Things that you need to remember:

There will be 5-10 candidates for your job. You must be better prepared than they are. You must have a "game plan" that will be designed to meet current and future needs.

There are 7 areas to be prepared for in an interview.

1. Enthusiasm
2. Business
3. Company
4. Your Assets
5. Maturity
6. Money
7. Close

Best Answers to basic interiview questions:*

What are your strengths?

• Good writing and communication skills
• Ability to focus and see through the clutter
• Motivating a team to achieve success
• Effectively working across multiple disciplines in a large organization

Weaknesses?

• Fairly direct personality (a good weakness because it may be interpreted as a strength by some)
• Difficult time working with those less passionate than I am (a weakness that is forgivable)
• Could sharpen Excel skills for better business analysis (or whatever program would be beneficial for you to know, since this is easily accomplished)

Most important attributes to me in a job

• Accountability and ability to affect the direction of the organization
• Ability to win, to succeed
• Have an environment where employees can grow and enjoy their work

* The above information has been obtained from "Great Answers! Great Questions! For your job interview" by Block and Betrus

1. Arrives late to the interview (First impressions really do count and they are remembered for a long time)

2. Makes a bad impression in the waiting area (Treats receptionists and secretaries as inferiors - these are individuals that may have important input into the hiring process when later asked by the employer of their impression of the candidate.)

3. Offers silly excuses for behavior. (Excuses are usually red flags indicating that a person is unwilling to take responsibility and do the work) Some examples of the worst excuses:

   I forgot

   It wasn't my fault

   It was a bad company

   My boss was a real jerk

   The college wasn't very good

   I can't remember why i did that

   No one appreciated my work

   I didn't have time to visit your website

4. Presents a poor appearance and negative image (Under-dressing and over-dressing are never a good impression)

5. Expresses bad, negative, and corrosive attitudes (Tends to be negative, overbearing, extremely aggressive, cynical, and opinionated to the extreme.)

6. Appears somewhat incoherent and unfocused (Tends to offer incomplete thoughts, loses focus, and jumps around to unrelated ideas.)

7. Volunteers personal information that normally would be illegal or inappropriate to ask (Candidate makes interviewer feel uncomfortable by talking about religion, political affiliation, age, family, divorce, etc...)

8. Lacks confidence and self-esteem (Seems unsure of self, nervous, and ill at ease. Lacks decisiveness in making decisions. Communicates uncertainty with comments like "I dont know", "Maybe", and "I'm not sure".)

9. Shows little interest in the company (Indicates they didn't do much research , since they know little about the company and didn't have time to check out the company's website or even read some literature.)

10. Talks about salary and benefits early in the interview. (Rather than try to learn more about the company and position as well as demonstrate their value, the candidate seems preoccupied with salary and benefits.)**

** The above information was gathered from "Nail the Job Interview" by Catyl & Ron Krannich