Press the suit, shine the shoes. Now’s not the day to try out a new hair style. Arrive early — but NO MORE than 15 minutes early. Have a good breakfast. Thanks to the internet you have way too much information that you’ll need to know if you want to beat out the competition. You have to thoroughly research the company and the people with whom you are interviewing. And that’s on top of crafting a narrative for your career so all of your former jobs form a progression pointing to, you guessed it, your future job with this company. You’ll be their guide through your career path; think lovely meadow, as opposed to class 4 rapids.

But back to the research. You’ll want to start with LinkedIn to see if anyone you’ll be talking with falls within that nebulous orbit of connections you’ve cultivated. Look for any positive associations you can talk about, but not in a creepy way. You may not want to tell an interviewer you know where their kids go to college. But maybe you volunteered with an organization that one of your interviewers also volunteered at and you can allude to it. What a great way to talk about a project that really made you feel fulfilled and great!

You probably already have a sense of how to conduct yourself in a professional way, trust that sense. Be friendly, but polite. Don’t be nervous, but don’t be glib.Talk freely, but stay the course — remember you’re the guide, so a little spontaneity is nice so your fellow travelers (on the journey of your career path) feel special, but don’t get everyone lost.

Some interviewers are going to try to throw you a curveball, even test your level of irritation with inane questions. Keep your path in focus, and try to work everything back to it. You know how politicians never seem to answer the question they’ve been asked? Well the good ones can do that in a way that doesn’t seem evasive. It takes a little skill, but any time you can nudge their question so that it reveals the narrative you’ve crafted, the better off you’ll be.

About NextGen

NextGen is the brainchild of longtime telecom professionals with nearly 50 years of experience and millions of dollars in Telecom Recruiting Services. We focus on establishing long term relationships with our clients and candidates so we can recruit the best and the brightest in the telecom industry. This ‘quality over quantity’ approach is at the heart of everything we do and has resulted in successful job placements at Fortune 1000 firms worldwide.