Congratulations – you have been invited to a job interview
The first interview is all about qualifying for the next round
- What are your expectations of a recent graduate such as I?
- Which challenges will I be facing in this job?
- Who will be my closest colleagues?
- Why have you opened up this position now?
- Why did the former employee stop working at the company?
- What’s the company’s view on career development and promotions?
- Do you offer the highest salaries within this specific line of work?
You receive an encouraging phone call; you have been invited to an interview for a job you’ve applied for. Some companies will inform you beforehand who will be present at the interview; this allows you to figure out who will be sitting across the table from you during the interview.
Will there be an HR person present, asking broad, open questions, and will there be someone who shares your professional background, with whom you can engage in nerdy jargon-driven conversation? Where are these people placed in the organization’s hierarchy? Will there be a decision-maker present, or will you not get to meet the boss till the second round?
As displayed on the following pages, you have to be prepared to answer a lot of questions. But you’ll also have to prepare some questions to ask, in order to convey your interest in the job and to show that you’ve done some research on the company. If you are familiar with the professional background of the people who will be present at the job interview, you can adapt your questions to appeal to answers from the HR specialist, the superior, and the professional specialist, alternately.
