How to Work a Corporate Interview

Interviewing for a new job even makes the experts sweat. www.corporatecatwalk.com explains how to walk into an interview with confidence and style. By Liane Corinaldi

Welcome class of 2008, your new job awaits you. If only it were that easy. After 125 painful college course hours, a little less for you non-engineering majors, you would think they would hand you a nice goody bag filled with your degree, a fabulous job, and an all expense paid trip to St. Barts at the graduation ceremony. Wrong! Somewhere in those extra minutes when you’re not cramming for an exam or catching up on some much needed beauty sleep, you are supposed to be interviewing for your post college job. In this weakening economy, landing a good job is tough, but the entry level job market is still thriving for new graduates despite job cuts. Large corporations expect to increase hiring for those with bachelors degrees by 9% according to Michigan State University’s Collegiate Employment Research Institute. The job interview is the best tool employers have to fill these positions.

Brand you

Coca-Cola spends a lot of money in advertising for people to believe in their brand. You need to invest your time for employers to believe in your brand. In most cases, an interviewer only has an hour to speak with you. In that hour, you not only better “wow” them but you need to be memorable and a great fit for the position. Highlight three major points from your resume that promote your brand and give personal real world examples on how these points benefit the company. Rehearse your pitch with mock interviews with your college career counselor. Often, college mock interviews are video recorded and conducted by industry recruiters who pick first round interviewers.

Learn more about personal branding on Alexandra Levit's Water Cooler Wisdom.

Do your research
It is a waste of time to interview when you don’t know about the position or the company. The employer wants to ensure that you will benefit the company and its customers. Browse the company’s information on Vault, Hoovers, and Yahoo Finance to understand what the company does and how they do it. Create a cheat sheet on index cards to review while waiting at red lights as you drive to your interview. This can be helpful when preparing for multiple interviews but irritating to cars behind you.

You’ve got nerve

We all get nervous before we need to perform. But give the interviewer a firm handshake and settle into the interview chair with confidence. You took the time to prepare and you know your brand is valuable to this company. You may just leave with a new job.

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