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Special Emphasis on Students
It is common practice for people to prepare themselves before appearing for an interview. However, the quality of that preparation would very much depend upon the candidate's understanding about what they know or think they know regarding what would be necessary for the task.
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The better you understand what is expected of you, the better you would be able to prepare, the better would be your chances to be selected for the job. Hence, let us look into some basic things that the employers generally wish the candidates would know and prepare for before they appear for interview:
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Network in the right places - you (the student) should work in close collaboration with the on-campus Placement Office so this office would form a good enough opinion about you and be able to recommend you to any company that seeks a person with your attributes and qualifications. This 'connectivity' works wonders when the company contacts the Placement Office and asks for recommendationsfor the positions advertised.
Do not count on nor worry about your score in social networks - as a student you might think the world of MySpace and the like websites, where you have a great page which could be used for both professional and relaxation purposes. However, you need to keep in mind that recruitersare really not in tune with such social networking (yet! - 2007) and are not likely to search information this way.
Google and YOU. They might though, Google your name. If they do, make sure what comes up is good to read. Find out what the Internet has collected against your name (run a search with your name within quotes and add your email id or school name to narrow down the results). If it is not flattering, you might encounter problems because the recruiters do sometimes Google the name to check out if there any trouble with their favorite candidate, about which they would need to know.
If you find that the findings are vague or not favorable, it is time for you to spruce up your Internet presence. Visit interesting discussion forums (it is best if these pertain to your area of expertise or related fields) and leave comments and/or ask questions. Ensure that you come across as a mature and balanced person who is knowledgeable and loves to share his/her knowledge as well as absorb and learn from the experience of other people.
You could use the same approach in different blogs and other high-traffic subject-pertaining sites. Remember, you should come across as a serious budding professional deeply interested in his/her subject, not as a scatter-brain who enjoys posting irrelevant things here and there on the web.
Use the online application forms of the Company(ies) you like to join - many company post their vacancies on their websites and invite application for eligible professionals to apply online. This is a great opportunity for you to figure on their database for future reference if you are not immediately selected for an interview. However, you need to understand that the hard copy applications and online applications are very different from each other.
Before you go for filling up the application online, make it a point to educate yourself on the dos and don'ts of this task. There are many things that you should pay attention to and these details are outside the purview of the present article. After you understood what is required to make a perfect online entry, you should also ensure that there are no punctuation, capitalization and/or spelling errors in your application. Preview it and read it thoroughly before submitting it. Many opportunities are lost due to negligence in uploading of the CV.
Ensure that your CV is searchable - how do you find information on the Net? By typing certain relevant keywords in the search bar. Similarly, your recruiters would key in certain keywords pertaining to your qualifications, experience, expertise, topics or the designation for which the position is advertised. In order to 'find' you from their data base, your CV should be loaded with related keywords. Make a list of keywords that describes your job/designation. Now, try to accommodate all (or as many as you can) into your CV without altering its flow or character.Tip: The most important thing is the CV presentation rather than the keywords.
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Your CV should read as a normal CV even after it has been keyword optimized. Do not, under any circumstances, add the keywords haphazardly as these would obstruct the natural flow of the text and / or make it clumsy to read. In this case, they would definitely find your CV, but as soon as they read it, it would be rejected for lack of cohesiveness and poor communication skills; therefore it would serve the purpose.
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Be careful about instructions when applying online - often there are specific instructions for filling-up the online application, which unfortunately is often ignored by the candidates. There could be certain fields to be filled with capital letters, a certain way to enter the date of birth, providing certain information, or entering the time when you could be contacted, etc. Missing out on filling up these fields in the required format would weaken your chances to be selected for two reasons, i.e. (i) you come across as a person who is unable to follow simple instructions, (ii) you prove to be a person, who is unable to pay attention to details.
You loose on both these aspects, besides the fact that you might sabotage your change to be 'found' as some of these field would be the principal keywords the recruiters would use for searching the database.
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