HBR Guide to Getting a Job

CONVERSATION STARTER

7 Ways to Shine in an Interview

by David Silverman

David Silverman has been an entrepreneur, an executive, and a business writing teacher. His latest book is Typo: The Last American Typesetter or How I Made and Lost 4 Million Dollars.

Find more content by David Silverman at blogs.hbr.org/silverman

Through a Combination of Skill, perseverance, and luck, you've landed a job interview. In short order, you'll face a series of hard-nosed questioners with no recourse to the backspace key to fix any verbal gaffes. Now what?

Understand that the interviewer wants to figure out if you're the best match for the job. To do that, the interviewer will rely on his or her perceptions and beliefs about interviewing.

For example, I like to ...