Looking for some great interviewing tips?
Tom Wolfe is an author, columnist, career coach, veteran, and an expert in the field of military-to-civilian career transition. During his career he assisted thousands of service members in their
searches for employment, placing more than 3000 in their new jobs. In this interview, I get to ask him directly what veterans should be thinking about when they prepare to answer
interview questions when trying to snag a job. We talk about preparing for the interview, developing empathy with the interviewer, asking the right and wrong questions, and hitting all the key
items on the interviewer's checklist.
Insights From The Interview
- To quickly get up to speed on a topic and the "industry lingo", check out podcasts on that field.
- You have to be able to self promote while walking that fine line between self confidence and arrogance.
- Self knowledge is critical. You're going to have to connect the job description to your experience, skills, and interests.
- The power of the questions in an interview to demonstrate interest.
- Mistakes you can make when asking questions (they're too self interested or inappropriately timed)
- Interviewing empathy -- the ability to understand what's important to the interviewer and the company s/he represents.
- Get the interviewer to envision you in the job, happy, interested, and doing well. Hit all the marks to succeed.
- Being able to discuss weaknesses can be a strength -- show self confidence, self awareness, and self development.
- Pre-empt possible reasons that you may be rejected from a job and face it head on.
Resources
- Find out more about Tom's coaching services on his website at TomWolfe-CareerCoach.com.
- His book, Out of Uniform: Your Guide to a Successful Military-to-Civilian Career Transition, was published by Potomac Books in 2011 with a second printing in 2013.
- If you liked this one, you can learn more about Tom from our first interview.
- You can also reach Tom via e-mail or LinkedIn.