Ways to kick Ass during the Job Interview

NO! not like the photo I picked for the article. The photo is just to  get your attention to read this. Now that I have your attention….

So you are one of those lucky ones who landed a job interview and desperate to  secure the job.

By decreasing the jitters before your interview, you can increase your confidence curing the interview.  Getting nervous just before or during an interview is natural, but there are specific actions you can take to decrease, if not eliminate it.  Here is a checklist of  important actions you can accomplish before any interview you walk into.

1. Google Yourself

The idea that employers perform Internet searches on job candidates is nothing new — and the frequency of these searches is climbing. Some experts report that up to 85% of hiring managers “Google” a candidate before or after an interview.

There are ways job seekers and career changers can influence what appears when they are searched. You should deliberately incorporate key words or key phrases related to your career direction into your resume, but you should also add them to your online content. If you need help, look at Google’s adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal.

Recruit links: The number of external links pointing to your content  is an important factor in how you’re ranked by search engines. You can generate links by providing useful content that’s presented in an original way and by syndicating your articles in various online channels and social networks.

Once you have a good amount of positive content floating around, a new tool you might find helpful is Vizibility. This site allows you to customize the search results for your name and to generate a unique URL that links to these results so that people see the material you want them to see, in the order you want them to see it.

Remove or push down negative information: What do you do if a search for your name reveals information that you’d rather people not see? The most straightforward way, says Mr. Perry, is to scour your Web sites and social networks and remove anything you would not proudly share. Stop producing content that has the potential to provoke a negative response, and publish appropriate content at a high volume so that you can push unsavory or irrelevant results off the most frequently viewed top pages.

2. Check out the companies’ Blog and their social media channels

Visit the company’s official Facebook Page, Twitter account, and blog. This is a great way to keep up on company happenings whether you’re interviewing for a small organization or a global brand.

3. Check out the Company’s LinkedIn Page

Search for the company on LinkedIn. A company’s LinkedIn page features a list of new hires, recent promotions, departures, as well as demographic information about its employees, such as gender, geography, and career track. If you’re interested, you can have daily or weekly e-mails sent to you with new activity. Just hit “follow” at the top of the page.

Take a look at the profiles of employees, particularly those you’re scheduled to meet with during your interview.

I think the most valuable aspect of the company page on LinkedIn is the ability to see how you’re connected to current and former employees at the organization, and immediately tap into those connections. In some cases, you may know a person directly, while in other cases it might be a friend-of-a-sister-of-a-colleague who works there. The best way to learn about a company is to make use of the expertise of its employees, as they are the ones with inside knowledge of the organization and the challenges that arise on a daily basis. They’re also the ones who can tell you that little kernel of information about the job you’re interviewing for that’s not in the job description.

If you find an employee you’d like to contact, you can send them a message directly or request an introduction from a mutual LinkedIn connection. Ideally, the connection will be made quickly and seamlessly, and you can move forward with setting up an e-mail, phone, or in-person conversation to learn about the company.

4. Employee Blogs and their social media channels

In addition to official corporate accounts, many CEOs and higher-ups tweet and blog as individuals. You can gain extraordinary insight into a company by following them, as they are the people driving the organization. What issues do they face? What motivates them? What do they write and tweet about on a daily basis? These are all things that can help you better understand the company as you approach your interview.

Take it a step further and find the accounts of non-executive employees within the company at which you’re interviewing. This should be easy to do, as many people include links to their Twitter account and blog in their LinkedIn profiles. If you’re having difficulty identifying employees, use a directory like Twellow.

The benefit of following employees is that you may get hints about issues currently affecting the workplace that you wouldn’t see in official press releases or the CEO’s blog. For instance, a mid-level manager might tweet about challenges presented by the company’s new database software. A junior employee might blog about the recent effort to emphasize team-building in the company’s training program. Some of these insights may directly relate to the position for which you’re interviewing. These comments also give you a feel for corporate culture.

On Twitter, it’s easiest to set-up private lists to follow the tweets of employees at particular companies. Some may call this “stalking” — I call it “being resourceful.” As you prepare for your interview, you may even want to reach out with a tweet: “I’m interviewing for a marketing assistant job at your company next week. Any insider tips?” If you’re going to do this, it’s usually best to exchange a few introductory tweets first.

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