Interview Help!!

Okay, a few things -
1) The only way you will know about their company is to do research. This means the Internet, calling the company and asking for literature or visiting the local library, or some combination thereof. There is no "one size fits all" answer to this question. The Internet is the easiest and probably fastest way of accomplishing this - just go to the company's website (assuming they have one) and look at how they present themselves.
2) As for the attendance/medical questions, they are just barely this side of legal. The best response is, "I am ready, willing and able to do this job." And don't say anything else. Your medical history is none of their business and it's illegal for them to ask - they cannot deny you a job if the reason is because you've been sick in the past. If that was the case, then no one would ever get work. So just toe the line and say the minimum. If they have questions about your attendance, those are really more for your former supervisor(s), anyway.
3) I have no idea where you see yourself in 5 or 10 years because, frankly, I've always hated that question myself and I never have a great response to it. Suffice it to say that you don't want to say you're going to have the interviewer's job. A better response is probably to talk a bit about how you believe you are going to grow and develop, both within the confines of the job (training and experience) and outside it (continuing education).

First of all, Job hunting is always a very difficult task-- I don't know a single person who doesn't find it extremely frustrating. Remeber that almost everyone is rejected many times before they finally find the right job. The key is to keep at it.

I agree with everything jespah says.

As far as the "5, 10 years question", can you answer this honestly?

What are you aspirations? This question is really to find out that you have long term goals (i..e the motivation to do well in your field). If you have goals to advance as a Pharmacy Tech (or further) be honest and answer with enthusiasm. If, you don't have this enthusiasm you should be thinking about another field.

Finally (and perhaps my best advice) you get better at anything by practicing. There are networking groups and career counselors who will help you for very low cost. They will interview you on camera and provide a good critique.

Where I live, there are Career Centers that have grants and will offer these services for a very low cost. If I remember, a video practice interview by a HR professional with immediate feedback and a follow up session is about $50. If you are having trouble with interviews, this is well worth the price.

I found networking groups in general very helpful for advice and moral support. These are groups where job seekers meet every week to discuss progress, offer critiques, set goals and share information.

Good luck and keep at it.

monster.com has a really good section on how to answer questions in an interview. there are also plenty of books you can read on how to nail an interview.

jespah pointed out the legal side of the attendance question. books and interviewing will cover this as well. your medical situation is private-- off limits. same with your political, religious, age, marital and sexual orientation.

another thing to keep in mind, when you go to an interview, you are interviewing them as well-- bear in mind, you want to have questions for them to find out if the potential job is a place you'd like to work.

ebrown is right, it takes practice, interviews are not natural situations, you are selling yourself. there is an angle to how you anwer the questions.

when i was looking for a job, i was fortunate to have career servces to go to for practice interviews. boy, did i bomb. i answered the questions as me, which is a no-no. with some coaching, the career person gave me different approaches to answering the questions that would satisfy both sides. also, as ebrown pointed out, find out if your school has a career center. if so, you're in luck.

check out monster.com, i think it will ease some of your concerns about your situation.

one more thing, the "where do you want to be in 5, 10 years" is the most annoying question. nonetheless, it may be asked. i'm afraid, this where where your ability to bullshit will serve you well. saying something along the lines of, getting more schooling in the field, etc. the interviewer wants to see that you are self motivated and excited about learning.

Wow these were all great advices, thanks so much! I actually had an interview today. I thought the employer said she was trying to set one up next Tuesday but it happened to be this Tuesday. I think I did OK. I hope I did OK. As for the 5-10 years question I was just honest. I told her that I wanted to earn a teaching degree someday and teach elementary kids. I was unsure whether or not to admit this because as you can see, teaching and pharmacy are completely different fields, and I didn't want to jeopardize my flexibility by her assuming that I wouldn't have a flexible schedule, so I told her that would be a few years away. One thing I am completely embarrased of is after the interview was done, I left my purse in the interview room! It wouldn't have been so embarrassing but the thing is, she was interviewing another candidate! Yikes... I hope she doesn't think I'm some kind of forgettful klutz. Anyways, again, thanks for all the great advice. I will let ya'll know how if I got the job in a week... Heehee...

Hm, well I called her on the 20th because I haven't heard from me, and she said that she would call me back. And indeed she did. She called me back this morning, but I left the damn phone on silent so I didn't answer. She did leave me a voicemail which went something like this.

"I'm sorry it took me so long to call you back, but unfortunately we are still undecided. We are looking into a few candidates. It's a very multi-stepped process, and that's why it's taking so long. I will call you back if we decide you are going to take the next step."

So... I am assuming I am one of the few cadidates she is "looking into" on account that she didn't say "No." And if she STILL hasn't made a decision yet, then I think she is still interviewing. What do you all think? It's been two weeks! I've never had to wait 2 weeks to know whether I was hired or not.

Hey, I've been there, but yeah, it's probably interview-speak for "We have someone who we really, really want to hire, but they're currently jerking us around, so we're not burning any bridges until we're absolutely, 100% certain that they will join our organization. So in the meantime we'll just leave you twisting in the wind. Have a nice day!"

Anyway, the best thing to do is put more irons in the fire, e. g. send out more letters and applications and see about getting more interviews. If they call, fine. If they don't, you'll be busy with other things and it won't matter.

I hate this... I have another interview on Wednesday, and hopefully I've gained a little more confidence from the last one. But I guess we'll see what happens!

I'm a strong believer in the "irons in the fire" route to success, in that I always had an easy time getting a job when I already had one (not your situation right now, I know) Actually, I am having trouble remembering a time I didn't get hired, and several of my jobs happened when I was doing one job and someone else would ask if I would work for them. (The old foot already in the door advantage). But procedures have changed since the days I just waltzed into jobs: the whole business of interviewing techniques has become much more codified. I got two of my longest held jobs by doing what is now advised not to do, being myself, just talking - but those were less structured interviews.

Back when I was first out of landscape architecture schooling and had a part time job at a high level firm, nine of eleven people in the office were laid off, including myself. I started calling around, making perhaps thirty phone calls to people in practice all over the city of Los Angeles. I had a lot of nice conversations, which helped cut my fear level, but there was a construction recession going on. The thirtieth call was answered by a nice sounding guy who could use a little help for ten hours a week. I went over and talked with him, and took the job. A couple of months later his main assistant left, I got the job, and ended up working in association with him for more than a decade.

So, again, I am a fan of getting your foot in the door.

I agree with all who suggest one of those counselling situations where you can practice and get advice.

Mchol,

This is great news! Remember that interviews are expensive for them. That they are giving you another one means they are serious about you. Keep positive, and be happy about the interview. Hopefully you will feel a little less pressure on this one (I know that isn't always easy). Sometimes these later interviews are a little less formal (of course make sure you are professional)

Of course you can vent your frustration with us (we understand). Make sure with them you communicate only gratefulness, enthusiasm and graciousness

One thing you should do is sit down and think about what they need to know more about to close the deal. Try to think what they are going to ask you about (you may have clues from your last interview). This is also a time to make sure you highlight your good points.

But, Interviews are always a good thing. Your polite persistance (i.e. calling them) is probably wining you points as well.

Good luck.

Well, I'm currently working, but I need to find another job. This one just ain't cuttin' it in all aspects. I'm going to take that advice about contacting as many employers as possible. Thanks everyone.

It worked for me in a recession, and the guy, now friend, that hired me was located nearer to me than many other people I tried.

I don't know if it will work for you now, but it might, and it might give you another kind of practice, at just talking calmly, professionally but not coldly, to a prospective employer, or hey, whoever answers the phone.

People call our office from time to time seeking to relocate to the land of the redwoods, and we are not hiring, but we usually talk to the callers a while. (Warning, your profession may vary...)

ebrown, when I said that I have an interview on Wednesday, (which is less than 12 hours away now) I meant another place is interviewing me. But all that was really great advice. One more question, if they ask me about pay, how should I answer? I'm new in this field and I don't know exactly what is appropriate for my position. Should I say I am negotiable?

Go to www.salary.com and see what's paid in your area for your type of work. Be aware, though, that salary.com is as comprehensive as it can be, but not every company reports to it, and a lot of jobs are miscategorized. It's a place to start.

Personally, I tell people I'm negotiable or I give a range of $10k, say, I'm looking for something in the mid-$50s to mid-$60s range. That way a lot of bases are covered and you're likely to be within their range, but you also aren't committing yourself to too low an amount. It's a lot easier to start off getting more money than it is to get raises to try to get up to a higher salary level.

mchol, an interview serves a lot of purposes -- they want to get the specific information, but they are also looking for more general cues. Poise, friendliness, ability to play the game.

That's the codification part, and much more true for environments like the one you are in than more creative sorts of jobs. They want to see that you can figure out the rules and adhere to them. That's the meta purpose of the interview, and is overall more important than the content of your words.

So pay a lot of attention to those aspects, the things that don't seem like they should be important -- but are. Dress neatly and professionally (even if the job doesn't require nice clothes, wear professional-looking clothes to the interview). Sit up straight. Be nice to the receptionist (they often talk to the interviewer.) Have whatever papers you need handy and in a professional binder. You can get good-looking binders or portfolios cheap if you don't have a briefcase.

Then, know the "right" answers -- that goes back to what ebrown and others are saying about research and practice. For the attendance question, as Jes already mentioned, keep it breezy, positive and general. For the five-ten years question varies by field -- for yours, I think a bright young thing who won't necessarily stick around would be OK with them, but generally you don't want to say you plan to leave. Generally you want to say that you'll be there for a good long time.

That one is really designed above all just to test your poise. It's hard to answer. It's much easier to give a wrong answer ("sitting in your chair!") than a right answer. They're looking for how smoothly you answer and how prepared you are. These are, after all, qualities they want in an employee.

Research the company, say things that are specific to it. "I'm very interested in working with your new ____ technology -- I took a class on it and you're one of the few companies I've seen that are already using it." That kind of thing.

If you'd like, you can keep making note of questions you were asked, write 'em here, and we'll give you feedback. (I've hired many people in my career and also taught classes on this subject as part of my employment agency. I had a 100% success rate -- every client found a job. ;-))

Confidence really does alot in an interview..and the best way to be confident is be prepared.

My last two interviews I've taken, the first one I absolutely bombed to the point where I looked like a jackass, and the second one I aced and was offered the job on the spot.

The difference was, the first one I didn't prepare. I couldn't answer questions about what I thought of the industry, why I wanted to work for that particular company, and how I could fit in(the guy was definitely playing hardball with me, but it was a good lesson). The second time, I studied the company, went to monster.com among other sites, and studied possible questions, and HOW to answer them, not just prepared answers. One question was the 5-10 year thing, and I told them I could never tell where I'm going to be in 10 years, but in a couple of years I'd like to be....when I asked them back where their company would be in 10 years, they pretty much said the same thing, "we don't know." It's really a stupid question. But I actually wrote down a ton of questions for them ahead of time, and also listed out my qualities, accomplishments, ect., looked them over, so I could more freely talk about them in the interview.

Oh, and don't ask them what their policy is on internet porn....they usually frown on that.

YYYAAAAAYYYYY!!!! I GOT THE JOB!!!!!!! But I gotta get ready for my OTHER job so I'll port later... BYEEEEE!!!!!! :O :O :O :O

Yayyyyyyy!

Mchol: Relax. Interviewing should be your time to shine. There are many interviewing guides that can help you prepare yourself to make a job winning impression on the interviewer. A lot of this is common sense stuff. Put yourself in their place. They are looking for bright, well motivated, eager people who can help their business be successful. So be that person! It's been said that the interviewer often makes their mind up in a matter of seconds after looking you in the eyes. In addition to being well groomed, and neat/clean be pleasant. Smile. Answer questions briefly and concisely. Don't go on and on...particularly if they attempt to test you by remaining silent after you give your answer...an old trick. After a moment of silence, ask them a question about the position. On attendance: say you're always on timeand hardly ever have an absence. On 5-10 years? They are probably expecting you to have some long term but fairly realistic career goals. Admitting that you are still exploring your career plans won't hurt you. Saying you intend to be the Grand Drug Czar of their company will kill you...especially if you are applying for a starting position. Mc: That avatar of ShuPac will guarantee you never get a job anywhere but maybe MoTown. This is not MTV or BET or any Hip Hop anything...lose any hint of stuff like that. This is business. Finally, follow-up notes,letters, phone calls will show a decent "care" and boldness to set you apart from all the schlubs they interviewed. Don't worry. Be Happy.