An Easy to Avoid Interview Disaster

Job interviews are stressful enough without something going wrong.

If you’ve been on the job market for even two weeks, the importance of preparation has been emphasized. You’re told to inventory your skills and experience, so you know what to highlight in the interview. You’re told to do company research, so you can demonstrate your interest. You’re told to generate accomplishment statements and stories to incorporate into your responses. You’ve practiced your responses to tough interview questions. You have extra copies of your resume. You’re ready to go.

When preparing for a job interview there is so much in your control. Don’t let the small, yet important details trip you up.

Can you imagine the stress and frustration you’d feel if you arrived at the interview destination only to find out that you were in the wrong place? To compound matters, you may still have just enough time to make it to the correct location, only if there is no traffic or other potential obstacles.  So, you race off to the other correct location hoping you make it, but you might not.

It would be unfortunate to lose out on a job opportunity because you didn’t know where to go. To avoid making this mistake, simply take these four steps:

1- Confirm the interview location, address and point of contact. Do this for follow up interviews, too.
2- Ask for location markers, milestones, and cross streets.
3- Use an online mapping application (ex. Yahoo! Maps, Google Maps, Mapquest) to get the best possible route.
4- Do a test drive to the location.

Take the time to make sure you’re going to the right place. In this competitive job market, you can’t afford to make mistakes. 

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Markell Steele is a career counselor, owner of Futures in Motion, Inc. and author of Fast Track Your Career: Three Steps for Finding Work You Love. She helps frustrated job seekers find career direction so they can get the job they want in less time with less stress. Follow her on twitter to get daily job search and career transition tips- http://twitter.com/futuresinmotion

Find more career and job search articles at http://www.futures-in-motion.com/article_archive.php. Contact Markell at http://www.futures-in-motion.com/contact_us.php.

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