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What's happening, it's Shane again. This video is going to be about how you can prepare for a job or college interview
I've been on both sides of the table when it comes to interviewing dozens of time.
Most of the videos out there give pretty cookie cutter advice that isn't that helpful to get a job offer in my opinion.
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What's happening guys
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So I was mindlessly watching videos about job interviews on YouTube the other day
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and most of the videos were giving very cookie cutter advice. Don't be late
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Some of the advice was make sure to show up early or make sure to dress well for your interview
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Tip number seven on our list is to wear a well-tailored suit. Or some of it was just really weird
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Being overbeast makes you less desirable to hire. Damn! So most of this was very just basic, bare minimum advice
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that I think most people automatically know. Like I think you should know to show up early
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to your interview, for instance. And it's really not gonna help you to always remember to smash the like button
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because I spent a lot of time making this video and it really does help with the YouTube algorithm
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and it'll give you a good look on your next interview. Smash it
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Go, go, go, go! Now I've been on both sides of the table
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when it comes to job interviews as well as interviews for universities
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I've been the one interviewing and doing the interviews. So I do have a lot of experience in this area
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and I'm gonna share my top tips for absolutely killing it on your next interview
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And that way you don't end up with a one-way ticket to disappointment island
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So a lot of you are watching this because you're just about to go to your interview
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your palms are sweaty, knees weak, arms are heavy. Hopefully you don't have spaghetti on your sweater
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because you shouldn't be wearing a sweater to interview. I get it, you're probably very nervous right now
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That's why you're watching this video. But my first tip has to do with what nervousness actually is
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and how, really, if you think about it, there's no difference between being nervous
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and being excited. And this is because scientists actually have an extreme amount of trouble telling the difference
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physiologically between nervousness and excitement. They're basically, for all intents and purposes
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the same thing. So a really great trick that I've used so many times
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whether it's come to giving speeches or doing a job interview, is whenever I feel nervous, I just think to myself
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I'm not nervous, I'm excited. And the interviews that I was the most nervous for
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I actually ended up doing the best because of this trick. It's literally like magic
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And I've used this so many different times in my life, whether it's going on a first date, giving a speech
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job interviews, the list goes on and on. And by getting too nervous for something
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you're really just sabotaging your own success and you're holding yourself back
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This trick works like a charm. I know it sounds ridiculously simple
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but go ahead and try it. Let me know in the comments section if it worked for you
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Now, if you're so nervous that you can't use this trick or for whatever reason it doesn't work for you
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a second thing that I always like doing before interviews is to just go talk to random strangers
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in like a coffee shop or something like that. This will get you in the mood to be social
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and you want to come across as a social person who's really happy to be there
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and not as somebody who's extremely nervous and doesn't want to be there. Then when you get to the interview
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make sure to talk to all of the people that are there as well. The receptionist, the person who greets you
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the other people who might be interviewing at the same time that you are. So when I was interviewing students
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who were trying to get into a graduate program that I was in, for instance
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I would notice that some of the students would go and sit in a corner somewhere
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and not interact with any of the others. And they would all be sat in a huge lunchroom
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with 30 plus tables, and so there was plenty of room for everyone
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Now each table could fit around five people or so, but there'd be enough room for every single student
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to have their own table if they wanted to. But what they didn't realize
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is all of them were being watched and how they interacted with the other candidates
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was gonna be part of their grade. Some of them would sit by themselves in a corner
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and look at their phone and not interact with anybody until it was time for their interview
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but you would definitely get extra points if you were one of the ones who went around
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and introduced yourself to other students and maybe sat at their table. And overall, this would get you
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in a very social, talkative mood, and you would probably end up doing better in the interview
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Now I realize not everyone here is very good with social skills
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You might be an introvert. You don't really like talking to people that much, but it is truly worth it to just try to be an extrovert
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for 30 minutes while you're doing your interview. I'm the same way. I wouldn't say that I'm an extrovert at all
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I'm probably somewhere in the middle or maybe even a little introverted, but you've gotta try to put on that extrovert face
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while you're doing your interview and be very outgoing and just act like you're extremely happy
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and excited to be there. People will pick up on that vibe and they'll be excited to interview you
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Number two on the list is know who you're interviewing with to the best of your ability
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Now, what do I mean by that? What I mean is there will be either one person
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who interviews you, sometimes there will be several different people that are interviewing you
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and you really wanna do your research and try to figure out who they are
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before you get into that room. And not only the person you're interviewing with
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you also wanna make sure you have a really good background on the company, the field you're interviewing for
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like think about really big news that's happening in whatever industry or field that you're in
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And if they do tell you who you're gonna be interviewing with, you wanna look them up on LinkedIn
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and try to get some background information on them so you kinda have a little bit of an idea of who they are
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And also you'll probably feel a little bit more comfortable with them just because you sort of feel like you know them
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And then you can reach out through your network and ask somebody who's in a similar situation as them
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maybe let's say they're an HR person, what they would be looking for in a candidate
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for that particular position. And then whatever they're looking for, you can highlight those particular attributes
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that you have during the interview. Now, if you don't know who you're interviewing with
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that's totally fine. What you can also just do is some research on the company itself
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So you wanna check their website, see if they have a YouTube channel
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look up their mission statement, their vision statement, their letters to shareholders
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try to get a good idea what the company is all about. So many people fail to do this, it's ridiculous
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Like some people barely even know what the name of the company is that they're interviewing at
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Number three on the list is to be prepared for what I like to call situational behavioral questions
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And these are the types of questions that almost all schools as well as serious jobs
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use to evaluate their candidates. So it used to be that they would set up a situation like
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oh, there's a really difficult project and one person in the group isn't working on the project
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What would you do in order to incentivize them or get them to do their part
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And it used to be that they would ask you, what would you do? But now what they've started doing recently
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is they always ask you, what did you do in a similar situation like that in the past
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And this is based on the theory that past behavior is going to predict future behavior
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which is generally true. Now, these sorts of questions can really throw you off guard
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if you're not ready for them. For one, a lot of the times your brain is kind of just gonna freeze up
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when they ask you to remember something that happened in your past. So these questions really throw people off
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and a lot of people don't perform well on them at all. An easy way to answer a question like this
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is to use the STAR method. And that stands for Situation, Task, Action, and Result
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And I always like to do the STARS method. The little S at the end is kind of what I do
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which is summarize everything up. And I also wanna mention that while you're using
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the STARS method, make sure to actually answer the question that they asked you
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This is another thing that I saw all the time is someone would go on and ramble on
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about all this things that happened and stuff, but then they wouldn't actually answer the question
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that we asked, and so we would have to give them like a zero out of five when we were grading them
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because all the questions are standardized. Now, when it comes to the STAR method
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don't be afraid to do it word for word. And by that, I mean the situation was dot, dot, dot
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the task was, the actions that I took were, and then, and you get the idea
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Don't be afraid of them recognizing that you're using the STAR method. I had one interview where the HR person
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actually recognized that I was using the method and they complimented me for it
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Now, there are a limited amount of questions that they're gonna ask you. They usually ask you things involving leadership
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team building, you know, how you communicate with other people, that sort of thing
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And I'm gonna put a PDF in the description that basically has all the different questions
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they could possibly ask you for. If I forget to do it, remind me
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But yeah, I'm gonna put a PDF down there that basically has every possible question
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they could ever ask you. And what you can do is just go over each one of these
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and then think of a story in your head that you can tell them during the interview
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that will basically answer any of these questions. That way, you will be prepared for whatever they have
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to throw at you. Now, the situational behavioral questions will make up the bulk of all the questions
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that they ask you. However, there are other questions that you're probably going to get
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in just about every interview you ever do. So this is going to include why this company
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or why this school? So this is the part where you wanna do some background research on the school
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or the business that you're applying to, and you wanna make sure that you know that they're special
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So for instance, when I was applying to grad schools, some schools used more of a traditional teaching model
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and then some of them did what's known as the block system, where you take one class at a time
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for a one or two week period. I personally thought that the block system where I get to immerse myself in one subject at a time
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would be better for me personally. And so that's something that I would talk about
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during the interview. And I would say that I think this school is going to be a very good fit for me
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because of the block system. Another one they're gonna ask is why this profession
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And I have heard some horrible answers to this one to people who got caught off guard
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Like there's some people who try to be funny and they'll say something like, because of the money
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Don't say something like that. That's not funny. You need to think of a really good reason
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that got you interested in that profession. Even if you don't have that good of a reason
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you need to think of one. And what you wanna do with each one of these types of questions that you know
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pretty much 99% of the time you're going to get is you want to craft a personal story
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that tells them why you were interested in whatever that was. Now with the STARS method, that's not very personal
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You kind of wanna just keep that completely professional. But with these answers
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you can get a little bit more personal. You kind of wanna stay on the professional side, but it can have a few more details about your personal life
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So for instance, for me, I would talk about the reason that I was interested
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in pharmacy as a profession is because I realized after my dad had a heart attack
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that his beta blockers and his drugs were the only thing that were keeping him alive
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And that realization made me think how important medicines are. Now, obviously my answer would be a lot longer than that
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I would tell more of a story, but you get the idea. Another question is what is your biggest weakness
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Well, humility is my only weakness. Now, when it comes to this one
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this can be a little bit of a trap question. So be careful how you answer this one
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You don't wanna say, you know, I hate people or anything like that. You can say something like
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sometimes I rush into stuff and I don't really plan ahead too much. I just get really excited about a project
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and I rush into it without doing the proper planning. The next one is what is your biggest strength
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And this is another one where it's a little bit of a trap because you don't wanna brag too much
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but at the same time, you don't wanna be too humble. So my answer to this one would probably be
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I might not be the smartest, I might not be the most talented, but I always strive to be the hardest working
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And I'm the type of person who will just keep trying until I get the job done
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Now, the next question that you're always gonna get is so important that I actually put it as number five
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I put it as its own entire section. And that is, do you have any questions for us
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Almost everybody that I interview screw this one up big time. This is your chance to stand out
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This is your chance to show them that you've done your research and you're gonna be the best candidate for the job
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And most people kind of just blow this question off and they don't really have any really good ones
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Some people will even ask, oh, how did I do in my job interview or something like that
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And it's just, it's not a good idea. So one really good question to ask them
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whoever's interviewing you, is how has this company helped you to advance in your career or develop your skills
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Or you could say, I can tell that you're very accomplished and you could probably work at any company you wanted
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So what about this company stood out to you? You could also talk about something
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that's sort of the latest news in whatever industry you're in. So let's say you're in the telecommunications industry
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Maybe you could say something about 5G and try to ask open-ended questions
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so they can give you really long answers if they want to. But yeah, basically you're demonstrating here
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that for one, you're interested in their opinion, and for two, you did your research
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And the reason this one is so important is because they've probably done like 10 interviews that day
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and they've done hundreds, if not thousands of interviews in their life. And most interviews are not very interactive
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It's mostly just the person who's being interviewed talking to the interviewer after they ask a quick question
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In this way, you can make the interview interactive so it's a real communication experience
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And because of that, you will stand out in their mind and you're much more likely to get hired
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So number six on this list is going to be just the basics, okay
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So I'm just gonna name some stuff here that you should definitely know
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I'm not gonna go into it too much because I think most people already know this
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but you wanna make eye contact with everybody. So let's say there's three people interviewing you
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This person asks you the question. You want to make eye contact with them
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and talk to them as you're answering it, but you also wanna do a little bit of eye contact
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with the other two people as well. You mostly wanna focus on the person who asked you the question
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but don't ignore the other two people because everybody is grading you
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You also wanna remember their names and you want to say it, although don't overdo it while you're talking to them
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You wanna speak properly and complete sentences. You wanna dress well depending on what sort of job interview you're going to
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So if it's a formal type of job interview, you wanna wear a black suit, a gray suit
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or maybe a navy suit if it's spring outside. Always make sure that you're at least 15 minutes early
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to the interview. There's so many things that could happen. So always make sure that you're early
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That's just a no-brainer. Never, ever, ever show up late to an interview
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And then another really common one that I just saw so often
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is you want to always answer the questions that they ask. So let's say you're going through the question
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you kind of go off on a story or something like that. You always want to end it with an answer to their question
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This is so common. I can't believe how often this happens where people don't actually answer the questions
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that they were asked. Number seven is to just avoid some of the common mistakes
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that people see all the time. Always show up early, like I said
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Always be nice to everybody that you meet. Doesn't matter if it's the receptionist
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the person at the door, always be super nice to everyone you meet because trust me, they're all talking to each other
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and you're probably gonna be evaluated on how you treat the other people
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Don't be the person sitting by themselves in the corner like a recluse
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And for the love of God, do not ask the interviewer how you did after the interview
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That is so cringy when people do that. Please, please don't do that
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Thank them for the opportunity and just be professional about it. And when it comes to being nervous
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it's better to be overly excited than kind of just calm and not excited at all
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I know the way that some people deal with nervousness is they kind of go into their shell
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and they just don't talk much or anything like that. But trust me when I say you want to act
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like you're really excited to be there and it's overall much better to be excited
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than to be nervous or really quiet. And it's good to have a sense of humor, but don't joke too much in the interview
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You do wanna keep it somewhat serious. Like I said before, if they ask you
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why do you want this job? Don't say because of the money or something like that
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It's not funny. And I've probably heard that answer at least five times
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And after the fifth time hearing it, it's just, it's even less funny
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This is kind of like when people learn that I used to live in Kansas and they say
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ha ha, you're not in Kansas anymore. It's not funny. And I get it, you're trying to be honest
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but don't be too honest here. Also, obviously don't talk about politics
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or anything like that. Number eight on the list is to try to stand out, but in a good way
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And this one is especially important when it comes to highly competitive positions
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So you probably don't need to do this one if it's just for like a normal position
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that you, you know, not a lot of people are applying to. So one thing that's just kind of like an example
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from my life is one thing that I did when I was applying for my first kind of, you know
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big job is instead of using a, just a normal resume, I made a business plan
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And this business plan was tailored for each job that I was applying for
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And it was basically my plan for how I was going to contribute to the company
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So what I did is I looked up the company's letters to shareholders, as well as numbers
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on the company's profitability that were freely available online. And I talked about the most important metrics
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that they were looking to increase. Now, this is kind of a high risk, high reward move
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because it could come across as a little bit too try hard. And this is really just gonna depend
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on who you're interviewing with, but it worked really well for me
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So if you pull this off, you're really going to stand out. And because of that, you're going to be remembered
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by the person that you interviewed with. You also want to come off as confident, but not cocky
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And I know that's kind of difficult to do, but it takes a little bit of what I like to call finesse
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Now, one thing I want to go over just a little bit at the end of this video, I don't think I got into it enough
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is whenever you're telling them why you're interested in whatever profession that is
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you honestly want to think about that as a brand story. So when you tell a story to them
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about what got you interested in that profession, you want to think of yourself as a brand
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almost like you're a company. Every company has a story that they tell people about how they got created
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and people cannot help but remember stories. Our brains pretty much think in stories
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There's a lot of theories out there that that's how our brains actually process information
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is in stories. And so you really do want to spend a lot of time thinking of the stories that you're gonna tell
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when people ask those questions that they're probably gonna ask 99% of the time
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But anyways, I spent a ton of time on this video. Go ahead and watch my other videos right here
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Smash the like button, hit the subscribe button, ring little notification bell
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and then comment down below any ideas you had on this video or ideas for others
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Thank you so much for watching and bye for now
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