Master the "Why Hire Me" Story to Land a Job

1. Learn about the company in advance: Lots of people take a scatter-shot approach to finding a job, which can lead to showing up for a job interview with inadequate information about the company. Anything you know about the company is to your advantage. At a minimum, you should know what they do, where they are positioned in their industry, industry trends, high-profile current initiatives in the company, etc. If they've been in the news lately, know that they have been and why.

2. Learn about people in advance: If you happen to know with whom you will be interviewing, learn about that person in advance. What have they done with the company? What are they passionate about (professionally)?

3. Know what makes you different: This is the "why hire me" speech--and a question that I typically ask interviewees: "Why should I hire you? What makes you different than everyone else I'll interview for this position?" Of course, a good answer speaks to how the interviewee's experience and skills will fill needs in the company--and do so better than anyone else's experience and skills. I often describe it as trying to draw a thread through you past experience that leads directly to the company you're interviewing with: everything you've done in the past has prepared you specifically for this job, and has done so in a way that separates you from the crowd.

4. Ask good questions: In my opinion, this is one of the most important parts of an interview. Good questions show that you are smart, thoughtful, curious, and listening to what people have told you. It's your best chance to drive the conversation and to get the perspective of someone who currently works at the company.

5. Practice, practice, practice: There is no substitute for mock interviews or real interviews. As much as you might think you're going to be a great interviewee, if you don't practice, you won't be. I can't tell you how frequently people blow it on simple, common questions (such as "what's a weakness of yours? what are you working on?" or "why are you leaving your current job?") for which a little practice would have prepared them.

6. Be honest with yourself: If you stink it up in an interview, be honest with yourself and identify areas for improvement. If you blow their socks off, be honest with yourself and determine what parts of the interview went well and could be used again. Make the most of every interview--learn from successes and failures equally