Job seekers are hungry for information about how to best to apply and prepare for a job interview, a highly nerve-wracking process. An increase in competition for good jobs makes the process even more daunting, especially for people who have not dusted off their resume in last few years. And there is no written rule for interviews – the process varies by job and company, and it also changes over time.
For example, the way people land an interview has gone through changes. In the past six months alone, Glassdoor has seen more job applicants report securing an interview after submitting their resume online (46%) than in just the six months prior (42%). However, more traditional means – like recruiters, referrals or universities – were less likely to help in securing an interview in the past six months than previously.
The interview process can also include a variety of hurdles for the job seeker: approximately one in three (29%) job seekers report going thru a 1:1 interview, close to one in four (23%) report having had a phone interview, and more than one in ten (12%) have faced a group/panel interview
To help a job seeker master the interview, Glassdoor’s career expert Rusty Rueff provides some perspective on how the interview process has changed in the past few years, how job seekers can best prepare and what future job seekers should be on the lookout for.
“Five to ten years ago, we were interviewing with the information given to us by company websites and blogs. Today, we have greater transparency to know culture, interview process, interview questions, as well as the salary for a specific job at a specific company. We are now better ready to present ourselves, but we are also better at self-selecting before we go and interview a company for a job.”
Rusty gives these tips on how to appeal to employers and how to prepare for an interview in today’s market:
- Come armed with a piece of information about the company or the interviewer that they would have never been able to know unless they had done their homework and digging.
- Know the “inside language” of the company. Every company has acronyms and an inside language….do your homework and be able to try and speak the language.
- Be able to articulate the culture of the company back to the interviewer to show how well you would be a “perfect fit”
- Be ready and willing to offer to do “modified work” (i.e. part-time, project, etc.) to get your foot in the door.
- Be ready to tell a compelling story that arcs your jobs into a career that makes sense for the job applying.
So what can we expect in the future when it comes to interviews? Rusty says, “Expect captured video interviews as a standard. We will have to get good at thinking on our feet and answering and telling our stories in a concise and interesting way.” He adds, “Expect more standardization from companies in the interview process. Expect the need to be more and more knowledgeable about the company before you get to the second round. Recruiters are going to become even more picky and expectant of over prepared candidates.”
Have you interviewed lately? Tell us how it went.
