I hire for jobs that need Excel skills.  Nearly everyone claims to have good or excellent skills.  I ask them what kind of functions they use a lot and we discuss general things.  Then I say, "What is your favorite Excel function?" Most people look at me like I have just sprouted green spots.  But what I am looking for is someone who is delighted working with Excel, who has learned ways that it can make their job easier, and if they claim advanced skills I want to hear a fairly advanced funtion.  And, yes, if they are going to work heavily in Excel, I want them to have a "favorite" function! By the way, mine is =concatenate, with =vlookup as the runner-up. I'm in a large university, many departments, and I always ask "what is it about this job that particularly interests you?"  This tells me whether they paid attention to the actual job description, as opposed to the job title.  I also ask, "Why are you interested in working with us?"  I want to hear some variation of "I'm really passionate about [our department's field]," or "the research work that so-and-so is doing is fascinating." Or that they've heard that we have a really good work environment, nice people to work with, something like that.  I just want to know that they've at least looked at our website and have some vague notion of what we're doing.  I know that it's a tough market and most people's number 1 reason is that they really, really, really need a job - but I'd appreciate it if they can at least come up with something coherent that shows that they'd done a little bit of research on the position, the department, the university. I've had people with  really good-looking resumes look at me blankly when I ask them what they find attractive about the position.  I also actually had an interviewee get angry with me once when I asked "Why do you particularly want to work in our department?"  She said, "That's completely out of left field, I've never been asked that question before.  Why do you even ask that?" I said, "I want to know that you want to work for us specifically, and not just that you're looking for any job you can get." I'm pretty frank.  I don't mind telling people stuff like that.  But even with that great big softball, instead of coming up with something she got really angry!  She said, "I'm not desperate for a job, I have a job!  My grant funding doesn't end for another six months!"  I said, "Well, thank you for your interest," and made shooing motions, and she flounced out!  Really!  It was the most fascinating train wreck. Anyway, I would say spend many, many hours preparing for your one-hour interview.  Be rock-solid in your knowledge of your field, go to the company's website, google your heart out, WRITE OUT the reasons you want to work there (to clarify for yourself) and what you find fascinating about the job itself.  And if you don't memorize the job description, at least have five or six of the most attractive job duties memorized. For years, in my cover letters, I have copied in the job description and then just repeated all of those qualifications that I have back to the person.  I got that advice years ago, and I really wondered why somebody wouldn't see through that, but the fact is that most people just send out resumes like they were coming out of a salad shooter, cover letters with absolutely no indication that they've even read the job description.  As a hiring manager, I see people that do that and I'm immensely grateful to them - it means that I don't have to use a microscope on their resume to see if they have what we are looking for.  I look at the resume, of course, but a well-written, relevant cover letter puts that resume on the top of my pile. And the point is, do the same thing in the interview.  They've told you what they are looking for, hopefully your skills and experience are a close match (or you wouldn't be called for an interview).  Don't lose your own personality, but do rehearse possible responses.  You will get some unexpected questions but if you are as prepared as possible for the things you can control - your knowledge of the job description and the company - it should be easier to keep your cool with the unexpected. I wish you the best of luck.
Posted by tglit1976