Interviewing

[BusyBee]

Hey! Have any of you guys interviewed before? I have an interview for a marketing internship coming up soon. Do you have any advice?

[bond]

Sure. What is the position? Make sure to do a lot of research about the company.

[klaja26]

I have done a few interviews myself but i sat in on a lot of interviews. They werent for an important job (just sales in a store) but mostly all interviews would be the same.

What we would look for is not someone who knows the product and knows how to do the job already but someone who we could shape to do what we want without question. I worked in an electronics store and as long as the person knew the difference between a tv and a computer then that was as much product information as they needed. If they came in and was asked a question like "If your boss told you that you have to finish cleaning the window before lunch time and its 5 minutes to lunch time and you havent finished but a customer walks into the store, what do you do?" and the person says "clean the window" then the interview ends there.

Its mostly about common sense and a willing to learn. We did always as a question "What do we sell here?". That was to test how much they knew about the company. It is one of Australias largest consumer electronic stores so we always expected the common answers of TVs, computers, phones but it was the people that answered things like phone accessories, cb radios, surge boards, they were the people that stood out because they stayed away from the obvious answer and shown that they have done a little bit of research. Also when the person walked into the store they would then be told to wait for 5-10minutes by a staff member. We were ready out the back but we wanted to see what the person did. If they just stood near the front door waiting then it wasnt the person we wanted. If they walked around the store and looked at things then they are showing some interest.

Now your internship isnt for a store and there isnt products but marketing is very similar to sales and any good sales/marketing manager knows that the best sales people are the ones that are willing to learn, not just the ones that have the best previous knowledge. So be confident and make sure they know you are there to learn. Its an internship so its an obvious thing but im sure a lot of people go into these interviews trying to tell the interviewer that they know everything about the position and can get straight in and be the best tomorrow. Be confident that you can do the job but not tell them things that they know aren't possible, otherwise they may just put you to the test and if you dont meet their expectations you wont have the job for long.

So as Bond said, a lot of research about the company to make sure you know what they do because they will probably ask that question.

At the end of an interview we would ask "Do you have any questions?". Say yes and ask a question. Come up with a bunch of questions and ask one of them at the end. Dont ask a question if they have told you the answer throughout the interview but show that you do have an interest in what they do and ask a question about it. It can be hard to come up with a good question and without knowing what the position is or company it makes it hard to give you an example but its all about showing a keen interest in the position and not just turning up to an interview because you have to. Just make sure the question isnt "Are you married?" or "how much do you earn?"

[BusyBee]

WOW...Thanks for the tips!!! I'm interviewing for Macy's for the HR department. I looked up some information for them. I even been trying to look on other sites. ...I just figured I could use all the advice I could get. I'm so nervous!

[BusyBee]

Wait...I actually just found this one that looks pretty legit. Here, I'll show you it How to be Prepared for an Interview | Institute for Coaching ....do you guys have any other sites where I could find more tips?