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Everyone is nervous about going on a job interview--that's a given. After all, your future economic well-being may depend on getting that job! To that, add the pressure of not knowing what to expect in the interview or what questions may be asked and you have all the ingredients for a world-class case of the jitters.

Here are three steps you can take to prepare yourself, regardless of the job or company with which you are interviewing. As a hiring manager, time and time again I've seen candidates that come unprepared in these three areas and their interview failure rate is high. Concentrate on these three things and you will greatly increase your chance of a successful interview... and a job offer.

Step 1:

Know yourself. Make sure you have thoroughly memorized everything in your resume, especially specific examples of your accomplishments. I'm always amazed when I interview a candidate, ask him a specific question about his experience that could be answered right off his resume, and watch him fumble for an answer. Yes, I've read your resume, but I want you to pick out the parts of your resume that are applicable to the question and answer it in an articulate manner. You can't do this unless you are thoroughly familiar with the information in your resume.

The key here is practice. Look at the job posting for the job you will be interviewing for and note the specific requirements that are listed. Then, practice stating your experience and accomplishments in terms of how they relate to those requirements. Do this until you can comfortably and succinctly recap your experience and accomplishments, using each job requirement as a question.

For example, if one of the job requirements is "five years of sales experience," then your answer could be: "I have seven years of sales experience with XYZ company, during which sales increased 40% in my territory." Be prepared to give an answer like this for every requirement listed for that job and you will be ahead of 95% of the other applicants.

Step 2:

Produce your commercial. You should prepare in advance a 30 – 60 second recap of your job experience and some key accomplishments from that experience. Why? Because frequently an interview will begin with a question such as: "Tell us something about yourself," or some variation of that question. This is your chance to present your "commercial" about yourself. It should be a very condensed recap of your employment history and some of your major skills and accomplishments. NOTE: It should be all about your job experience and NOT about your personal life or hobbies. The hiring manager is only interested in one thing: Do you have the experience and competency to be the best candidate for the job?

Here, too, I've had many job applicants stumble with trying to give an overview of themselves and come across as awkward and inarticulate. You should write out your commercial in advance, make sure it includes your most significant experience and accomplishments, and then time yourself by reading it out loud. It should more than 30 seconds but no more than 60 seconds. This doesn't sound like much, but 60 seconds can be an eternity in a job interview!

You don't have to memorize your commercial, but you should be able to make your way through it comfortably, without hesitating, and cover all the important parts. When you can do this smoothly and confidently, you're ready for any interview.

Step 3:

Know your target. The absolute best thing you can do to prepare for an interview is to know the company. With the massive amount of data that is now available on the Internet, there is simply no excuse for not researching the company when you get an interview. This shows you are serious about the job and are professional enough to educate yourself about the company.

This will also enable you to frame some of your answers in terms of facts specific to that company. For example, let's look at the sales position used in the example above. If you've done your homework and found out that sales are down in the territory covered by the position you are interviewing for, you can talk about how you know that's been a problem for them in that territory and explain how you increased sales in your last job. This is an extremely powerful way to answer an interview question, yet I almost never hear it in interviews. I would send taxis for applicants like this.

Also, knowing the company will enable you to ask some specific questions about it, when you get to the part of the interview where you are asked if you have any questions. This is a golden opportunity that most applicants miss. Usually, when I ask if the applicant has any questions, I get one or two general questions about the job, or no questions at all. On the other hand, when I get an intelligent question or two about some specific aspect of my company and its challenges, this is an applicant I remember.

You're going to be working (hopefully) for a long time for that company if you get the job, so doesn't it make sense to get to know it in advance?

If you make an honest effort to master the above three areas before every interview, you will not only be much less nervous, but you will greatly increase your chances of getting the job. Good luck in all your job search efforts.

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