The Interview Starts… Now! – 3 Tips to Make a Good First Impression

Your resume is pristine in a clear and concise format and you checked for typos. You researched an opportunity and decided it would be a good step for your career. Hopefully, you get an interview to sell your experience, knowledge and what you have to offer. While an in-person interview is where you can highlight your successes and how you are a fit for the position, a lot can go wrong between an interview invitation and getting the offer.

Every communication you have with a recruiter or hiring manager is part of the interview process. Typos in emails or unprofessionalism over the phone can be a deterrent. Being asked to interview for a position does not mean you have the job.

Here are a few tips to keep track of your interviews and make the best impression.

1) First, do not agree to an interview until you are sure you can be there. Hiring managers have busy schedules filled with responsibilities beyond interviewing for this position, and they likely have multiple candidates they are interviewing. They prioritize and set aside the time for you, so check your schedule before confirming. If you feel you might have another conflict, it is better to find another time beforehand than come back the week of or day of to squeeze another in their schedule last-minute.

2) Secondly, if you are actively looking and in consideration for multiple positions, find a method that works for you to remember your interviews. This could be scheduling interviews around 10am every day, trying to schedule interviews in one day, or even a day of the week you try to schedule interviews. While this sometimes may be out of your control due to busy schedules of hiring managers, having a pattern will help alleviate some of the stress of interviewing. If Tuesday at 10am is your preferred time, you can mentally prepare yourself in the days before to put your best foot forward. This will also help with minimizing the potential for you to need to reschedule.

3) Third, only reschedule an interview if it is an emergency. An interview is your first impression, and the manager is gauging your behavior and contributions. If you ask to cancel or reschedule, this could be a red flag and bring doubt to your reliability or problem-solving skills. Managers are understanding that life happens, but be sure rescheduling is necessary. Before you ask to reschedule, think about the situation from the decision maker’s perspective. This may be the only availability he/she has for interviews, and other strong candidates are on the calendar for the day. Many times, a candidate is selected by the end of the day, making rescheduling trivial. I recommend only rescheduling when the situation you need to handle is worth potentially missing an opportunity. If an emergency arises, ask to reschedule as much in advance as possible. Asking to reschedule ten minutes before an interview causes more concern than asking 48 hours in advance.

We do our best to help you make the best impression with hiring managers, but it is ultimately up to your punctuality, reliability and professionalism that will secure your next career move.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kelsey Maurer, Recruiter