Looking for some great interviewing tips?
![Courtesy of Matt Helbig](https://image.jimcdn.com/app/cms/image/transf/dimension=153x1024:format=jpg/path/s2cb2d6c538713b76/image/i3e3d94c4179fb420/version/1414086701/courtesy-of-matt-helbig.jpg)
Tom Wolfe is an author, columnist, career coach, veteran, and an expert in the field of military-to-civilian career transition. During his career he assisted thousands of service members in their
searches for employment, placing more than 3000 in their new jobs. In this interview, I get to ask him directly what veterans should be thinking about when they prepare to answer
interview questions when trying to snag a job. We talk about preparing for the interview, developing empathy with the interviewer, asking the right and wrong questions, and hitting all the key
items on the interviewer's checklist.
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Insights From The Interview
- To quickly get up to speed on a topic and the "industry lingo", check out podcasts on that field.
- You have to be able to self promote while walking that fine line between self confidence and arrogance.
- Self knowledge is critical. You're going to have to connect the job description to your experience, skills, and interests.
- The power of the questions in an interview to demonstrate interest.
- Mistakes you can make when asking questions (they're too self interested or inappropriately timed)
- Interviewing empathy -- the ability to understand what's important to the interviewer and the company s/he represents.
- Get the interviewer to envision you in the job, happy, interested, and doing well. Hit all the marks to succeed.
- Being able to discuss weaknesses can be a strength -- show self confidence, self awareness, and self development.
- Pre-empt possible reasons that you may be rejected from a job and face it head on.
Resources
![Courtesy of Tom Wolfe](https://image.jimcdn.com/app/cms/image/transf/dimension=120x1024:format=png/path/s2cb2d6c538713b76/image/ifc0d18652b075782/version/1414086734/courtesy-of-tom-wolfe.png)
- Find out more about Tom's coaching services on his website at TomWolfe-CareerCoach.com.
- His book, Out of Uniform: Your Guide to a Successful Military-to-Civilian Career Transition, was published by Potomac Books in 2011 with a second printing in 2013.
- If you liked this one, you can learn more about Tom from our first interview.
- You can also reach Tom via e-mail or LinkedIn.