How memorizing your answers helps you to nail your job interview
Photo by Sora Shimazaki
When you’re preparing for a job interview, you’ll want to have everything possible in your favor going into the interview. There’s no question that an interview can be extremely stressful and it will put you on the spot so that you’re under constant pressure to spontaneously deliver thoughtful, intelligent answers. You’ll need to be at your best for this pressure-packed event, and that means having maximum support from your brain, so you can quickly recall needed information at a critical moment. To make sure your brain is totally prepared for such a high-pressure event, you’ll need to keep it fresh and in tip-top shape. You can read more in this article to know the importance of taking care of the main blood vessels in your brain and how to avoid problems.
In our discussion here, we’ll discuss how memorizing the answers to some anticipated questions can help you prepare for a good showing, so you’ll need to ensure your brain receives maximum circulation to be at your best. While some people believe that being spontaneous comes across better during an interview, it certainly does not hurt to be prepared to answer some questions that will very likely be asked. Here are some of the ways that memorizing answers ahead of time can help your cause immensely during a job interview.
Avoid the possibility of becoming tongue-tied
Quite often, the most awkward moments during an interview occur when the interviewer catches you off-guard with a question, and you have no response for it immediately. While your brain is feverishly searching for some kind of adequate answer, there’s a period of silence where you literally don’t know what’s coming next. Of course, this doesn’t reflect well on you, because it appears that you are easily flustered or taken aback, and you’re freezing up on the spot.
Many of these moments can be avoided entirely by trying to anticipate the questions that might be asked of you, so you’re actually ready for them. If there are questions that you legitimately do not know the answer to, as in the case of a technical question, it’s perfectly fine to admit that you don’t know the answer but will make a point to learn about it. For starters, you should memorize a list of your own strengths and weaknesses, because this is a very popular question asked, and you’ll appear more confident and poised if you have ready answers.
Do lots of research
Doing lots of research about the company where you’re interviewing is always a good idea. Knowing what the company does will tell you whether or not you might be a good fit with the organization, and when the interviewer asks if you have any questions of your own, that would be a good time to find out even more. Virtually every company in existence will have a website, and most companies will have a considerable number of Internet articles referencing them, so you should have plenty of information to work with.
You never know when some fact or titbit you discovered during research might be the perfect answer to a question, and you might score some points by having the answer at your fingertips. And of course, if there is time in the interview for you to ask questions, all the research you did will come in handy, because you’ll be able to pose some thoughtful questions that you honestly want to know the answers to.
Some of the areas you should pay particular attention to in your research are the company’s processes, its vision, its mission statement, its organizational objectives, and the markets they operate in. These are all very important to the company, and you’ll come off looking more interested in them when you’ve memorized everything about them. Even if these things are not the subject of questions on your part or by the interviewer, it’s a good idea to commit them to memory for your personal information and usage.
Good communication
In a nutshell, interviews are all about how well you communicate and highlight your present skills, and showing how those skills will make you proficient at the open position. There are several components to good communication, including making good eye contact, not being nervous and fidgety, and expressing yourself clearly and confidently. A big part of confidence comes from being familiar with what’s being discussed – in your case, your skills, work experience, and probably some personal data as well.
If you’ve done all the research you can, you should be armed with as much information as possible, and can confidently retrieve that data when questioned about it. By memorizing as much information as possible, you’ll be able to communicate more freely and confidently, and will come off looking much better.
There’s something to be said for spontaneity, of course, but when you’re in a highly pressurized situation like an interview, it’s best to have a whole store of information memorized and retrievable at a moment’s notice. Your quick responses can have all the appearance of spontaneity but are actually fueled by solid research. Having all this information in your memory banks will make you feel better prepared, and that will show up in your confidence level. Hopefully, your calm demeanor and great state of preparedness will win the day, and get you your dream job.