Everyone MUST Have Interview Preparation

INTERVIEW PREPARATION!

While having the necessary skills is key to landing a new job, so is acing the interview.

The online career site Glassdoor believes one of the best ways for job seekers to get ready for an interview is to practice their responses to any questions that may be asked. To help those who are preparing for an upcoming interview put their best foot forward, Glassdoor sifted through tens of thousands of their interview reviews to find out some of the most common questions candidates are getting asked.

The 50 most common interview questions for 2014 are:

1. What are your strengths?

2. What are your weaknesses?

3. Why are you interested in working for [insert company name here]?

4. Where do you see yourself in five years? 10 years?

5. Why do you want to leave your current company?

6. Why was there a gap in your employment between [insert date] and [insert date]?

7. What can you offer us that someone else cannot?

8. What are three things your former manager would like you to improve on?

9. Are you willing to relocate?

10. Are you willing to travel?

11. Tell me about an accomplishment you are most proud of.

12. Tell me about a time you made a mistake.

13. What is your dream job?

14. How did you hear about this position?

15. What would you look to accomplish in the first 30 days/60 days/90 days on the job?

16. Discuss your résumé.

17. Discuss your education background.

18. Describe yourself.

19. Tell me how you handled a difficult situation.

20. Why should we hire you?

21. Why are you looking for a new job?

22. Would you work holidays/weekends?

23. How would you deal with an angry or irate customer?

24. What are your salary requirements?

25. Give a time when you went above and beyond the requirements for a project.

26. Who are our competitors?

27. What was your biggest failure?

28. What motivates you?

29. What’s your availability?

30. Who’s your mentor?

31. Tell me about a time when you disagreed with your boss.

32. How do you handle pressure?

33. What is the name of our CEO?

34. What are your career goals?

35. What gets you up in the morning?

36. What would your direct reports say about you?

37. What were your bosses’ strengths/weaknesses?

38. If I called your boss right now and asked him what is an area that you could improve on, what would he say?

39. Are you a leader or a follower?

40. What was the last book you've read for fun?

41. What are your co-worker pet peeves?

42. What are your hobbies?

43. What is your favorite website?

44. What makes you uncomfortable?

45. What are some of your leadership experiences?

46. How would you fire someone?

47. What do you like the most and least about working in this industry?

48. Would you work 40+ hours a week?

49. What questions haven’t I asked you?

50. What questions do you have for me?

see full article at: http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/5796-job-interview-questions.html

Will You Be Happy at Your NEW JOB?

How to Know If You'll Be Happy at Your New Job

You're looking at a new job, and the salary is solid, the expectations are reasonable, the work is exciting and the location is stellar. The company is successful, there's lots of room for you to move up and ample opportunity for you make an impact along the way.

But how do you know if you're going to be happy there?

There's a lot to consider when you're looking for a new job, and a company's culture is a major factor. Everything else about your new potential role can be outlined, drawn up and contracted, but mission statements can only tell you so much about what it will be like once you get to work.

However, there are a few things you can do to learn about it, and figure out if you can be happy there before you sign on the dotted line.

How to find out

The most direct way to gauge a company's culture is by asking the people who work there about it. If you don't have friends at a given company, asking your interviewer specific questions can help you get a sense of what life at the company is like beyond your job requirements.

You can ask her directly about the company's culture, or focus on a few key areas, such as what she loves most about the company, what the company values in an employee, what kind of working atmosphere exists and if employees socialize outside of work.

If you think the answers to those questions didn't give you enough information, see if you can arrange a tour of the office. Some interviews might include a brief look around the office, but if that doesn't work out, use the time before your interview to observe what's going on around you.

Pay close attention to how employees are interacting with each other, what they are wearing, how the office is laid out and decorated, and anything else you think is important for your happiness.

If you're still searching for more, hit the web. Glassdoor features reviews and ratings of companies by their employees that focus on working environment, employee benefits beyond health care and time off, the vision of the company and whether the company is moving in a positive direction.

You can also check out the company's social media accounts for an inside look at what's going on there, and you can even check Twitter to see how the employees interact with each other.

What to look for

The tools are there, but gauging a company's culture starts with what you value most in a working environment. There are a few generally beneficial things, including a collaborative and open environment and the presence of puppies, but an important office perk for one might be an unwelcome distraction for someone else.

Openness vs. privacy

First, think about what kind of workspace works best for you. This can vary by industry and position, but do you appreciate a bustling office with constant communication, or a place where you can hide away and knock out assignments with minimal interference? Or, do you prefer a company that will let you work from home frequently?

While a mindset of openness and cooperation is important for good communication, a physically open office without enough space and privacy can have a detrimental effect on employee productivity, work quality and health.

A healthy career

Your employer's investment in your health should go beyond insurance and sick leave. When considering a new company, see if it pushes its employees toward healthful choices — like restful breaks, an active life and a balance between work and leisure — or away from them.

As much as you might love the work you'll be doing, it won't matter if you don't stay healthy enough to do it.

Team camaraderie

Working well together is one thing, but how frequently do employees spend leisure time with each other? Whether it's weekly breakfasts and after-work events, a company ritual or just casual hangouts outside working hours, employees who enjoy each other's company typically make for a better working environment.

Full article at: http://mashable.com/2014/08/12/company-culture-tips/

Learn to MASTER These Leadership Skills!

What is the most important characteristic of a leader? Some might say it's integrity. Others may say that it's being a good motivator. But psychologist and author Sherrie Campbell believes that self-awareness — the ability to monitor one's own emotions and reactions — is the key factor in leadership success.

"Self-awareness keeps us grounded, attuned and focused," said Campbell, author of "Loving Yourself: The Master of Being Your Own Person" (AuthorHouse, 2012). "When leaders are grounded, they are able to be efficient and deliberate in staying on task, and being attuned to those around them. Leaders who have the ability to control their minds and emotions help to guide those around them to develop their own self-knowledge and success."

Learning to be aware of yourself isn't always easy, but mastering this skill can help you become a much more effective leader. Campbell shared these seven tips for improving self-awareness.

• Keep an open mind. When you have the ability to regulate your own emotional world, you can be attuned the emotions of others. To be a successful leader, you have to be curious about new people and all they have to offer. This shows that you can be a team player, and don't need to be No. 1. The more open you are to others, the more creative you become.
• Be mindful of your strengths and weaknesses. Self-aware individuals know their own strengths and weaknesses and are able to work from that space. Being mindful of this means that you know when to reach out for assistance, and when you are good on your own.
• Stay focused. Making connections with those around you is important as a leader. But you can't make those connections if you're distracted. Train yourself to focus for long periods of time without getting sucked into social media, emails and other small distractions.
• Set boundaries. A leader needs to have strong boundaries in place. Be warm toward others, but say no when you need to say no. Be serious about your work and your passions, and keep your boundaries firm to maintain the integrity of your goals and the work you put into them.
• Know your emotional triggers. Self-aware individuals are able to identify their emotions as they are happening. Don't repress your emotions or deny their causes; instead, be able to bend and flex with them, and fully process them before communicating with others.
• Embrace your intuition. Successful people trust their gut instincts and take the risks associated with them. Your instincts are based on the survival of the fittest and the need to succeed. They tell us what to do next. Learn to trust these and use them.
• Practice self-discipline. Good leaders tend to be disciplined at work and in every area of their life. It is a character trait that provides them with the enduring focus necessary for strong leadership.
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See full article at http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/6097-self-awareness-in-leadership.html

Resume MUST DO's!

Follow These Resume Rules!

There's some debate about how many seconds a recruiter spends looking over a resume, but we can all agree that it's not a lot. With such limited time to get important information across, anything you can do to make your resume easier to skim could mean the difference between the forward or toss piles.

So, after you've spent some time perfecting the content of those sections and bullet points, it's time to make sure they're as easy (and appealing!) to read as possible. Here are 12 little formatting tricks you can use to help recruiters and hiring managers get the most from your resume during their six- to 18-second scan.

1. Don't center any of your text

Even your section headings should be aligned to the left. This improves readability because the eye naturally returns to the left margin once it's ready to move on to the next line of text.

2. Align your dates and locations to the right

You can only fit so much different information (company name, job title, location, dates of employment) on one line of text before it gets unwieldy. To help separate out your information, make a separate column for dates and locations that is right adjusted. On most word processors, you should be able to just create a right-tab.

3. Don't justify your resume

Overall, using a justified setting for your bullets may make your resume look tidier, but it does nothing for readability. This setting leaves uneven gaps between words that ultimately make text harder to read, so for your bullets and resume overall, stick with regular ol’ left alignment.

4. Keep everything the same size font

Aside from your name, which should be a little bigger, the font size throughout your resume should be the same size to ensure readability. Rather than using font size for emphasis throughout your resume, use bolding, italics and all-caps — sparingly, of course.

5. Pick either your roles or your companies to bold

Bolding of select words and phrases helps with scanning, but you don't want to go overboard. So choose what to bold wisely, depending on the message you want to send. If your job titles effectively illustrate your path to management-level roles, bolding those might make the most sense. On the other hand, if you're a new grad and most of your experiences are internships, you might benefit more from emphasizing the companies on your resume.

6. Use ALL-CAPS very sparingly

While it is an option for creating emphasis, all-caps is a lot harder to read and therefore harder to skim than text that isn't capitalized. Save your all-caps option for section headings or your name.

7. Maximize the first 5 words of your bullets

When skimming a resume, a recruiter is very likely going to be reading the first few words of a bullet, then moving on to the next line unless his or her interest is piqued. This means those first few words of your bullets are much more important than the rest. Make sure the first five words of each line make the reader want to keep reading.

8. Keep bullets under 2 lines

Even if your first few words are the most interesting thing your recruiter has ever read, going over two lines per bullet is pushing it a bit. Try to keep your bullets short and sweet. (And yes, you should always use bullets, not paragraphs, to describe your experiences.)

9. Use digits when writing about numbers

Using numbers in your bullet points quantifies results and helps recruiters better understand the scope of your work. Make these numbers easy to read by using digits (i.e., 30% versus thirty percent). It improves readability and — bonus — saves space.

10. Have a separate 'skills' section

Just to really drive the point home, piling up all your relevant skills into one section helps ensure that the recruiter sees them. You should still highlight your skills in the context of your work, but pulling them out into their own section doesn't hurt.

11. Keep your formatting consistent

People can get pretty creative when they're trying to fit all their relevant work experience into one page. That's fine, but make sure that however you decide to do it, you keep your formatting the same throughout the document. Consistency helps with skimming, and if the recruiter wants to refer back to something, he or she will know where to look.

12. Try to have some white space left over

Lastly, having some breathing room on your resume also helps with skimming. Different amounts of white space can signal to the reader that this is a different section or help emphasize the importance of something, such as your name or skills. And overall, it just makes the whole document less overwhelming.

Having your resume skimmed is a fact of life as your apply for jobs. So, make sure you maximize the experience and make it as easy as possible for the recruiter to find the right information — and send you along to the next step of the process.

Find full article at: http://mashable.com/2014/07/29/resume-changes-skimming/

How to Answer the Tough Interview Question...

"What's Your Biggest Strength?"....
"Uhhhhh..."

Among the other dreaded interview classics — like "Tell me about yourself," "Where do you see yourself in 10 years?" and "What are some of your weaknesses?" — "What are your greatest strengths?" seems like a pretty innocuous question.

But that doesn't mean you can skip preparing for it it. In fact, answer it well, and it’s one of the best ways you can show off your skills and show that you stand out among other candidates.

Here are a few strategies for doing just that.

1. Think quality, not quantity

Let’s start with what not to do. The worst response I've ever heard was a full minute-long diatribe during which the interviewee proceeded to list a string of positive attributes (outgoing, detail-oriented, hardworking, independent, friendly, easy-going, you name it) and just kept going. One of the adjectives chosen was actually "humble." I was speechless.

To walk that line between confident and arrogant, definitely don't just list a bunch of nice adjectives to describe yourself. Sure, you want to sell yourself as the right man or woman for the job, but you're going to be much more compelling if you cut the buzzwords and speak genuinely about your strengths.

Your strategy? Choose one to three attributes you want to mention (depending on whether the question asks for one strength or multiple) and cap it there. You’ll want to think strategically about what skills will position you as qualified for the job and a good fit for the company. Does the position require client interaction? Communication and relationship building makes sense. Or if the environment is fast paced and constantly evolving — your ability to multitask, adapt and learn quickly would be good to highlight.

2. Back strengths up with stories

That said, what's more important than the strengths you choose is being able to back up your claims — don't just expect the interviewer to believe you without some evidence.

Start off by answering the question directly, and then segue into a story that shows off your skills. For example, "I think some of my greatest strengths are my communication skills and willingness to take initiative. During my last internship, when I was helping to manage several social media accounts, I made sure that everyone on the team was on the same page and knew what our messaging strategy was by taking the initiative to send out a weekly email to keep the team up to date and to seek feedback. This ended up being so helpful that the weekly social media update was incorporated into a full-time staff member's responsibilities."

3. Look for holes and fill them

The great thing about the "strengths" question is that it's actually pretty versatile and open-ended—you can really turn the conversation to whatever you want. So, a great way to approach this question is to think about something you really want to talk about during the interview, but haven't had the chance to share yet. Are there any skills that you want to emphasize? Maybe you have a killer "teamwork" story, but haven't had the opportunity to share it yet. Well, here is your chance!

Alternatively, if you get the question toward the end of your interview and you've basically covered your bases, another approach would be to make a final pitch that you're a great fit for the position and the company culture. Assuming you've done the crucial legwork of researching the company prior to interviewing, you should have a good sense of how the company perceives it's own uniqueness. Bloomberg, for example, is known for caring about loyalty. On the other hand, Bridgewater is a bit notorious for how much it values open communication.

Of course, you can only use this strategy if your personal values do truly align with the company's. If they do, you can essentially rehash your answer for "Why this company?" with more of a focus on values and an example to back it up. For instance, "I would have to say that one of my greatest strengths is my ability to collaborate. In fact, having the opportunity to work in a team is one of the biggest draws for me to this position. I've found that working in a team brings out the best in me. For example…"

Unfortunately, there's no one-size-fits-all answer for this. Your best bet in preparing for the "strengths" question (and questions like it) is to have your talking points prepared and a lot of good stories to turn to. Use open questions like this strategically, and then make sure your answer's memorable by telling a killer story. With a bit of preparation, you'll be ready to take full advantage of being asked, "What's your greatest strength?"

Find full article at: http://mashable.com/2014/06/19/greatest-strength-job-interview/

Five DEADLIEST Job Interview Mistakes

Five DEADLIEST Job Interview Mistakes

A lot of people are confused about job interviews. They think a job interview is like a citizenship exam. They think that if they study hard and give the right answer to each question put to them, everything will be fine.

At a citizenship exam, if you answer the questions correctly you'll get your papers. Everyone who shows up to the exam that day can become a citizen, and we can have a big party and celebrate. Your goal in the citizenship exam is to give the right answer and wait for the next question.

A job interview is exactly the opposite! Only one person can get the job, so the last thing you want to do is sound like everyone else. Yet our office is flooded with mail from people who are unclear on the 'one person gets hired' concept as it relates to job interviews.

"You say that I should answer the question 'Why should we hire you?' with a non-traditional answer," goes a typical query. "What's wrong with 'You should hire me because I'm qualified, hard-working and eager to make a difference!'?"

You can answer the question that way if you want to, but why on earth would you want to? Every other candidate will answer exactly that way!

The last thing you want to do on a job interview is disappear into the confusing sea of job-seekers that a hiring manager is desperately trying to keep separate in his mind.

Your job on a job interview is to get the manager thinking and to exercise your own brain, too. Neural activity is the key. If you stay in the standard frame and answer the questions like a good little sheepie job candidate, the manager may literally forget who you are.

I was an HR chief for millennia. The biggest problem job-seekers face after job interviews is that hiring managers literally can't remember them.

"Now Amy Jones - which one was she, again?" a hiring manager would ask me.

"Blonde curly hair, Southern accent," I'd say. "Oh, yeah, her!" the hiring manager would reply.

How would you keep a dozen job candidates straight if you met them all over three or four days? The more cues you can get during the interview (the Navy Guy, the woman who wrote a kids' book) the easier it becomes keep each candidate distinct in your mind.

The more you stick to the script and sound just like everyone else in the lineup, the worse the problem becomes.

Managers feel bad when they meet people and forget them, but it happens every day.

"Did I meet Chester Anderson?"

"Yep - tall guy, rides a Harley, remember?"

"Oh yeah, the Harley guy."

Once a manager forgets you, all the thank-you notes in the world won't bring you back to mind as a living, breathing human being, much less a contender for the job. Your aim at a job interview is to make an impression, not to sit in the chair like a ventriloquist's dummy and spit out pat answers on cue.

Here are the five deadliest interview mistakes we see in our work with job-seekers and hiring managers. We've provided remedies on the three linked blog pages. Take charge of your next job interview, and make it a high-mojo conversation!

MISTAKE NUMBER ONE: Neglecting the Basics

You've got to go to a job interview prepared. If your first question for an HR person or hiring manager is "What does your company do?" you can bet that the interviewer is drawing a big red X through your name in his mind, even if he's too polite to say so.

You have to know what the company does and for whom, where its various locations are and who its competitors are. You have to know what's new in the organization and what people are saying about them. Here is a list of of critical pre-interview research topics and where to find the information you need.

The goal of your pre-interview research is not to show that you're a good little student and a get a gold star, but to understand the company's business situation. That's for your own benefit, and your knowledge will help you compose thoughtful interview questions to ask your interviewer, too.

MISTAKE NUMBER TWO: Showing Up Without Questions

"Is there a bus that runs by here?" is a perfectly fine question for a job-seeker to ask an interviewer if the job-seeker is 18 years old or younger. Once we hit adulthood, we're expected to develop higher-altitude questions about the role, the company's situation in its marketplace and the hiring manager's priorities.

Click here for a list of interview questions that you can jot on your spiffy notepad (tucked into your leather or vegan leather portfolio, which you'll bring to every interview not only to prep yourself with pre-written questions but also to take notes) and refer to when you need it.

The best interview questions, though, are not the ones on our list but organic questions that spring from the unfolding conversation, as in this example.

MISTAKE NUMBER THREE: Answering and Going Silent

When we have in mind that a job interview is like an oral exam, we answer a question and then clam up and wait for the next one. That's citizenship-exam behavior. That's not how humans converse, and you're not going to start an intellectually-stimulating conversation by following the boring, standard script. If you interview in the standard sheepie way, the manager will forget your conversation two minutes after your tush disappears through the revolving door.

Here are two contrasting answers to the lame interview question "Where do you see yourself in five years?"

MANAGER: Where do you see yourself in five years?

APPLICANT: Here, hopefully, working in Accounts Payable or perhaps in Finance.

Is this manager going to say "Wow! There's a lively thinker!" upon hearing this answer?

Heck, no. Not one neuron is firing in the manager's brain while you're matching the lameness quotient of his lame question with your own lame answer.

Let's try it again:

MANAGER: Where do you see yourself in five years?

APPLICANT: I don't have a timetable, but I'm interested in astrophysics - yes, don't laugh! It's true. I love science, and I don't know exactly where I'll go with it but I read everything I can about quantum mechanics, cosmology and the point where engineering and physics intersect.

MANAGER: Wow -- but you're an Accounts Payable person!

APPLICANT: I worked at my grandpa's hardware store in high school and I learned bookkeeping and then Accounting. I got my BS in Finance because I like fitting the numbers into the rest of the business processes like Purchasing, Sales and forecasting. Somehow I'm going to weave the science in, at some point. Life is long!

You can turn even a brainless interview question like "Where do you see yourself in five years?" into a conversation-starter if you bring a little mojo to the interview.

What is there to be afraid of, after all? The only mistake you can make is to hide behind the script and be forgotten. As long as you stay calm, don't evaluate or censor yourself and listen to your body, you're going to do fine.

MISTAKE NUMBER FOUR: Leaving Without Learning

Notice how I keep talking about getting the manager's brain and your own brain working? To do that, you've got to listen carefully to everything your interviewer says, get off the script and react appropriately. You've got to let the conversation unfold, and that means keeping the conversation human instead of retreating to the boring and robotic standard interview script.

Let's compare two answers to the question "What do you know about FrammelSoft?"

MANAGER: Tell me what you know about FrammelSoft.

CANDIDATE: I'm sorry that I'm not familiar with that software, but I'm a quick learner.

This is a classic interview mishap. You're an experienced Accounts Payable person and you've never heard of this piece of software, yet you apologize for not knowing it?

You have nothing to apologize for. Let's try it again, this time staying human and pushing for some learning on both sides of the conversation.

MANAGER: Tell me what you know about FrammelSoft.

CANDIDATE: Is that an Accounts Payable application?

MANAGER: Not specifically - it's a kind of mid-range ERP, but there's an Accounts Payable piece. We've been using it since before I got here.

CANDIDATE: How does it fit into the A/P pipeline specifically?

MANAGER: Well, we enter the vendors into FrammelSoft and then it creates vendor reports used by Purchasing. It's kind of ancillary to A/P but it's a tricky system and I was wondering if you'd used it.

CANDIDATE: I haven't heard of it, but it makes me curious, because I thought I read in the job ad that you use SAP.

MANAGER: We do use SAP - this Frammelsoft program is a legacy thing that is actually kind of a pain in the neck.

CANDIDATE: Would it be worth exploring a way to get out of the dependence on FrammelSoft and get that functionality from SAP, which already cost your company a bundle?

MANAGER: That would be heavenly, but our Purchasing guys are completely committed to FrammelSoft.

CANDIDATE: It makes me think that if I were the person you hired for this job, the Purchasing folks would be a high priority for me -- getting to know them and then understanding what they get out of FrammelSoft that they can't get from SAP.

MANAGER: I have to think our SAP Account Manager would be your ally in that.

The hiring manager is mentally imagining you in the job, already! On a job interview, don't give a harmless little answer and be quiet. Listen, learn and respond! You'd do that naturally if you weren't experiencing interview jitters.

You can lessen the jitter factor by reminding yourself that not everyone is worthy of your gifts. Only the people who get you, deserve you!

MISTAKE NUMBER FIVE: Groveling

Groveling means cowering and begging. It means watching the interviewer's face to see how he or she reacts to every word you utter and every non-verbal signal you send. It means shutting down your true personality in order to be pleasing to the interviewer.

You don't go on dates to please people, do you? You go on dates to figure out whether you and another person have enough chemistry to continue the conversation. A job interview works the same way!

As long as you believe that an employer has something wonderful and precious that you desperately need -- that is, a job -- and that you are nothing and they are godlike, you are sunk. The only kind of people you'll bring in then will be fearful managers who are sure to undervalue and abuse you.

When you know in your heart and your gut that you bring to the table something just as valuable as a paycheck and maybe much more -- your tremendous experience, intellect and instinct -- you'll carry yourself differently. You won't trip over your words in an effort to please His Majesty or Her Highness, because you'll see yourself and the interviewer as equals on a level playing field.

If the energy is right, you'll have a new job and they'll have an awesome new employee in a few weeks. If the energy is wrong, your mojo won't even flicker, because you'll be one step closer to the perfect opportunity waiting for you, working among people who will grow your precious flame.

Read Liz Ryan's story Nine HR Policies That Drive Good People Away

See full article at: https://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20140705055830-52594-the-five-deadliest-job-interview-mistakes

Human Workplace, was founded in 2012 to reinvent work for people. CEO and Founder, Liz Ryan, was a Fortune 500 HR SVP and is now the world's most widely-read career and workplace advisor.

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Interview Nerves? We Got Your Back!

DON'T PANIC!

It’s the morning of your big interview and you’re a nervous wreck. Your palms are sweating, you can’t find your resume and you've become convinced you’re going to bomb your big day.

Unfortunately, nerves are the ultimate enemy to any interview success story. It doesn't matter how qualified you are; if you find yourself in a panic, you’re likely to undercut your chances of success.

A case of nerves can lead to major nonverbal mistakes. For example, 67% of interviewees fail to make adequate eye contact and 33% fidget too much. Don’t despair if you’re nervous for your big day — just remember that you’re the boss of your brain. Calm your nerves with these surprising mental hacks, and get ready to nail your next interview.

Cognitive reframing

Cognitive reframing is a psychological technique used to identify negative thoughts, and then dispute or reframe those thoughts into more positive challenges. Recent research reveals that people perform better when they look at difficult situations as a challenge instead of a threat — and a job interview presents a prime opportunity to turn a difficult situation into a challenge.

When you think about it, interviewing is a solo activity. Research has found this solo status can be extremely stressful, because it increases visibility and performance pressure. When all eyes are on you in the interview, the implications for making a mistake are much higher. It’s no wonder going on a job interview can feel so threatening.

However, research has found that cognitive appraisal, or how you view a situation, has a big impact on how well you perform in these instances. If you see the interview as a challenge to tackle and overcome instead of a threatening and scary situation, you increase your odds of success. Before the interview, create a little mantra for yourself so you can remember that this is a challenge to overcome — not a frightening experience. Reframing how you interpret the interview gives you a better chance of success.

Chew gum

Can chewing gum contribute to interview success? The answer might just surprise you. Researchers at Cardiff University in the United Kingdom found that workers who chew gum have lower levels of occupational stress. The same research team also found that students who chewed gum regularly reported lower stress levels and the ability to complete a greater load of academic work.

Meanwhile, researchers from St. Lawrence University found that gum-chewing benefits working memory, episodic memory and general information-processing speed. The chewing motion gets blood flowing to the head, leading to neural arousal and making it easier for you to focus and concentrate.

Chewing some gum before a big interview may help you focus on your talking points, remember important information and rid some of the troublesome stress that's bringing down your performance. Popping in a stick of gum doesn’t just ensure minty-fresh breath, it might also improve your interviewing skills. Just don’t forget to get rid of the gum before the actual interview! No interviewer wants to see how many bubbles you can blow or how loudly you can pop your gum.

Smile like you mean it (and you will)

While you're focused on the questions interviewers might ask and the qualifications you want to highlight, you might be missing an important interview weapon in your arsenal: Your smile. A full 38% of job seekers get so wrapped up in the stress of the interview that they forget to smile.

Smiling is important, especially when meeting new people, since it helps send the message that you’re friendly and easy to work with. This is especially important when interviewing for client-facing or sales jobs. For instance, if you’re interviewing for a job as a medical sales representative, good people skills are a must — smiling shows you can connect easily with others.

As an added bonus, smiling in the interview just might make you feel happier and more relaxed. Researchers studying the phenomenon have found that expressions may influence emotions. Therefore, if you smile — even when extremely stressed in an interview setting — you might actually start to feel happier. Happiness may translate to confidence, and your potential employers are likely to pick up on this. So don’t be afraid to flash those pearly whites; they just might nab you the job.

Mirror body language

It’s a fact of life that we tend to like people who remind us of ourselves; humans are a little egocentric that way. Therefore, mirroring body language in an interview can lead to more positive feelings from the interviewer. Research has found that mimicry can leave people with more positive feelings, and even make others more persuasive.

If you want to persuade an interviewer that you’re the perfect person for the job, subtly mirror nonverbal gestures. This includes pitch and tone, body language, posture and body orientation. Don’t go overboard and copy your interviewer’s every gesture; remember you want to build a bond, not creep them out. Being subtly aware of body language, however, can make you a smarter interview subject and a more appealing hire.

Interviews can be stressful, but it’s important to remember that you’re in charge of your own destiny. By utilizing some of these mental hacks, you may just nail the interview and land your dream job.

It’s a fact of life that we tend to like people who remind us of ourselves; humans are a little egocentric that way. Therefore, mirroring body language in an interview can lead to more positive feelings from the interviewer. Research has found that mimicry can leave people with more positive feelings, and even make others more persuasive.If you want to persuade an interviewer that you’re the perfect person for the job, subtly mirror nonverbal gestures. This includes pitch and tone, body language, posture and body orientation. Don’t go overboard and copy your interviewer’s every gesture; remember you want to build a bond, not creep them out. Being subtly aware of body language, however, can make you a smarter interview subject and a more appealing hire.

Interviews can be stressful, but it’s important to remember that you’re in charge of your own destiny. By utilizing some of these mental hacks, you may just nail the interview and land your dream job.

Find full article at: http://mashable.com/2014/06/03/interview-mental-hacks/