Ten Things You Need to Do Before Every Single Job Interview

who can speak to your talents, your experience, and your skills. If possible, ask those people ahead of time if they would be willing to provide you with a recommendation if needed. These should be individuals who have supervised you, who have worked closely with you, or have been clients or customers of yours over an extended period of time. Character references from individuals like your minister or your former Little League coach are not usually useful. Employers prefer talking to people who are actually familiar with your work and then ask reference questions that also speak to your ethics and moral character.

1. Practice, practice, practice- No one is born being a terrific interviewer. That takes skill. And, like any skill, you have to practice. Your practice can take many forms. Talk to yourself and listen to what you sound like. Talk into a mirror and see what you look like while you are talking. Record yourself answering your prepared interview questions and pretend you are the interview panel. And, if you can, find an experienced friend or mentor to listen to you practice for your interview. The goal is to become comfortable talking about your skills and your abilities, and your desire to make big contributions to the company you hope to work for.

Sounds like a lot of work, right? It really isn't. Preparing for that first interview is the hardest. After that it is simply a matter of running through these ten steps and revising and tailoring your focus to reflect the next opportunity. And don't be discouraged if you don't land that first job after all this work. You will get better and better at this whole process until the day comes when you will leave potential employers scratching their heads and asking each other, "Can't we just cancel the rest of the interviews and hire this one?"

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About the Author: jeanne miller rodriguez

Jeanne Miller Rodriguez is a former Deputy Director for the California Department of Social Services (CDSS) where she served in executive level positions for seventeen years. While at CDSS, she had responsibility for developing and administer ing public policy in a wide variety of areas including strategic planning, succession planning, human resource management, community relations and civil rights.

Born in Pennsylvania, her early education was in one of the last of the one room schools in the country. She says she was always an excellent student because she figured the longer she stayed in school the longer she could go without getting a full-time job. After short stints as a waitress, child care provider, guitar teacher, and a department-store Easter Bunny, she knew working was not going to be easy. Her first real jobs were teaching Spanish and English as a Second Language at the university and middle school levels. She taught Spanish to West Virginians, English to Colombians, and tried to teach Spanish to eighth graders. She says the Colombians were the easiest, the West Virginians were the funniest, and she spent most of her time with middle schoolers ducking flying desks.

Jeanne received her BA from Westminster College in New Wilmington, PA with majors in Spanish, German and French. She received her Master's Degree from the West Virginia University in Spanish literature where she also began doctoral work before embarking on a 31 year career in public service. Those years enabled her to develop expertise in human resource management, and the opportunity to interview, hire, and mentor hundreds of individuals in their careers.

During her twenty seven years as a supervisor, she says she supervised both saints and sinners and even a few regular people. An experienced trainer and educator, Jeanne has taught in Virginia, Pennsylvania, California, and South America. Currently, she works with public and private organizations as a consultant, investigator, and trainer in areas such as program development, cultural competency, discrimination, and organizational development. She is also a consultant and part-time instructor with the Sacramento State University, College of Continuing Education.

Jeanne is also the author of Ready, Set, Work! and Ready, Set, Supervise! She lives with her family in Sacramento, CA. Learn more at www.readysetbooks.net.