A few hours on your part could result in EXCELLENT INTERVIEWS and the most ATTRACTIVE OFFERS.

Please give yourself the time to review the following material - visualize and practice your best questions and responses - while customizing them to your experience and personality.

Our experience shows that your time will be extremely well spent, greatly increasing your advantage over competing candidates.

It is hoped that you enjoy and benefit from the package; your input is welcome.

Really let each person interviewing you get to know who you are.  In the process, you will gain knowledge about each individual and the company as a whole.

1. Be prepared for questions you may be asked. You will see a number of "Anticipated Employer Questions" listed a few pages back in this package. Rehearse your most effective responses. Especially be ready to answer the open-ended question, "So tell me about yourself."

2. Prepare at least a dozen good, smart questions to write down and bring to the interview with you. Prioritize the questions so that you get to ask the most important ones first (especially if time begins to run out). Leave space between the questions to take notes. This will show the interviewer that you are organized. You may want to photocopy each list and have one copy ready for each person you'll be talking to. You may also wish to vary the questions you ask.

Questions should be a mixture of the following three categories:

a) Questions about the person (to build rapport - most hires are due to chemistry:

• "How long have you been with the company?"

• "Where were you before coming here?"

• "What brought you to this company?"

• "What do you see as your secret to success here?" (What's important to them?)

• "How many people are on your team? Where would this position fit in?"

b) Questions about the position (what's important?):

• "What's the most important thing you'd want me to accomplish in the first 30 days?"

• "What are the people like in the group?"

• "What are the problems going on currently? What are the strengths?"

• "What's a typical day like here? What do you come up against?"

• "What are your objectives, and what are the obstacles to getting there?"

• "What's it going to take to get us beyond that?"

• "What would I have accomplished a year from now to get a '10' on my review?"

c) Questions about the company (after having done your homework!):

• "Where is your company going over the next five years in terms of financial growth?"
• "How do you intend to maintain that type of growth?"

a) On an 8 1/2 x 11 piece of paper, write down every skill or trait you can think of that makes you successful - personal or business. Fill the page so that you can look at the entire thing.

b) Review the list and highlight your top three or four skills or traits. These would be the top "features" you would bring to an organization.

c) For each of these top skills or traits, list one or two "benefits" the company would realize by your bringing those "features."

4. Prepare another list to bring with you, specifying reasons WHY you are there. List about 5 or 6 things here - not about why you want the position, but about what has motivated you to come and talk to the company about the position. What did you hear when you were told about the position? Is it the company, the person, the job, the opportunity, the future? Usually this list will fit in great with questions that come up during the interview.

5. Prepare a final list to illustrate YOUR being a match for the position. Finish this list WHILE you are in the interview. On the left side, write down everything the company or department needs. On the right side, write down how you fulfill that need - with an example, including a short story. Put down one or two weaknesses too, if applicable - and what you're going to do about them - and share that when it comes up. Don't hurry through this part - get their agreement about you as a "match." Then end by asking the person if they can see why you are so excited about the position.

1.   Tell me about yourself.
2.   Why are you looking?
3.   How would you describe your present boss? How are you alike/different?
4.   Describe an unpleasant work situation in the past. How did you deal with it?
5.   What methods do you use to make decisions?
6.   What methods have you found successful in setting job objectives for employees?
7.   Under what kinds of conditions do you feel you learn best?
8.   If you could structure the perfect job for yourself, what would you do, and why?
9.   Give examples of situations in which you've been criticized. How did you react and why?
10. What kinds of challenges do you feel bring out your potential?
11. In what areas would like to develop further? How do you plan to do that?
12. Tell me about two serious interpersonal problems you've experienced on the job.
13. In groups, do you often emerge as a dominant figure? If so, what do you feel is the cause?
14. Where do you want to be in five years? Where do you think you will be?
15. Why should we be interested in hiring you?
16. What is wrong with your present job?
17. Does your present employer know that you're looking for another job?
18. Why are you interested in our company?
19. What are your three greatest strengths/weaknesses?
20. What have you liked and disliked about most past jobs?
21. What do you think you would like best about this job?
22. How important to you is salary versus other aspects of the job?
23. What five things have you done in your life (or career) that you are most proud of?
24. If you had your choice of any job at all at this moment, what would it be, and why?
25. Tell me about the most/least interesting work that you have done.
26. What were the characteristics of the best/worst bosses you've ever had?
27. What do you do for fun?
28. What are your assets/liabilities as a person?
29. What are your long and short-term financial goals?
30. May I call your previous employers? What will they say about you?
31. What are your outside interests?
32. What was the biggest obstacle you have faced in your life? How did you deal with it?