interview tomorrow

[SoKGiX]

So i managed to get an interview tom. with liberty mutual. position is an internship with their sales team. They sell a lot of different types from personal auto and homeowners insurance to commercial auto, and group disability.

kinda nervous about it. went out and spent almost a grand earlier on some new suits, shirts, ties etc. anyone have any interview tips for me?

interview's at 3:00pm tom. i'll be spending most of the night and tomorrow reading up on their different services and products, but just wanted to ask what other recommendations you all might have. wish me luck

[luminary pants]

Good luck. I dropped about 500 on stuits recently. That **** is expensive.
Probably not a whole lot of advice considering this obviously isn't your first interview.

[topperharley]

When describing your skills/strengths, give examples. Anyone can say "I'm hard working" or "I'm a problem solver" or "I work well in a team". Give an example of how you worked hard (e.g. worked two part time jobs in addition to a full schedule of classes), a specific problem that you resolved, or how you worked well in a team (e.g. got two team members to agree on a middle ground or resolved a conflict between two team members).

Know what skills and experience they are looking for, and explain, in your answers, how your skills and experience will help them.

Toot your own horn. An interview is like an infomercial for you.

Be polite and considerate to everyone you meet, even (especially) the receptionist/secretary. Employers want to know how a person will fit in with the rest of the people, and they'll often ask anyone who had any contact with an interviewee what they thought of him or her.

At the end of the interview, restate your interest in the position. It seems silly to have to do (why else would you be interviewing), but it helps. Ask what the next step in the hiring process is and when you can expect to hear from them.

[HMXJohnlok]

Good luck!:D:D

[MSFTsucks]

Learn as much about the company as you can before you go in and have questions prepared to ask them. Look at the direction the company is headed for the quarter, goals, what their plans are to reach those goals, etc.

Doing research and asking them some questions always shows that you are indeed serious about the company.

-MSFTsucks

edit: Oh yeah, and good luck! :D:D

[toefer]

Adding a few things to what others already suggested:

-Keep your answers brief: if you've had interviews in the past, you know the types of questions to expect; having answers that are to the point shows that you were prepared

-Know your strengths/weaknesses: this crap comes up in every interview; try to think of ones people don't generally use, and make sure your weaknesses are legit and aren't actually strengths in disguise (e.g. "I care too much" or "I try too hard")

-Have some examples fresh in your mind to demonstrate some of your skills, or traits

-Make sure you have questions to ask at the end, because this actually makes you sound interested; examples of what not to ask include "How much does this job pay?" and "What's it like to work here?"

-Learn about the business, and don't just read their website. Anyone can do that. Since you don't have much time left, just put your Google skills to work, and try to find any sort of recent news articles about not just Liberty Mutual, but insurance companies as a whole

-Keep in mind the interview starts as soon as you walk in the door. If you sit in the waiting room staring at the floor, someone is going to tell on you, and that's not good. Be nice, chat it up with secretaries, etc. These are people you'll potentially be working with, so they probably want to like you.

-Lastly, this may or may not apply, but if you have a MySpace page, or Facebook, or anything like that, make sure there's nothing incriminating on it. At least put a block on it, to make it private, so that only your friends can see your profile. Not all companies actually are devious enough to do these sorts of minor background checks, but I've known a few that definitely have.

Good luck. I interned at an insurance company a few years ago, and didn't enjoy it (though it wasn't Liberty Mutual). Insurance (particularly life insurance) is hard to sell ("Hey, is your family prepared if you die?"), particularly when being told to sell it to friends and family. But a job is a job, and the experience was worthwhile, if for nothing else, to learn that I hate "selling" people.

[Eman311]

1000 on suits? Geez man, way too much for an internship.

I spent maybe 150 on a cheap (but nice looking) suit.

Just be yourself, be prepared to answer some very specific questions. Act as if you aren't nervous, and act genuinely interested in the job. It worked for me!

[SoKGiX]

well it was almost 1000. 175 each for 2 suits, plus the 3 shirts, 3 ties, couple pairs of suspenders (i'm skinny but they still look nice), couple hangers for the suits and the tailoring

came out to about 700 total, so not quite a grand.

thanks for the advice everyone, its gettin close

[FallenAce]

Body language is key. Always smile, and lean in when you are listening. Do your best to non-chalantly imitate the body language of the other person (cross your arms when they do, lean back when they lean back, etc.).

Always look someone directly in the eye. Always.

And seriously, smile. People like happy people.

It also helps if you can get the person talking about him/herself. People love talking about themselves. Ask for that information if you have a chance. Ask them how long they've been there, how they like it, etc. And if you find s/he has children, gently ask questions about their children.

And SMILE.

[Eastwood]

Ask them if they take Arbour Day and Columbus Day off. When they say no, act disappointed. Works every time! :D

[FallenAce]

Haha. I get those days off. Go banking institutions!

[topperharley]

make sure your weaknesses are legit and aren't actually strengths in disguise (e.g. "I care too much" or "I try too hard")

That reminds me of the Dilbert cartoon where Dilbert says his biggest weakness is that he works too hard and thinks to himself "good one". When the interviewer asks why this is a weakness, he pauses awkwardly, then rambles on about how he forgets to eat and starves to death in his chair and his corpse starts to fester and decompose.

[toefer]

That reminds me of the Dilbert cartoon where Dilbert says his biggest weakness is that he works too hard and thinks to himself "good one". When the interviewer asks why this is a weakness, he pauses awkwardly, then rambles on about how he forgets to eat and starves to death in his chair and his corpse starts to fester and decompose.

Ha.

There was an episode of The Office (the American one), I think, where Carell's character was being interviewed for a job, and they asked him to list some of his strengths, and his answer was "How about I tell you some of my weaknesses? I work too hard...."

Also, one note about eye-contact from above. It's important, but don't overdo it. You eyes should never stay locked onto their's for more than a few seconds, because then it looks like you are staring at them, which is bad. Every few seconds, quickly glance down to their shoulder, or to something on the table, and then back up to their eyes.

[luminary pants]

How did it go?