Job Interview Skills Are Tools of Communication
But What Should You Communicate In an Interview?
Medical Assistants, if you find yourself "practicing" interview responses and "skills" at all, even a little, you are problably skipping a more basic step - a step so important and overlooked that it is the top reason you don't get the job and a good explanation of why others get hired. And while you may be asking others for advice, the ones who get the job are consulting one person only: themselves! So, if you would like to know their secret, you don't need to go very far, for the answers are within you!
Why Do Those Successful at Interviews Consult Only Themselves?
What Do You Need to Find Out?
Before getting into why, let me clarify that "consulting only yourself" really means what your own needs, wants and qualifications are. This is separate from learning "interview skills" which are improperly named. They are actually communication skills which, learned, help you communicate to an employer about yourself. So the skills you learn from recruiters, career service consultants, advisors, etc. can be of great help once you do a little soul searching. Too many people consider interview skills to be a "secret code" of the right things to say to get a job. This misses the whole point of what these jobs are about. It's really about you!
There is one activity you need to engage in, not before the interview, not before an "interview skills" class but before looking at a single job listing. "Soul searching" could be one way to describe it. However you call it, it is basically a look inside yourself to find out what it is you want out of life, a job or career, etc. There need to be some guidelines or rules of the game that YOU establish before even considering applying for ANY job!!
A Quick Reference Guide To Job Searching and Interview
A List of Questions To Ask Yourself and Answer
1. Why did you get into the career you are pursuing?
2. What skills do you confidently feel you have?
3. Who could you possibly help with the skills you have learned?
4. Does the job you are applying for align with what you want to accomplish?
Make this list and answer questions 1-3 for yourself and keep them. Update them every so often. Question 4 is to be used for each job you consider. If you answer "no" to question 4, it is a waste of time to apply for it.
The Secret of Getting the Job Is Honesty... With Yourself!!
Look at it from the employer's perspective. In the case of medical-type offices, these are established to help patients restore or maintain health. Doctors need staff to support this and the jobs their staffs perform are more than just duties done for pay - they are an actual needed function in getting the community well.
When you are not honest with yourself as to the list of 1-4 above, you bring harm, however minor, to yourself, the doctor or clinic, staff, patients and community alike. It is a ripple effect that helps no one - least of all you.
The point of this article is not so much the honesty itself but that, being honest about 1-4 above, you will no longer need "interview skills" because you will be sure of yourself, your skills, what you have to offer and that you truly do want the jobs you choose to apply for. And that is where confidence comes from. The rest is learning communication skills so you can get the point across in the interview and get the job.
I challenge you to do this and see for yourself. Then go to an interview skills class. After that go on some interviews and see how much better things become. Your luck is about to change. Report back with good news. I expect to hear that you got the job!!!!
Best of luck on your interview. You won't need it!
Frank Sardella
©2011 Screenings Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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