How To Stand Out In The Crowd

Even if you're great at what you do, if you're in the job market, you've probably noticed it's tougher than ever before. Even to get an interview is an accomplishment in more popular fields, where thousands of people are vying for one special opportunity. Whether you're in a field that's very in demand or not, though, you need to be able to stand out in the crowd when it's time to go in for your job interview. Your goal for your job interview should be that before you leave the room, your interviewer should have largely forgotten about the crowd of applicants because your performance during the interview has been so compelling.

Make no mistake -- a job interview is a performance. Depending on where you are in your career, it might be the performance of a lifetime. Whether it is or it isn't the performance of a lifetime for you, however, the fact remains that a job interview is indeed an audition. And guess what? Actors prepare. This is not to say that you should be fake. Presumably, the reason that you're interviewing for this job is that you want to be a part of the company with whom you're interviewing. Accordingly, the role that you case yourself in should be that of the person who already has the job. And how do you do this?

Do Your Homework About the Company

With the Internet, there's no excuse for job-seekers not to be incredibly well-informed about the business of their prospective employer. Find the website of your prospective employer, search on Google.com to see if the company name has appeared in any newspaper articles. Learn all that you can about the culture of the company, its mission, its philosophy, and its lines of business. By being conversant in all of this, you will impress your interviewer, and with luck, you'll have some material for the dreaded: "Any more questions?" at the end of the interview -- you know it's coming.

Dress The Part

The day of your interview is not the day to wake up late or skip washing your hair. Dress in your most polished and professional attire. Even if you discover or even if you know that the place you're interviewing with is a casual work environment, you're more likely to be taken seriously as a potential new hire if you show up dressed for business. Even in casual work environments, the fact that you took the time to put yourself together in a professional and polished manner signals to the interviewer that this job is something that you care enough about to dress up for.

Advertisement

Get More Information