Speaker 1: Hi folks, my name is Erin McGough. I'm a filmmaker and content creator living in New York and I have helped literally millions of people nail their job interviews. And today I'm here to help you. So if you clicked on this video, I'm going to assume that you have a job interview coming up. And if that's the case, let me be the first person to congratulate you. Getting to the interview stage is a huge accomplishment. Not only did you write a stellar enough application to get through the applicant tracking system and in front of a real human being, but they also looked at your application and thought, yep, this person might be the one. Let's bring them in for an interview. Companies don't waste their time interviewing people that they don't think might be the perfect fit for the role. So pat yourself on the back. It's a huge accomplishment just to get an interview. Okay, so they already love you, but now we just got to seal the deal. And if you're already watching this video and putting in time and effort to prepare for your interview, I feel like you actually have nothing to worry about. It seems like this company would be lucky to have you. But regardless, I'm going to run you through my six step process to make sure that you nail this interview. Step one is mindset. Your mindset going into a job interview is so, so important. Most people think of it like this. I'm so grateful the company wants to interview me, but like, what if I go in and I mess up and I'm not what they're looking for and I'm just not good enough for them? No, no, no, no, no, no, no. Excuse me, let's flip that around. Is this company good enough for you? Is this role something that you're even interested in? Interviews go both ways, okay? This company might not be the vibe for you. You are not desperate. You are not looking for someone to give you a handout, to give you a chance. You are highly skilled. You are a professional. You have good character. You have good work ethic. You are collaborative. You are communicative. If this company hired you, they would be making a smart choice. Remember, the person who is conducting your interview wants to hire you. Their job is to hire quality candidates to put in the company. If you come in and you are that amazing candidate that they want to hire, they look good to their boss. They are not looking for reasons to reject you. They are looking for reasons to hire you. So just walk in there and confirm to them that you are the perfect person for this role. Because in that case, they're done with work for the day. They can go home and relax. Just walk into that interview and be their ideal candidate. Be the solution to all their problems. Step two, review the job description. Your first interview at most companies is going to be a filtering interview, meaning that you're probably not going to interview with your future boss, but rather with somebody from the HR or hiring department. They are not going to be super familiar with the ins and outs of your role. They're probably not going to understand a lot of the jargon that you would use on your daily job. And they're honestly not looking to be impressed by your thorough skills or knowledge. What they are looking for is to check off boxes on a list. Most of those boxes are keywords. They are listening to hear if you repeat the keywords in the job description. So if the job is looking for an editor who knows Premier Pro and Avid, you better say, I know Premier Pro and Avid very well. And they're gonna go, check, check. You know, and other things on the checklist are, is this person a psychopath? No. Does this person smell weird? No. Did this person show up on time? Yes. So all you need to do is help them check off their little boxes. So before your first interview, I want you to go back and reread the job description and then take the 10, 15 most common job interview questions and script out your answers for each one using words in the job description. Then you want to practice them through enough so that you don't sound scripted, but that you sound prepared. And if you need some extra help, I'll link to my job interview Q&A templates down in the description. Also, pro tip, sometimes companies will ask very specific questions. If you feel like you're so in the dark and you have no idea what this company's going to ask you, I highly recommend going to glassdoor.com, looking up the company, clicking on interviews, and then people will write reports of their interview experience at that company. And sometimes people will even write specific questions that they were asked. So that's a great way to kind of get an idea of what kind of questions they're gonna ask in the interview. Another pro tip is that you want to have a lot of stories prepared. So companies might ask you, what was a time that you overcame an obstacle? Tell me about a time that you achieved something at work. Tell me about a time that you disagreed with a coworker. Or my favorite one, tell me about a time you failed. Gosh, I hate that question. Again, I have templated answers to all of these questions on my TikTok and Instagram, so be sure to follow me there. Step three is research. The next step involves heavily researching the company, but this shouldn't take you more than 30 minutes to an hour. The first place that you want to start is the company website. You want to go and read their about, or their mission, or their value, or their careers page. You want to get a sense of their values as a company so that you can use those in your answers. Also, the careers page can be a great place to learn about the benefits that they publicly offer so that if you're curious about their 401k match or their paid maternity leave, you can see if you can find the answers there and then ask about them in the interview. That's a really delicate way of going about that. Next, you're gonna want to go over to Google and type in the company name and then click on the news tab. Read about any recent news for the company or for the industry as a whole. Did the company recently win any awards? Did the company recently have a merger? Was there a wave of layoffs? This research will truly come in handy when you have to ask questions at the end of the interview, which we're gonna talk about. And lastly, you're gonna want to go over to my friend LinkedIn. If you don't already have a LinkedIn profile, definitely create one. It's super easy and a great, great tool to have. If you know the name of the person who is interviewing you, feel free to look them up and browse their profile. A quick tip if you don't know LinkedIn that well, but whenever you look at somebody's profile, they will actually receive a notification that you looked at their profile. So definitely don't go around sleuthing your ex's profiles because, yes, they will know. But don't be afraid to look at the person who's going to be interviewing you because, one, they might not check LinkedIn so they might not even know or care. But two, if they do see it, they'll think, wow, this person is very proactive. They're doing their research. That's a good thing. But I don't know about y'all with LinkedIn, but I don't remember the last time that I actually looked at who looked at my profile. Maybe I should, but maybe that would be, maybe that would be interesting, but it's not super common. After that, go over and type in the company name into LinkedIn, and then you can browse the company's page. I recommend clicking on the People tab and browsing the people that work there. See if anybody who works there maybe has a mutual connection with you, or maybe if they went to the same university or were in the same club or are from the same hometown. And if you find somebody who does have a similar connection with you, please message them. Click Connect and then click Add Note. And then just say something like, hi, Adam, my name is Erin. I also went to American University. I graduated in 2017. I'm interviewing at your company next week. Do you have any tips for me? Guys, an inside referral is a super weapon when it comes to getting a job. Having somebody on the inside vouch for you is like 10 extra super points in a video game. I don't know if that was a good metaphor, but it's really powerful. It's like super charging your application. Like I tell everybody the best way to get a job, the best way to get a good job is to get an internal referral. Anyway, getting distracted, back to the steps. Step four, prepare questions. At the end of the interview, they're going to ask you, so do you have any questions for us? And the only wrong answer is no. You should always have about four to five questions prepared for the end of the interview. The more specific the questions, the better. Some questions like, who will I be reporting to in this role? Or what's the single most important soft skill that someone in this role needs to succeed? If you need more inspiration for amazing questions to ask, go watch this video that I uploaded and I have a ton of examples for you. But again, the more specific the question, the better. For example, I recently saw that your competitor released a sustainable product line. Will this company be following suit? Questions that are really specific and timely and show that you're thinking about the company as a whole are like golden. Step five, we're almost there, I promise. Prepare your interview outfit. One of the most simple rules for dressing in job interviews is that you can't be overdressed, but you can be underdressed. So it's always better to err on the side of overdressed. What you're wearing doesn't matter as much as your hygiene. So you need to make sure that you don't smell, your clothes are stain-free, they're wrinkle-free, and they are tailored for your body. Now, of course, what you wear varies per industry. If you are interviewing for a legal firm, you're going to want to wear something more conservative, like a black, gray, or brown suit. However, if you're interviewing for a creative position at a tech company where everybody wears their pajamas, then maybe business casual is best, maybe some nice black jeans and a blazer. If you don't know what to wear, the general rule is that you wear basically one step up from what the employees of the company wear. So if the companies wear a uniform, you would want to wear business casual. If the employees were business casual, then you would want to wear a business formal. And if the employees are business formal, then you would want to wear a tuxedo. Just kidding, just kidding about the last one. It ends up business formal. And it's almost always safe to wear something between business casual and business formal, like a nice relaxed suit or a simple business dress is always a good idea. You always want to err on the side of modesty and conservative because you never know who's going to be interviewing you, and you don't want to bet against yourself. If you're wondering where to shop, some good budget options are TJ Maxx, Kohl's, Marshalls, Target, H&M is actually really fantastic. And then if you're looking for more mid-range, I personally really like Everlane and Abercrombie, but some other good ones are Nordstrom, Nordstrom Rack, Banana Republic, Bonobos, and Taylor, Express, and then, you know, big department stores like Macy's. But it's really important that whatever you do buy needs to fit you. The fit is almost more important than the clothes. If you're wearing something that's too baggy or too tight, it might communicate to the employer that you are unprofessional. And of course, we don't want that because you are professional and you're desirable and they'd be lucky to have you, remember? Okay, and the last step, step six, do a mock interview. Okay, so lastly, if you have time, I highly recommend doing a mock interview with a family member or a friend. But it's important, it has to be somebody who's not afraid to be honest with you and give you real feedback. So don't do it with your mom who's just gonna say, oh, honey, that was so great. Like, no, mom, we're not doing that. Do it with somebody who's gonna roast you. Do it with somebody who's gonna say, you were fidgeting the whole time. You were playing with your hair. You didn't make eye contact with me one time. I want you to go through the whole thing. Get dressed up, go in, no notes, have them ask you the questions, you have to give the answers. And then each time, I want them to give you feedback and tell you the truth. Because research says that 65% of what we communicate is through our body language. It's so important to gain self-awareness and the only way to really do that is by talking to somebody else who can reveal to us our own blind spots and behaviors. All right, that's it for me today. I am so, so excited. Please let me know how it goes down in the comments. And save this video for future use. You know, share it with your nieces or nephew or your friends. Remember, you got this, and I'll see you next time.