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Presenting yourself in person: interviewing

Read much more about presenting yourself in person in Chapter Nine of our Idealist Guides to Nonprofit Careers for First-Time Job Seekers and for Sector Switchers.

Once you've gotten an invitation to interview, you've already impressed the potential employer — on paper.

To present yourself well in the interview and to make a good impression, you should:

Plan to articulate how you meet the employer's needs

You probably spent a lot of time working with the job description when you put together your cover letter and resume.

Now that you've gotten an interview, you'll want to review it — pay close attention to the qualifications and job duties — these are essentially lists of the employer's needs.

For each qualification or duty, identify a skill that the employer is asking for.

For example, if the job duty is to "recruit volunteers," related skills might include:

identifying organizational need for volunteers
drafting volunteer position descriptions
marketing the volunteer opportunities
communicating with potential volunteers
selecting volunteers

Your task, as the job candidate, is to prepare anecdotes about a specific time that you used these skills. You can use a format recommended by Pam Rechel at Brave Heart Consulting: name the skill, identify a specific time you used it, and explain how the skill will be useful in the new job.

TIP: When you find a job you'd like to apply for, make sure you print a copy of the position description if it's online — after the application deadline it may vanish off the job board.

Get ready for the big day

Research the organization

What is their mission? How does it distinguish itself from others working on similar issues or with similar clientele? What is the geographic scope of the organization? How is it funded? What buzz words do you notice when you read the organization's website?

Type up talking points

For example, the anecdotes that illustrate your most salient skills. It's fine to bring in notes to the interview with you.

Bring your notes, additional copies of your resume, a few copies of your references, and work samples to leave behind in a neat padfolio.

Figure out how to answer common interview questions

See a long list of common interview themes and questions in Chapter Nine of the Idealist Guides to Nonprofit Careers for First-Time Job Seekers and for Sector Switchers.

Examples include:

Tell me about yourself. Rely on your elevator pitch (see Networking). Don't assume the hiring team remembers the details of your resume.
Why do you want to work for our organization?
Why do you want this position?
What are your strengths and weaknesses?
Can you tell us about a time you used the skills necessary in this position? (See Plan to Articulate How You Meet the Employer's Needs.)

For great tips on how to answers these questions, check out Chapter Nine of the Idealist Guides to Nonprofit Careers for First-Time Job Seekers and for Sector Switchers.

Prepare your own questions

Just like a limp handshake, a one-sided interview is no fun! The hiring team wants to hear your questions and see that you're actively engaged in learning more about the organization and position.

When you research the organization and position, write down unanswered questions that arise for you and ask them during the interview.

Ask about the context and history of the position, what daily tasks and activities are involved, how the position is managed, what the rest of the hiring process looks like, and anything else you're curious about. (See the Idealist Guides to Nonprofit Careers for more.)

Plan to ask the most important questions — like how does the open position help the organization fulfill its mission — as early as possible during the interview. During second interview and later, you should avoid asking questions that cast doubt on your understanding of the position.

Read tips on asking questions in Chapter Nine of the Idealist Guides to Nonprofit Careers for First-Time Job Seekers and for Sector Switchers.

Put together your Interview Tool Bag

Don't leave bag-packing to the last minute. Prepare your Interview Tool Bag the night before the big day:

Tissues or a handkerchief
Copies of your resume, references, and work samples
Breath mints (not gum)
Bottle of water
Directions including address, parking information, suite or office number, floor number, and contact information including name and phone number (but keep your phone on silent during the interview!)
Notes (talking points, anecdotes, questions!)
Note paper and pen to take notes if you need to

Be your most authentic professional self

...So you and the hiring team can both assess your mutual compatibility.

Pay attention to the signals that your body language and eye contact send to the hiring team. It's okay to be a little nervous (and even to show it — it means you care!). But try to relax and be yourself.

Let your personality shine so that the hiring team glimpses who you truly are. If you have a sense of humor, use it to chuckle (appropriately, of course) or express an idea occasionally.

Your hiring manager may ask questions that seem trivial — for example about a foreign country mentioned on your resume, or about pets. In fact they may be attempting to get to know you better on a personal level, to find out whether you will be someone they'd like to see in the office everyday.

Follow other interview dos and don'ts

Plenty are listed in Chapter Nine of the Idealist Guides to Nonprofit Careers for First-Time Job Seekers and for Sector Switchers.