Interviewing by Objective

Almost everyone finds interviews stressful. Developing an interview strategy will help to relieve some of your anxiety.

One useful approach is "interviewing by objective." Before you attend an interview, write down three to five goals that you would like to achieve in the interview; they may be technique goals (such as smiling more, having a firmer handshake or remembering to ask about the next stage in the interview process) or they may be content-related goals (like finding out about the company's current challenges and opportunities, or remembering to speak about your recent research, writing or travel experiences).

Most people find that these goals make their interview technique more focused. In particular, they can analyse their performance in the interview through their achievement of the goals, rather than just a vague feeling of how it went.

In the next section, we will expand our understanding of the interview process by exploring the opening, middle and conclusion of a typical interview.

Activity
Write down three to five goals that you would like to achieve in your next interview.