Your Resume as a Guide for Interview Day
As qualifications criteria were used to review resumes and identify whom to interview, these same qualities are the yardsticks by which all interviewers will measure you. To determine your potential to walk the walk to success within a particular job, your interview talk will be heard and analyzed. Those you interview with will be listening for verbal cues that reveal how strongly you match predetermined criteria. As they listen, they will process what they hear and create an overall impression of your potential to succeed within the specifics of the job.
Focus your thoughts first, and then your statements, on roles and responsibilities of the job. Prospective employers have already identified connections between your resume and their desired and required competencies. All you now need to do is reinforce these resume-linked connections while sharing communication as well as personality style.
Interviews can flow as conversations, but you should figure out ahead of time what key points you want to address. You don't go into academic exams without focusing on specific topics. You don't conduct presentations without some notes or AV tools. Pre-interview resume review activities focus on topics and provide needed visual cues.
It is easy to use this process-oriented knowledge. Before each interview, create a list of qualifications criteria for the position. What specific criteria would be associated with an ideal candidate for the position you will be interviewing for? Identify the basic qualities sought and how one would determine who possesses these traits. Most important, use your resume to create a carefully conceived strategy and list of discussion points.
