Most of the interview stuff is common sense, which you have plenty of it. From personal experience interacting with job candidates (I've seen just about all these bad behaviors):
Dress like a professional is number 1. The one most common thing I've seen done wrong at interviews is wearing jeans, tank-tops (hey, it's DAMN warm in NY right now!), tight clothing, cleavage exposing shirts... Think conservative until you get in and see what the office environment is like. Dress sharp (iron if it needs it).
Turn off your cell phone and any other distracting device. Do not make cellphone calls while you are on the interview site - it really turns off interviewers.
Don't refer to your parents, etc. I had a colleague who saw a mother accompany her twenty-odd college graduate to an interview. We thought it was an urban legend, but it's HAPPENING. Talk about helicopter parenting.
Arrive ten minutes early - much earlier and you can freak them out, and later shows disrespect.
Be nice to the secretaries or anyone you interact with. My office always asked the receptionist what she thought.
Have extra copies of your resume. I like carrying them in a nice folder. Everything about you should be orderly.
Have a couple of questions prepared - don't ask about salary for the first interview (it's NY State, you can find it on the website usually), but something that shows you are interested in the position. Most interviews will end asking if you want to know anything, and asking nothing is bad. Don't mention vacation plans, sick leave, etc... anything that indicates you're already thinking of perks. State regs will lay that all out, and it's not a good first impression.
If you're going office professional, are you on LinkedIn?
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Dress like a professional is number 1. The one most common thing I've seen done wrong at interviews is wearing jeans, tank-tops (hey, it's DAMN warm in NY right now!), tight clothing, cleavage exposing shirts... Think conservative until you get in and see what the office environment is like. Dress sharp (iron if it needs it).
Turn off your cell phone and any other distracting device. Do not make cellphone calls while you are on the interview site - it really turns off interviewers.
Don't refer to your parents, etc. I had a colleague who saw a mother accompany her twenty-odd college graduate to an interview. We thought it was an urban legend, but it's HAPPENING. Talk about helicopter parenting.
Arrive ten minutes early - much earlier and you can freak them out, and later shows disrespect.
Be nice to the secretaries or anyone you interact with. My office always asked the receptionist what she thought.
Have extra copies of your resume. I like carrying them in a nice folder. Everything about you should be orderly.
Have a couple of questions prepared - don't ask about salary for the first interview (it's NY State, you can find it on the website usually), but something that shows you are interested in the position. Most interviews will end asking if you want to know anything, and asking nothing is bad. Don't mention vacation plans, sick leave, etc... anything that indicates you're already thinking of perks. State regs will lay that all out, and it's not a good first impression.
If you're going office professional, are you on LinkedIn?
/busybody