Chapter 4: Professional Interviewing
Lumen Learning and Linda (Bruce) Hill
If your résumé and cover letter have served their purposes well, you will be invited to participate in an interview with the company or organization you are interested in. Congratulations! It is an exciting time, and your prospects for employment are strong if you put in the time to be well-prepared for the interview.
There are two major categories that employers are looking to evaluate in a candidate during an interview.
- Qualifications: Do you have the required credentials, skills, and abilities to perform the job?
- Personal and career fit: Do your personal qualities, attributes, and career goals match with what the company is seeking?
This section will provide you with a thorough understanding of what you need to know at every stage of the interview process. We will explain the different types of interview formats and provide you with sample questions and answers that will be crucial in increasing your chances of securing your next job. Remember that the interview is a chance for the employer to learn more about you, your skills and experiences, but it is also an opportunity for you to learn more about the company and whether or not this opportunity will be a good match to your current goals and future career aspirations.
Learning Objectives
By the end of this chapter, you will be able to:
- Evaluate your interviewing strengths.
- Practice the STAR interviewing method.
- Identify and prepare for common interview questions.
This chapter is adapted from three open educational resources:
“Career & Life Planning” by Dawn Forrester and Eden Isenstein is licensed under CC BY 4.0
Blueprint for Success in College: Career Decision Making by Dave Dillon is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
Informational Interviews. Provided by: Lumen Learning. License: CC BY: Attribution
Adaptations included editing tone, images, removing content to align the chapter with BCOM210 course learning objectives, revising examples for an FHSU student population, and adding some original exercises to align with course objectives.
AI Insights in this chapter were written through a collaborative process between Dr. Rose Helens-Hart, a professor of business communication, and AI writing applications, specifically Gemini and ChatGPT. Her approach involved extensive, iterative prompt-based conversations with these AI applications, during which she explored and refined various topics related to AI’s use in business communication. While the AI tools offered valuable suggestions and generated initial content, the final versions of AI Insights reflect a significant amount of human research, drafting, editing, and revision on her part to ensure accuracy, clarity, and relevance to the field.
