Interview Motto: Be Prepared

What's the key to an effective interview?

Preparation.

Knowing the position, the employer's firm, and the employer's industry is essential to a successful interview - an interview that leads to another opportunity, a second interview, or a job offer.

On-campus interviews should be only one part of your overall job hunting strategy. When interviewing at the Office of Career Services (OCS), make appointments with only those companies that interest you. Interviewing with companies "just for practice" wastes your time and an opportunity another student might have used. Unprepared job candidates and "shoppers" discourage company recruiters from visiting our campus. That cuts the number of job openings available.

You can begin your pre-interview research in the OCS library. Useful directories include Standard & Poor's Register of Corporations, Directors and Executives, and Dunn and Bradstreet's Reference Book of Corporate Managements. We also get Business Week, Fortune and The Wall Street Journal. We also have a collection of the annual reports of recruiting companies.

Each company fills out a fact sheet about positions or training programs, location of employment, and required concentrations. Those are kept in a binder in the recruiting room. It may seem obvious, but you should have a basic knowledge of what your job involves. If you're interviewing for an investment banking firm, know what an investment analyst does and how she contributes to the company. You should also know such basic information about a company as: what its products are, where its offices are located, what subsidiaries it has, what its growth has been, and how it views its future prospects.

Show up 10 to 15 minutes early for your interview. This will give you a chance to get a feeling for the atmosphere of the employer's workplace. How are people dressed? What's the work atmosphere like? Here's where you can get insights that will help you during your interview.

If interviewing at OCS, arrive 10 minutes early and check the interviewing bulletin board for the appointment schedule, the location of the interview, and the name of your interviewer. If there's more than one representative from the company, be sure you are looking at the schedule on which your name appears.

Personal Appearance: In a short 30-minute interview, it's definitely a big factor. Dress appropriately for the role you're aspiring to fill.

Interview Format: It can range from a very structured, direct interview in which the interviewer has prepared questions, to an indirect interview in which the interviewer sits back and lets the conversation follow its own course.

Initially, the interviewer may try to break the ice by talking about anything but the job--such as sports, the weather, or current events. One Harvard senior encountered an interviewer who spent an entire 30-minute interview talking about football. They had a great conversation--but the student didn't get a second interview.

If you see this happening to you, ask questions about the job they have available, and discuss your qualifications for it. Don't be passive. Don't answer questions in monosyllables. Be informative, direct, and succinct in your responses. Steer the interviewer into discussion of your interest in the company.

Basically the interview consists of two segments. In the first phase, the employer will probably try to determine your interest in the job, your qualifications, and whether your interests and those of the company are compatible. In the second phase, she will usually give you an opportunity to ask questions.Necessarily, the first phase is the longer of thetwo.

In your answers, demonstrate how your past andpresent accomplishments qualify you for theavailable position. Answer a question wheneverpossible with specific and concrete examples. Citeinstances of your contributions to a group oractivity that got results. Try to pick out thespecific functions of the job that you can relateto your own experiences.

Emphasize the positive in an interview.One employer told students never to apologize fortheir concentrations. Stress the value of yourliberal arts education--you have learned to think,to communicate, to analyze problems and posesolutions. Don't downgrade any menial workexperience you may have had. Some work experienceis better than none; at the very least, you havebeen part of an organization and learned how itfunctioned. If you worked your way throughHarvard, that effort itself will win the respectof many employers.

Your Questions: The interviewer willusually leave about 10 minutes at the end for yourquestions. Have a few in mind before theinterview. Don't ask questions that are answeredin the recruiting material or in the fact sheet.But you may want to investigate some aspects ofthe position or training program in greater depth.If you have done extensive research on thecompany, you may have an issue to discuss. Yourquestions should reflect an understanding andconcern for the industry and company for which youhope to work.

Salary usually isn't discussed untilsubsequent interviews. But if the interviewer asksyou what you expect to earn, you can respond byasking what the salary range is for that job. Thecompany usually has a certain number of jobs to befilled in definite salary brackets. An OCScounselor can tell you the average starting salaryfor such a position. You may also wish to lookover the Salary Survey, published by the CollegePlacement Council, or look in the U.S. Governmentpublications entitled The Occupational Outlook forCollege Graduates. Both are in the OCS library.

At the conclusion of the interview, askabout the next step in the selection process. Theinterviewer should tell you when you can nextexpect to hear from the company. Follow-up lettersare usually mailed within two to four weeks afterthe initial interview. It is unusual for someoneto be invited for a second interview at the timeof the first interview. You put the interviewer inan awkward position.

Thank you notes: Always send one if anemployer has taken time to see you at hisworkplace. Besides thanking him for the interview,reemphasize any point you feel may have beenespeciallyB-24