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Jon Youshaei, contributor at Forbes, has an article that caught my eye. This is for those who’ve landed the interview but want other than the standard “sit up” and “dress well” tips. And so he set about looking for some less common tips to help you prepare. I’ve chosen 4 to tell you about. The others can be found at the link at the bottom of this post.

He organizes the tips in to before, during and after the interview and begins with this one.

Tip 1: Research, research, research

We all know that we should research the company’s website, learn as much as we can before the interview but Youshaei suggests going a further step and looking for blog posts and other social media info as well as listening to earnings calls and reading the quarterly reports. This is what he writes:

With so much out there, I’m baffled that few of us look past the company’s homepage. It’s like we’re writing an essay on The Odyssey without quoting a single passage from the book.

Then Youshaei gives an example. He writes, say you’re interviewing with Google and they ask “What’s Google’s biggest opportunity in the next 5 years?”. He says, while neither is wrong, there is a stronger answer:

Weak: “I think wearable technology will be big because Google Glass and Apple Watch represent a new trend that shows…”

Strong: “Call me geeky, but I was listening to Google’s quarterly earnings call and was blown away by the fact that display advertising hit over $5 billion in the past few years. Therefore, I think that…”

Another “before” tip also seems a bit obvious but again Youshaei offers some specifics. He says: Make sure your presence on social media is clean and he suggests using Social Sweepster to clean your online posts of everything from profanity, beer bottles, red solo cups to other “suspicious” objects.

Tip 3 is: Try to schedule your interview for Tuesday, 10:30 AM. This is because this is the sweet spot. It avoids the first or last day of the work week; avoids the first or last time slot of the day; and it avoids lunchtime. But says Glassdoor, interviewed for the article, there is a caveat: There’s research to show that if a firm is hiring for an immediate vacancy, then it’s best to be among the early candidates interviewed regardless of the day. If the position is to be filled sometime in the future, then the mindful Tuesday 10:30 AM slot is best.

And Tip 4: Skipping ahead to the process of the interview, this tip caught my eye: Think aloud on analytical questions. He gives examples of a weak answer, a strong answer, and explains that even if your answer is incorrect, musing out loud will give clues as to your thought process, your analytical skills and of course, your communication skills.

This is a really great article. Really recommend it.

Full story here: Forbes.

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