How to Prepare for a Job Interview

As the unemployment rate rises, the value of job interview resources rises as well. Liz Wolgemuth, a reporter for US News & World Report, and Rusty Rueff have put together a fast list of job interview tips.

Finding out basic information about the organization you're applying to may appear to be one of the most obvious efforts candidates will make, but it's not a given. Job searchers should conduct extensive study, including reading annual reports, learning firm business plans, and setting up Google Alerts to keep up with company news. Some career counselors advise job hopefuls to research the difficulties or problems that a firm is facing and to come up with solutions.

It’s important to know what the company does, but it may be even more important to know who you’ll be talking to once you get there.

Find someone who is familiar with the company and can provide insight into the task you'll be doing. Get to know the people you'll be interviewing with and their personalities; learn about the person who's leaving the job you're applying for, his or her talents, and the problems he or she faced.

Even if your firm isn't listed, look at the data on Glassdoor.com. "The only thing that can alleviate the fear is information," says Glassdoor founder and CEO Robert Hohman. Prepare for the often hypothetical level of talk in job interviews by arming yourself with potential inquiries and reading what others recommend as good answers. It's easy to be stumped and surprised by a seemingly hard question—for example, how many blades of grass are there in Michigan?—but the interviewer is primarily interested in seeing how a candidate thinks and processes, not in testing her knowledge of Midwest horticulture.

Your resume should be perfectly suited to the job you're seeking for, to the point that it acts as a sort of blueprint and study handbook for your interview preparation. You should enlist the help of friends and family to "test you on your resume the way you'd test yourself before an exam" while you prepare for the interview.

Step back and take a breather. Consider the interview from the employer’s point of view.