My interview tips

I did all the interviews I've ever done in my whole life in the past 6 months. In these 6 months, my interviews covered three completely different industries: pharmaceuticals, finance, and consulting. Finally now I can take some rest from being interviewed! But honestly speaking I've come to enjoy the interviews a lot and quite experienced. Are you also looking for a new position? Then please read on for my 2 cents to help you become the "killer" candidate.

Before the interview: motivation and vision
Yes baby first you need to get your goals straight. If you know exactly what you want for your life and when to get them, lucky you! You are probably among the 0.1% smartest people in the world. I was unfortunately among the rest 99.9% and as you can see from my interview patterns I absolutely had no clue. However as I was trying out different opportunities I worked out my priorities by considering:
1. background
This includes language and education background, age, gender. According to your background, what advantages and disadvantages you have towards each opportunity. Cut straight in with your advantages and avoid disadvanges.
2. personality
What do you enjoy doing the most and what do you dislike. Would you be happy to work in this industry or this company? Profession tends to define the professionals' personality (eg statisticians are known to be boring and anti-social, that's why I decide to quit being a statistican :P) It is not hard to figure out what kind of life you would have and what kind of people you would hang out with in your future office. If you think you won't like it, DON't apply, cuz you won't get the job. (most likely your interviewers won't like you either)
3. compensation & fulfillment
Of course we don't work just for money. I'd rather say we work for fulfillment and money (although often money has a positive correlation with your fulfillment). How big of a fulfillment would satisfy you? If you see yourself never being satisfied in a certain position (this is also easy. Look at your boss or the highest positioned person in the organization: do you want to become like him/her one day? if not, DON't apply)
4. time value
Some opportunies expire fast and early some others tend to stay a little longer. If people don't become a super model at 18 for example, or a super footballer at 20, they never will. Time value doesn't just apply to career choices, it also applies to our personal lives. You need to balance work and family and for some people this would be harder than others.
5. career progression
can you see any glass ceiling? is the glass ceiling high enough for you that you simply don't care? Or even worse, is there any positive slope for your career progression curve? would you rather take it easy and stable or are you an ambitious person? When you compare two career progression curves (or in a more straightforward way, the salary progression curves), compare the area under the curve for the next 5 years rather than the starting point.


Now you've dressed up in your best black suit (note: avoid 100% black), you've paid attention to details as well (hair, shoes, finger nails!) and had 2 cups of coffee.

At the interview:
1. be prepared to answer technical questions
which means you need to do all your homework about the industry, the company, the postion you interview for. I recommend you to get a couple of guidebooks and study for 1-2 months before your interview.
2. smile (do not giggle) & steady and friendly eye contact
this goes without saying.. be confident, and don't be shy! Remember, you are among the few chosen ones to come for the interview and the company believes that you must be worth the air ticket and accomodation..
3. firm (but not bone crushing) handshake !!!
I used to think handshakes were not important at all. You want to shake my hand? I would slightly extend my arm and land 2 of my fingers on the person's hand, as if I was the queen and they would like to kiss my hand. That was really aweful! (if not sickening..) Once I started to realize how crucial handshaking is in shaping a first impression I've so far discovered a lot of "queens" (and not just women!) and how terrible I felt when shaking hands with them. Of course you don't want to overdo it either. People rarely overdo it but once I shaked hands with a gigantic german guy and seriously, for one split second I thought he had crushed my bones and I almost fainted..
4. be logical and structured
Think before you speak. You are not doing a casual conversation over a couple of beers. Every movement of yours is being watched not to mention what you say. I found it very helpful to answer interview questions in a "deductive" way rather than an "inductive" way. The diamond head must come out first then you can pull out several gold chains. This is because once the interviewer asked the question, whatever sentence that comes out first was listened to most attentatively. Also time is short and you definitely don't want your interview to become impatient or even worse, getting lost of where you're going.

After the intervew:
Now you've done the interview and they said they'd get back to you as soon as possible. As long as a decision is not made yet, there're still things you can do to improve your chance -- thank you letters.
I know some people don't like writing letters. But hey, I don't like being waken up by my alarm clock every morning and rush to office. Consider this part of your work -- would it make it easier for you?
You must write a thank you letter to your HR, because HR is your contact person and you definitely have the contact info. If you get any name cards at your interview, also write thank you letters to those who have given you name cards.
3 merits of writing thank you letters:
1. even if you have received an offer right after your interview, then you'd better start socialize with these people soon, this would get you a more friendly start in the company.
2. if they're considering your case in a favorable way.. your thank you letter would help them send out that offer a couple of days earlier and maybe with 10% more salary.
3. if they decide to turn you down -- maybe after seeing your letter, they would change their minds! or they could recommend you to a different position, you could apply next year, etc.
You have everything to gain and nothing to lose!