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Effective Job Search & Interview Skills
Identifying Transferable Skills
Interview Preparation/Mock Interviews
Sample Informational Interview Questions
Sample Employment Interview Questions
Common Interview Mistakes
Networking Top Ten
Identifying Transferable Skills
Transferable skills are those skills you have and which move with you from job to job. To identify your skills base, you need to carefully assess your past achievements and accomplishments. This is an on-going, life-long process which can be rewarding and instructional. You are constantly adding new knowledge and skills during your life experience, so you should be evaluating your work and life experience from the perspective of "What skills does it take for me to do this activity?" To assess your skills, think back on past achievements. Talk to family, friends, colleagues or professors to get constructive feedback regarding both skills and limitations. Be realistic in assessment! Consider looking at your transferable skills as being housed in the following areas:
Functional Skills
Typically, these include working with people, data or things. For example, some of these skills include oral and interpersonal communications, technical skills with machinery or compiling and analyzing data.
Content Skills
These skills would include mastery of specific content knowledge such as:
Accounting, Calculus, Advanced German, Engineering, etc.
Self-Management Skills
These include skills such as effective time management strategies, working well under pressure; managing stress etc.
Review your past accomplishments and positions (paid, unpaid, volunteer etc) and think about a week or more extended period of time in that role. Try to sort out what skills it takes for you to do your job well. Even jobs you perceive as "run of the mill" require a certain skills base. For example, waiters have to develop excellent oral and interpersonal communications skills, time management strategies, ability to work well under pressure, efficiently handle cash transactions etc.
It is important to understand your transferable skills because you need to communicate to prospective employers what assets you will bring into the organization. Thoughtful self-assessment will help you to present yourself more effectively during an interview process.
- MyPlan features hundreds of career and personality assessments, career-related databases, information on majors and graduate schools, discussion forums and online resources available exclusively for GW students.
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Interview Preparation: Mock Interviews
Download an Interview Preparation Packet.
Whether you're headed for your first interview or your fifteenth, a mock interview is an excellent opportunity to practice your interviewing skills and to get those skills critiqued by a professional. Click here for more information and to register for a mock interview!
Sample Informational Interview Questions
- How did you come to choose this kind of work?
- What skills does it take to be successful in this line of work?
- What is the typical background of people coming into this field of work?
- What special training or education do you recommend?
- What characterizes a typical entry- level position in this field?
- What is the outlook for (entry-level) professional in this field?
- What are alternative methods of entry into this field?
- What trends do you see in this industry?
- What are typical salary- ranges for this position?
- What does a typical work- week look like for you?
- What do you like most about your position/this field?
- What do you like least about this position/this field?
- What are common challenges you see in this field?
- What are some long-term and short- term goals of this organization?
- What is a typical career path from entry-level to top management?
- Would you recommend this career to people starting out?
- What do you know now that you wish you knew when you were getting started?
- What is the greatest change you have seen within this field?
- What professional organizations are most helpful to you? Which professional journals or publications do you recommend are most helpful in this profession?
- Can you recommend others to whom I can speak about this profession?
Do not feel compelled to ask all of these questions. A typical informational interview should last no more than 20 to 30 minutes. Be respectful of your interviewer's time.
Always follow up an informational interview with a thoughtful thank you note!
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Sample Employment Interview Questions
Typical questions asked by employers:
- Tell me about yourself.
- Why do you want to work for this organization?
- What led you to choose your major? This field? This career?
- Tell me about a difficult challenge you had and how you handled it.
- What are your career goals and how are you preparing to achieve them?
- What are your greatest strengths? (How will your strengths be beneficial to this organization?) Your greatest limitations?
- Outline the contributions you intend to make for this organization.
- Why should I hire you?
- How do you perform under pressure? Give me an example of a real life situation in which you performed under pressure.
- In what role are you most comfortable when you work in a team environment?
- Describe a situation in which you were not successful and how you reacted.
- How do you know when you are stressed and how do you cope with stress?
- What skills do you enjoy using most? Least?
- How would you describe yourself?
- Is there anything you want me to know about yourself which is not on your resume and which we have not discussed?
- If you could be any animal you wanted to be, which animal would you be and why?
Increasingly, behavioral interview questions are becoming common in employment interviewing. These are questions in which a real-life situation is described (or which you are asked to describe) and you are asked to respond to the situation. This can be a presentation of a common challenge, problem to be solved or a performance-based situation you have to act upon. For behavioral interview questions, consider the STAR-based response:
Situation (Describe the problem to be resolved)
Tasks to be undertaken to resolve issues
Actions/Approaches taken to resolve situation
Results of your problem solving.
Additional interview questions may be found in the Career Resource Room. Consider attending an interview-prep workshop or participating in a Mock Interview. Talk to a Career Consultant to discuss your interviewing process. Be sure you answer interview questions thoughtfully and not in a yes or no fashion. Use your interview to describe your skills and the ways in which you can be an asset to the organization.
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Common Interview Mistakes
You are making a mistake if you...
- Arrive late for the interview.
- Indicate you are late because the directions you were given were not good.
- Look disheveled and inappropriately dressed.
- Slouch in your seat or engage in repetitive, nervous behavior.
- Don't maintain good eye-contact with the interviewer.
- Do your research at the interview by asking, "What do you guys do here?"
- Don't make a connection between your skills and the needs of the employer.
- Brag about how great you are, but neglect to cite evidence of your accomplishments.
- Respond in an unfocused, disorganized, and rambling manner.
- Remain low-key and display no enthusiasm for the job.
- Answer most questions with simple "yes" and "no" answers.
- Appear desperate for a job-any job.
- Call the interviewer by his or her first name, or use the wrong name.
- Give memorized responses, forgetting parts in the process.
- Badmouth your current or former employer
- Ask "How am I doing? Are you going to hire me?"
- During the interview blurt out, "I need to make at least $35,000. I hope this job pays at least that much."
- When asked, "Do you have any questions?" reply "No."
- Leave your cell phone or pager on.
- Taking notes during the interview.
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Networking Top 10
- Networking is an important and positive part of a successful job search. Be prepared! Always consider every interaction a networking opportunity. Networking can occur in different ways, either spontaneously or in more formally scheduled meetings. Take advantage of each and every opportunity to interact with professionals to develop your growing knowledge base regarding careers and job opportunities. Build into your networking base people from all aspects of your life: professional colleagues and employers (past and present), friends, acquaintances, referrals and people you may meet in unstructured settings (i.e. on an airplane, waiting in line, in public gatherings, at parties, etc).
- Realistically assess your strengths, interests, values and goals. Be clear in communicating them to others.
- Conduct thorough research on the type of position, employer or industry of interest prior to conducting a networking connection. Learn the name and title of the person with whom you are networking.
- Treat every networking connection/informational interview as a prospective employment "screening interview". Know that first impressions matter!
- Create a winning resume which you can give to your contact if you are asked for one.
- Respect the time of the person with whom you are networking. If this is a pre-planned networking meeting, arrive on time. Do not overstay your welcome by demanding too much time or information.
- Ask specific, targeted questions which add new knowledge to your information about the type of position, employer or industry you are interested in for the future.
- Aim to leave every networking encounter with a concrete "next step" action plan or with the name of another contact person/resource for follow-up.
- Communicate clearly (verbally and non-verbally) and demonstrate at least beginning knowledge of the industry/functions you are exploring. Practice mock networking/informational interviewing sessions, as needed.
- Take the time to send a personalized follow-up thank you letter within 48 hours after your networking meeting.
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