Each job announcement or job advertisement may include any combination of a description of the job, job applicant qualifications and desired qualities. The description, qualifications and desired qualities are the keys to preparing for the interview. On a job announcement or job advertisement, these keys may be found under headings such as:

• Position
• Qualifications
• The Duties
• The Requirements

Here's a description for a supervisory job:

"The ideal candidate will possess excellent leadership, managerial, communications and inter-personal skills. The candidate should be a self-starter, team player, as well as promote teamwork among others, have a strong customer orientation, is approachable, and effective and creative problem solver, and establishes and maintains effective working relationships . . ."

The underlined words are the knowledge, skills and abilities (KSA's) that we’ve identified for this job.

Knowledge - information applied directly to the performance of a function. For example, supervision is a knowledge.

Skills - learned acts. In the example above, we have managerial skills. Other examples include operating a personal computer, using a firearm or operating a backhoe.

Abilities - performance of behavior that you can see. In the description above, communications is an ability.

Step 2: Potential Interview Questions

Identify potential interview questions in 6 easy steps:

1. Review the list of questions under each KSA Question Bank category. Many of the questions are similar. We’ve tried to include as many variations as practical. People often make the mistake of studying specific questions. Study specific questions and you'll be thrown off when the question is worded differently or a different question is asked.

3. In addition to the KSA's you've identified, think about the knowledge and skills specific to the job that you are interviewing for. For example, a heavy equipment operator will have knowledge about safety rules specific to heavy equipment. List the specific knowledge, skills, and "hot topics" specific to your job. Write possible questions for the specific requirements and "hot topics". Check out our "General Questions" heading in the Interview Question Bank. You’ll find a list of common questions that can apply to just about any technical or field expertise.

4. Study the KSA questions and create mock or practice interviews. Choose questions from each of the KSA Question Bank categories that you've matched to the KSA's. Each practice interview should consist of seven to fourteen questions. Tailor the questions to fit the organization and specific job that you are interviewing for. Include questions that you’ve written for specific requirements or "hot topics"

5. Ask your friend, roommate, significant other, spouse, or coworker to help you. Have them create practice interviews by pulling questions from the headings we've identified and from the questions you've written for knowledge and "hot topics". You'll benefit from having somebody else help you because: 1) you'll have to think on your feet, because you won't know what the questions are; and 2) you can receive feedback on your body language (posture, the pitch of your voice, hand movements), content, and the clarity of your answers. Ask your "interviewer" to write down the questions and their comments. Review the tips below from the Interview Game Plan so that everything you do becomes second nature.

• Make a positive and professional first impression by being assertive and giving a firm handshake to each interviewer and addressing each interviewer as they are introduced.

• Reinforce your professionalism and your ability to communicate effectively by speaking clearly and avoiding "uhs", "you knows", and slang.

• Use positive words. Instead of "if", "I think", "I feel" and "I wish" use "when", "I am" and "I would"

• Establish rapport by relating to each interviewer. Note the wording that is used by each interviewer and when appropriate use similar words. Maintain eye contact with each of the interviewers throughout the interview.

• Sit comfortably. Sit erectly, but don’t sit stiffly or sprawl over the chair.

• Don't expect the interviewers to have confidence in you, if you don't have confidence in yourself. Project confidence and a positive attitude. Maintain awareness of your voice, posture, energy level, and enthusiasm. Make hand gestures to emphasize important points, but avoid distracting gestures or making too many hand gestures.

• Smile confidently, but not to the point where you would appear to be too casual. Smiling will also help you relax and establish a rapport with the interviewers.

• Manage weaknesses or barriers so that they appear to be indications of your strengths.

• Be attentive. Listen to each question carefully and don’t interrupt. If you aren't sure of what is being asked, politely request that the question be repeated.

• Close the interview with a strong closing statement of your qualifications for the job.

• Thank the interviewers. Shake their hands individually and thank each interviewer by name.

6. Practice, practice, practice. One practice interview is not enough. If you have somebody help you, have at least three practice interviews. You'll be able to use their feedback to correct mistakes, strengthen weaknesses, and build upon strengths.

Note: The underlined words in the Interview Question Bank are words that may be interchangeable. For example, instead of the word "job", the word "position" might be used.

Step 3: Interview Answers

The interview focuses on "what you say" and "how you say it". In this step, we focus on "what to say".

As you know, there are many different types of interviews and interview questions. You can review the different types at Job-Interview. Let's keep it simple. You're going to be asked about:

• What you know - about your work experience, education, training, goals, character, personal qualities, the job that you're seeking, the company that you're interviewing for, and the knowledges required to perform the job that you're seeking.
• Identify a problem or issue - given a situation, find the problem or issue. The question may focus on a situation that you've handled in the past or how you would handle a hypothetical situation.
• Identify a solution - given the problem or issue, how do you proceed? The question may focus on a problem or issue that you've handled in the past or how you would proceed in a hypothetical situation.

The questions may be straightforward or combine the above. For example, "Tell us about a safety issue at your current job. How did you handle the issue and what reports were you required to file?"

Your goal is to provide an answer that not only answers the question, but also reinforce your qualifications for the position.

People prepare for job interview questions in many ways. Often people will write specific answers to as many specific questions as possible and memorize the answers.

We recommend looking at categories of questions and using outline answers. Why? With practice, you will hit all the important points and although your answer will be slightly different each time, your answer will come across naturally and with confidence. The key is to be able to think during the interview and adjust your answer to fit the question. For example, take the category of "General Experience". The answer to the question, "How does your current position qualify you for the job?" is simply a variation of your answer to the question, "How does your experience qualify you for the job?".

Key success points to remember:

• The most qualified person to do a job is someone who has already done the job. If you were to hire someone to fix the plumbing in your house, who would you hire? Someone who has never fixed the plumbing or someone who has? As you answer the interview questions, cite your work and life experiences in examples to reinforce to the interviewers that you've already done what they're looking for, and you've done it successfully.

• The interview will typically focus on the KSA's you've identified. If the interviewers start the interview with a description of the job, you may learn more about the job.

• Try to use the same wording as the KSA's. If you use different wording, then you are depending on the interviewers to make the connection between the words you use and the KSA's. For example, if the job requires someone to supervise, use the word "supervise" and not the word "manage".

• Do you know the company and the job that you're interviewing for? Check financial sources, annual reports, and news media for information on the company, their culture and current events. If possible, visit the company, their stores or offices to get a sense of the culture and dress code.

• What salary are you seeking? What's the appropriate salary for the job that you're seeking, for your geographic area and for your industry. Check Salary.com for free salary information. Don't guess. A guess or inaccurate information can cost you real money. To go a step further, find out what you're worth with a report based on your experience and qualifications.

• For each Question Bank Index category that you've matched to a KSA, review the answer tips that are either provided with the questions or at the bottom of the page.

• Don't use limiting words, such as only or just. For example, I "only" supervise five employees. You're making an assumption that five employees is a small number. The fact is that you don't know what the interviewers consider as a small number and what is a large number.

• Use appropriate wording. You won’t receive extra points for every word that has more than 10 letters. Use technical terms only when appropriate to the question.

• Use action words. Here's just a sample:

  accomplish	lead
  achieve	manage
  coordinate	negotiate
  delegate	organize
  develop	prioritize
  direct	recommend
  establish	reduce
  evaluate	reorganize
  execute	resolve
  expedite	review
  expand	revitalize
  implement	supervise
  improve	train
  increase	transform
  initiate	upgrade
  introduce
  implement

• Be concise, logical and to the point. Use short sentences.