An interview, at its core, is merely a conversation between two individuals. Therefore, if one can master the art of conversation, one can master any job interview. To become a true master of conversation, one must learn numerous concepts relating to human behavior, voice projection, and negotiation. If you look to learn new skills, check out a website called Coursera. Coursera is an online e-learning website, which hosts thousands of free classes, taught by professors from top universities such as Yale, Harvard, and Stanford. Here are the skills you need to learn for your next interview, and the free, online courses you can take to improve your interview game.
Salary Negotiation
Not only do you want to do work you love, but you also want to do work which pays what you believe you are worth. Getting the salary which you deserve, however, may not be so simple. You want the job and the pay, but you also know that, if you’re too aggressive or too passive, you won’t get either. The key then is to find the balance between the two worlds. In this course, you’ll learn how to put strategy behind your ideas which you can use to get the salary you desire. This course teaches how to devise a negotiation strategy, frame persuasive arguments, and use arguments against yours to your advantage. Most importantly, you can work with the other students taking this course to better refine your negotiation skills.
Personality
The more you connect with the interviewer, the better the chances you can convince him or her that you’re right for the job. To connect with someone, you need to have a deep understanding of your own personality and how it relates to the personality of the other individual. This course teaches you about the Myers Briggs Type Indicator and the Big five Personality test. These assessments are the top-rated personality tests in the world. Taking the tests will enable you to uncover why you think and act in certain ways. The course will explain the different personality types, the strengths and weaknesses of each, and how your personality type can work with other personality types to attain goals. To be able to identify the personality type of an interviewer would better enable you to overcome the initial fear of the interview, and delve straight into constructive conversation.
Rhetoric and Persuasive Speaking
Interviewers want to know that you are passionate about your work and confident in your abilities. To demonstrate your passion and your confidence, you need to understand how to speak with conviction. This is a public speaking course in which you’ll learn how to express your thoughts with a certain sureness that’ll come across as charming and engaged. You’ll be taught how to organize your thoughts into compelling arguments, tools to effectively make points, and, most importantly, how to deliver your words in a powerful, assured style.
Strategy
Before you enter the interview, you should learn about the company. The more you know about a company, the more you can understand how to add value to it. You’re task is to prove to the interviewer that you will be able to provide exceptional return to the company, through your hard work and prior experience. Preparation is key, and this course will teach you how to properly research companies before the interview. The core of the class is to show you how to plan for your long term career and then how to make the best possible impression. In it, you will learn to create a strategy you can use to ace your interview.
In Closing
So there you have it. While this is not an all-in-one comprehensive list of all the sources available online to help you with your job interview skills, this is a great start. It’s not only applicable to job interviews but to various situations you may encounter in your daily life. A job interview could be the first step in what may be a life changing endeavor. The difference between doing great or performing poorly can really be the difference in obtaining that job you always wanted. Also, the difference between a good job interview and a great job interview could mean thousands of dollars in salary. Higher education provides you with the knowledge employers are looking for to offer you that dream job. Unfortunately, most schools don’t provide the education on how to get it.
