Does anyone have any tips for a successful job interview?

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I'll be interviewing this week for a job at my university's writing center, and I've never interviewed for anything before. In fact, I have not exposed myself to very many interpersonal situations at all, so I don't know much about how I come across socially.

What are some good things to keep in mind?

Here are some good links for advice:

http://www.rogerdarlington.co.uk/Interview.html
http://www.quintcareers.com/interviewing-dos-donts.html
http://www.howtonailaninterview.com/

I think the important thing you have to remember is that an interview is formal. There are rules one expects in a job interview, and a specific flow of conversation. What "off the top of your head" moments there are, will be in their own section of the interview. The structure of an interview should help you; it will allow you to rehearse and prepare.

In fact, one is supposed to rehearse and prepare for an interview. Who knows better about rehearsing for a conversation while feeling anxious, than an aspie?

My advice: go to your university's resources department and see if they have a program for doing mock interviews. Usually, this entails them giving you a little pamphlet saying advice like "don't threaten to murder the interviewer," and having you sit down and actually go through a typical interview. You'll see firsthand how one is structured, and which questions make you more nervous. With a little experience before your first real interview, you'll be able to spot the tough parts.

If your university doesn't offer such a service, grab a friend or family member and blackmail them into giving you a mock interview. The key part is getting a feel for how it is structured, and learning on your own how to deal with the inevitable nervousness.

Your first real interview will probably be scary, but by playing to your strengths and knowing where your weaknesses are, you should do fine.

ETA:

AS-specific advice I picked up over the years:

Look at their mouth, they won't notice you aren't making eye contact.

Pre-interview small talk usually occurs. This is structured as well, and is usually more formal than normal small talk.

In normal conversation, there is a cadence to the turn-taking, and this cadence involves a lot of cues to look for. In an interview, this cadence is mostly verbal. The interviewer will explicitly ask a question, and will explicitly ask you to ask a question. There will be little chance of missing non-verbal cues because interviews have been designed to avoid them.

Interviewers look for people with interest and passion. This is something aspies have in spades- for our special interests. When asked about hobbies and other interests, you should concisely detail your special interest. Three or four sentences in which you enthusiastically describe an activity can do wonders for cementing their idea that you are "self-motivated and engaged" and any other positive buzzword.

By "concise" I mean do not do what I once did in response to the question "how do you feel about teamwork?" and deliver a long rant on F.A. Hayek's thesis on the distribution of knowledge in society, the open source movement, and the Aumann Agreement Theorem. I got the job somehow, but the entire time I was thinking "why am I saying this? What possible reason can it serve? No, don't bring up Gregory Chaitin. Stop and say something they will understand!"

In the part of the interview where they ask if you have questions, they are really looking for how interested you are in the company. They are actually asking you "show us that you would care about the job." The questions don't actually mean that much so long as they indicate you have given thought to the job and are willing to do it.

Last edited by ZeroGravitas on 05 Apr 2011, 9:06 am, edited 1 time in total.

Dress: Wear a jacket and tie. Khaki Pants, and dress shoes

I have been hired for every job iv interviewed with, and i know my resume is not strong...the key is to make them hear what they want to hear. You need to show off yourself to make a case as to why what you know is important enough for them to hire you. Explain your writing experience, and whatever work you have done. Since your 18, you dont have a real resume yet, so discuss your academic strengths and how that conforms with the job your applying to. They want to know if you know what your applying for. Make eye contact...I know its hard, but practice...think of some of the questions they might ask ahead of time, by researching common interview questions so you can prepare ahead of time..but don't sound rote during the interview or they will think you just memorized something without understanding it. Honestly, an interview is formal but if you treat it as a conversation it runs smoothly and its comfortable from everyones perspective..the reason I know this is because I have gotten feedback from interviews where they were impressed. You don't want the interview going from Question to Answer and long pauses of silence...its awkard and strange.

As I am female, I might skip the tie

Thanks for all the help so far, guys. I've been pondering some good things to say for "Why I want this job..."

Good advise from ZeroGravitas.

I'd say when preparing, Get a list of example questions and get a friend to ask them. You can also get the friend to write down your answers then think about them in more detail.

Also remember the art of turning a negative into a positive. Some employers ask if you have any weaknesses or ask if there is anything you could have done better at. What I said in the past was "I did ok at school but I would have liked to have tried harder from earlier on"

LOL...than a professional dress is good......Also, what do they do at the writing center? publish anything? tutor? explain your strengths in those areas and experiences ( if any). If they ever ask you a question about your weaknesses....you want to bring one up, be humble, BUT you want to switch it around by recognizing it and showing off your strength in character by learning from your weakness and becoming a better worker. If you say for example, your weakness is in setting priorities at work..you want to bring up how you are working through it and learning that the most important things need to be done first and that you've learned how to set up a schedule of deadlines, to assist you...just one example. Always flip the question on its head..answer a negative with a positive.

Feel self-confidence. Sometimes saying less is more. Don't be disappointed if the first or second time it is not a success, third time you'll get a good job, so feel at ease, experiment. Show interest for the company and its activity, so know as much about it as you reasonably can. Don't take everything literally, be prepared for a joke, sometimes exaggerate your strength a bit.

Invert that sentence to mean the exact opposite and you'll have me.

Hence, I have no advice. I'm just here to read what other people say.

So your resume is strong? than its your interaction skills with HR that is the issue...you can always work on that.

My last successful interview was 11 years ago for the job I still have. I had a job at the time and I wasn't anxious to leave, but I thought I was under-payed where I was. I was so relaxed and I had exactly the skill set they were looking for. It was obvious that I wasn't dying to work there and the guy gave me a really good offer right then and there. I told him I'd think about and he called me the next day to sweeten the deal. It was a 12 thousand dollar annual increase from my previous job and I took the offer.

So my advice is to be at ease during the interview and to not want it too badly.

Charges, in addition to the websites and other good advice already mentioned by ZeroGravitas and others, see

"10 Interview Questions Decoded"
By Selena Dehne, JIST Publishing
http://msn.careerbuilder.com/Article/MS ... s-Decoded/

"What Not to Say During a Job Interview"
http://www.realsimple.com/work-life/eti ... page3.html

For some more ideas you might also what to read a book or two about interviewing (assuming you have not already done so). One book I read was, "How to Impress For Success at Job Interviews", by Vaughan Vandenberg < http://www.interviewsolution.com/ >. Another one that some people like is, "The Complete Q&A Job Interview Book", by Jeffrey B. Allen. I know there are a couple of books about autism spectrum disorders and the workplace, but I have never read any of them, and so I do not know how helpful the are with respect to interviews.

Join the club.

I've had 2 jobs in my life but I was extremely lucky to get them both. They were more or less arranged for me with a lot of help from others. Oh and I volunteered for somewhere for a bit as well.

It is all good in theory but the interview is where I get horribly nervous. I don't even get many replies from applications either, so it sucks not getting experience. Have been on Job Seekers Allowance for over a year and a half and have not got far. I am scared of not having money as I am living on my own and don't think that the Job Centre understands that I may not be capable of work due to massive fatigue, concentration, short term memory and social interaction problems. I have been meaning to write a letter to them about it but can't summon the will power about it. Even face to face, even thought I see a disability adviser they do not understand by difficulties. Autism is widely misunderstood.

It really helps to make sure they know that you are interested in the job. I don't mean "interested in taking it", but "interested in learning about/doing it." When someone has AS, their enthusiasm for something is usually quite obvious; and if you let that show through when you do a job interview, they may look past any awkwardness when they realize that you will probably be one of the workers who really care about doing the job well.

I only ever get work via references myself, and my resume includes some impressive stuff, I think, including work for several big name companies. But as soon as someone talks to me in person, they never want to hear from me again. Maybe they think I must be lying on my resume because no one who's as bad as me at communicating could possibly have done that stuff? Or I'm so bad that no amount of skill could possibly make up for it? I don't know. I have references from the people who I've worked for who tell me that I do good work and keep asking me to do more work (so they must like me).

I would spend a week studying hundreds of possible interview questions, like I was going for an exam. I'd write out answers to every question I could find and memorize them. But they always manage to come up with some stupid question that I hadn't prepared for and I just can't answer those off the cuff. I don't know how else to prepare for an interview when I have this disability.

You HAVE been getting some good advice here! Females luckily can dispense with some things. For the dress, try wearing something tasteful that doesn't show too much flesh, etc.. They want to feel you will be serious about the job, etc...
Men have to come off as even MORE confident, have a good handshake, and wear at least business casual.(Unless the job is like a private minimum wage job, that isn't at a financial situation, in which case business casual is STILL a good idea.) JeremyNJ1984 basically described a kind of combo business casual and business.

Act kind of confident, and try to talk to all in the room. That should be easy for an aspie! You basically look around as IF you are paying attention to everyone and talking to THEM, but move your eyes from one to another. Watch some speeches, and you will tend to see what I am talking about.

For MOST jobs you should learn about the company, and work things into the conversation.

Try to determine your WORST attributes, and try to find a way to mitigate or compensate. Try to determine your BEST attributes. Come up with situations that make you look GOOD for the job.

And REMEMBER, not getting the job is NOT the end of the world, and the interviewer may be JUST as nervous talking to YOU!

Yes, try to be able to improvise. It's not that hard, if you are not in tense, this is where experience can help a lot. How much to speak, how to summarize topics, speed of speaking, mood to show, how much to smile/don't smile etc. Personally, I don't bothered too much about the theory of job interviews (eg. prepare Q&As), they only confuse me when trying hard to apply them. I focused more of the circumstances, the people, the place, my resume, the jobs I did before, and some of the general guidelines mentioned here in this (very good!) topic.

The companies seek a person/persons who is/are suitable for the job, so maybe they are on the short side, you are the perfect applicant for them! This is always bilateral. If you are not suitable for them, move, don't be disappointed (at least not too long).

When things turn out negative, it is best to assume a diplomatic position. It's when you feel they don't accept you, you are anxious, did something rather wrong during the interview, or they are not like the dream-job you wanted, etc. Who knows, maybe you can count on them in the future anyway.