deficiencies – we all have them – concentrate on your strengths and convey them to the interviewer.

Our JobInterviewEdge service offers one-on-one mock interview training with our certified editors. For more information, please click this link

To avoid this, it’s best to be prepared for the unexpected. Here are some thorny questions you may be asked and tips on how to answer them:

1.      Who do you consider your best boss? Who do you consider the worst?

Take great care in answering. The interviewer is trying to determine if you’re angry at past employers for something that may very well be your fault and if you carry a grudge.

The appropriate answer would be that you learned something valuable from every boss you had and used it to better the company’s operations.

2.      What have you been doing since you were laid off?

Employers are wary of individuals with job gaps, even in this awful economy.

To allay the hiring manager’s fears you can detail activities you engaged in while also looking for a full-time (or part-time) position. These activities would include being a caretaker for someone in your family (eg: children, aging parents), learning a new skill (eg: technology) or engaging in freelance projects to pay the bills until you reached full employment again.

3.      What do you consider your greatest weakness?

Everyone has them and the hiring manager wants to determine if you have insight into your failings or if you’re so enamored of your strengths, you’re difficult to work with and refuse to learn from past errors in judgement.

In answering, don’t make the mistake of saying your weakness is that you work too hard. Employers have heard this countless times and few believe it. Instead, focus on a true negative (you’re a perfectionist) and turn it into a positive (eg: I don’t want to hold up schedules by triple-checking everything to make certain it’s perfect, so I’ve developed a process so that mistakes are avoided the first time around).

The above are a few of the many examples of questions you may be asked, which will prove difficult to answer – if you’re not prepared.

With our JIE (JobInterviewEdge) service, our expert coaches prepare our clients to meet each interview challenge and to succeed.

We’d like to hear from you as to what other aspects of the interview process you’d like us to address to make JIE even more worthwhile to jobseekers.

Warning yourself not to show fear, to keep your voice steady and your eyes on the interviewer, you believe you’re ready. After all, you have the talent to fill the position and you’ve researched the job responsibilities and company thoroughly.

Good for you. But there may be one aspect of the interview you’ve forgotten about – non-verbal behavior.

Hiring managers are trained to look for nuances in a candidate’s personality that will tell them far more than words ever could. Here’s some of the things you should watch out for:

1. Crossing your arms. Never cross your arms over your chest, it’s a defensive position. Even if you’re smiling and laughing with the recruiter or hiring manager, it’s off-putting. When standing, let your arms hang at your sides. When sitting, fold your hands in your lap and keep them there while the interviewer is speaking.
2. Tapping your fingers or a pen against the arm of your chair, your lap, a desk – whatever. Don’t do it. It shows impatience. Even if you can’t wait to jump in and tell the interviewer how great you are, retain a composed posture. Keep your fingers from dancing.
3. Shifting in your seat or from foot to foot. It makes you look nervous, which you probably are. If necessary, lock your knees while standing to keep yourself from moving too much. When you first seat yourself, make certain you’re as comfortable as you can be, given the circumstances, and then make a concentrated effort to stay just as you are. Excessive movement is distracting. You want the interviewer to notice your skills, not your fidgeting.
4. Darting eyes. If you’re constantly looking away while the interviewer is speaking or while you’re speaking, the other individual will come to one of two conclusions: you’re so bored you can’t keep focused or you’re trying to hide something. Now that doesn’t mean you stare down the interviewer. You can glance away at appropriate intervals. Just don’t do it too much.
5. Standing too close. It’s an aggressive stance and will put off an interviewer, especially if you’re a man and she’s a woman. Keep an appropriate, arm’s length distance.
6. A stony-expression or a smirk. Neither is attractive. If you have no expression, the interviewer might think you’re difficult to work with. Everyone wants to deal with a pleasant personality not a cipher. A smirk will make you seem arrogant. Even if you don’t agree with what the interviewer is saying or you believe you’re too good for the job, make certain your facial expression doesn’t reveal it.

There are many other non-verbal behaviors to consider. We deal with these at JIE (JobInterviewEdge) a coaching service for our clients. Our certified, expert editors bring decades of real-world experience and advanced degrees in 40+ industries to assist our global clientele.

We’re always striving to better our products. So if you have a recommendation for JIE, we’d love to hear from you.

All interviews involve questions asked by a hiring manager so s/he can determine if you’ll be a good fit with the organization. Skills, knowledge, abilities aren’t enough, especially in this highly competitive job market. You need to prove that you have the right attitude and personality to deal with the ups & downs of any job and the other employees that come with it.

What are some of the questions you might be asked?  Here’s a brief list:

1. How would you describe yourself?
2. To be successful in this career, what do you think it takes?
3. Do you have the qualifications and personal characteristics necessary for success in your chosen career?
4. Why should we hire you?
5. What are your long-range goals and objectives?
6. What  major problem have you handled recently? Did you resolve it? How?
7. What characteristics do you think make a manager successful?
8. Why did you apply to our company?
9. What do you look for in a successful candidate?
10. How do you approach critical assignments?
11. If you had to think on your feet to solve a difficult situation, what would you do?
12.  Why were you fired?
13. What are the steps you take before making an important decision?
14. Name the most difficult assignment you had and how did you finish it?
15.  What kind of supervisor do you prefer?

As you can see, the questions are open-ended, not allowing for a simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer. The more you talk, the more the hiring authority learns about you. That’s why you need to be prepared before you utter one word. Each answer must be crafted carefully to maximize your chances in getting hired.

At JobInterviewEdge (JIE) our highly trained and certified staff of expert coaches provides you with insight into why a hiring manager asks certain questions and what answers are most effective.

To be successful is to be prepared. That’s JIE’s major purpose.

We invite your comments on how we can improve or add to our service.