Initial Interview Basics: A Few Reminders

If you are interviewing first with a recruiter, be sure to clarify the company you will be interviewing with and the hiring manager that will be conducting the interview. The recruiter should go over the opportunity in detail so you should have a good sense about the company, hiring manager and role but if you have any questions, do not be afraid to ask. The recruiter will be happy to answer to the best of his or her knowledge. They want you to be as prepared as possible, so everyone gets the most out of the situation.

Research: Company & Hiring Manager

You will want to also research the company on Google and the hiring manager in LinkedIn in detail. Have a handful of questions about the company and the nature of the role beyond the high-level description you were initially provided will be important. You obviously want to ask questions about the company and the role to help you determine if it is a good fit for you. It will also serve to demonstrate to the hiring manager that you are taking the opportunity seriously and being respectful of everyone’s time.

Basic Preparation Reminders

Naturally, you will also want to dress appropriately for the industry/company/role you are interviewing for and come prepared to address a wide variety of questions about yourself, your work background and anything else of import that you feel the hiring manager will be interested in.

Presently, aside from having a clear sense of what your salary expectations are, you will also want to be clear about what you deem acceptable in terms of a remote work schedule and flex hours. This used to be less of a consideration. However, it is now more relevant given our current COVID culture and the wide variety of different work scenarios we are seeing given the advances in remote work technology.

Lastly

Be sure to be very mindful and respectful of everyone you come in to contact with at the company, whether you interact with them via phone or encounter them in an onsite waiting room. This seems so simple, but we see many candidates let their guard down by getting too casual and not realize that they are essentially being interviewed by multiple personnel in the process, not simply the hiring manager.

In the end, the opportunity may not be the right one for you. You will have to go through the process and see for yourself. What you clearly do not want though, is to want the opportunity and not have it offered because you failed to execute on some of the interview basics.

Stay safe and good luck.