How to Prepare for an Interview

If you become proficient in how to prepare for an interview you will increase your chances of receiving a job offer. But to use your interview skills you need to be able to source opportunities and get invited for an interview. In February of 2010, CareerXRoads released their 9th annual Source of Hire study. I’d like to share some of the major findings of the study, as they may give you some new ideas of where you should be spending your time hunting for opportunities.

Interesting Findings from the 2009 study are:

1. 51% of all job openings were filled by internal candidates. This high number is influenced greatly by the poor economic conditions that have existed over the past few years. In “normal” conditions this number would be about 35%. It is expected that hiring should start to move back to the 35% range in 2010. This is positive news for job seekers.
2. 75% of all external hires are attributed to just five sources: Referrals (26.7%), Job boards (13.2%), Company Career Site (22.3%),    College (6.3%) and Direct Sourcing (6.9%). It is my experience that too many job seekers rely primarily on job boards, like Monster and CareerBuilder, for their job search. I feel that it is not appropriate to spend the bulk of one’s time on an area that is only responsible for filling 1.3 out of every 10 openings.
3. Referrals account for the largest percent of external hires at 26.7%. To be referred you must network. Networking is a skill that few take the time to understand let alone master. Learning how to network effectively will pay huge dividends in a job search campaign. Many jobs are never advertised, so the only way to learn about them is through talking with others in the know. Learn more about The Networking Game.




4. The career job boards source only 13.2% of hires. This figure has been flat for years and most survey respondents reported that they were reducing their reliance on career boards during 2009. The key point here is that if you are one who relies heavily on career boards for your job search you need to diversify. If not, you will miss out on most of the quality job opportunities.

Again, the source of the above data is the CareerXRoads 9th annual Source of Hire study. CareerXRoads is a staffing strategy consulting firm.

The above date strongly suggests that you need a diversified approach when searching for job opportunities. The data also suggests that if you are not using networking in your search you are missing out on 26.7% of the jobs that are filled externally. Make appropriate changes to your strategy and see the number of interviews you get increase.

If you are looking to increase your interviewing skills check out Terry Truscott’s Job Interview Success System.