Second Round Interviews: Part 1

In a second-round interview, and, frankly, even in a first to an extent, but certainly in a second round, research the company that you're going to interview for. You should've been on their website, and not just the home page. You should've really looked in and dug in a little bit. If you can, go on LinkedIn. Look up the people who are gonna be interviewing if you know who they are. We wanta see people who are engaged, and, frankly, who are as interested in us as we might be in them. (lively music) Well, you're gonna be expected to know a little bit more about the company at that point. Look a little bit deeper into what kinds of work they're doing in different parts of the United States, or the world, or the state, or wherever it is. And I would also do a lot of just researching the news. What are those hot issues because if you happen to recall some of those and bring some of those up voluntarily; you're definitely gonna look like somebody who is interested in the position. In a second interview I think the company looks really for how well this candidate fits our culture. So knowing about the company is definitely really helpful. If I've invited someone back for a second interview, it probably means that they did impress me, but perhaps there were other candidates that also impressed me. You're inviting them back to really dig in a little bit deeper into maybe their experiences or their personality, maybe it's an issue of how they'll mesh with the team. With a second-round interview it's really important to make sure that you are prepared to give a lot of solid examples. Examples are always important, but with a second round they're probably going to be probing a little bit more on things that maybe they didn't get as deep on previously. So any experiences that you have that pertain specifically to that role or specifically to that company, if you've worked with them in the past; that's going to be really important and helpful for you in getting past that. If they're asking you for a second round, they wanta get a better idea of who you are. So try to think outside the box if they're asking you the same question. Try to answer it in a way that may seem fresh. It's important that, if you get to the second round, you really start to hit it home with this is who I am, this is how I work, and this is why I think I'd be able to contribute to your organization. Talk to how your past experience, although it may not be direct job experience coming out of school, how any classes, or projects, or anything that you have done could correlate to what they're asking for in the job description. So as the interview is being set up via email, via a phone call, I would ask for an agenda just so you know who you're speaking to. You can do your research, so whether that's LinkedIn, maybe you guys have a mutual connection. Things like that create quick relationship, good first impression, maybe you guys went to the same school, know a lot of the same people. So that is something I would definitely ask for, especially who you're meeting with.