I. The Purpose of Interviewing
II. What Companies are looking to hire
III. Selling Yourself :
  A. Preparation
  B. Homework
  C. In General
  D. Selling your Long term Potential
  E. Expected Interview Questions
  F. More Questions
  G. The Most Important Question
IV. Interview Followup

THE MOST IMPORTANT QUESTION -- "Do you have any questions"?

- Always -- of Everyone you meet with, even if you ask them the same questions.

- Sell yourself -- as a thinker -- with strategic, pertinent, and informed questions.

- The questions should be pertinent to answering your second objective -- is this a company to which I can make a long-term career commitment?

- Sell yourself -- as a doer -- with questions that highlight your strengths and seek to confirm how well you would fit with this company.

- View your chance to question people as another opportunity to inform them about you, as well as a chance to learn about the opportunity from them. Adopt the art of the "Presidential News Conference" question. Watch a reporter at a Presidential news conference. They invariably start off with a statement -- advocating a point of view they wish to further -- a philosophy they want to advance -- and then close it off with a request for the President to comment; e.g., "Mr. President, given (what's important to me), what is your position on ...?"

- EXAMPLE: "Thank you for the chance to ask these questions. In deciding the best career move for me, there are several issues which are very important to me. I want to be in an organization where I can continue to learn and grow as a professional; where I can make a genuine impact on the bottom line; and where I can be a good fit. My experience at (current company, prior company) has shown me that the decision-making process/culture of an organization is a major determinant of how much contribution someone at my level can make. I have been very effective (at current company) in persuading management to make the decisions I recommend as best on my business, even though we have widely varying decision-making styles. Can you help me understand the decision-making process here?

- You can explore any major area that is really important to you in evaluating a company in this way. It is an inoffensive way of phrasing even the "toughest" question. Compare how a listener reacts to "I hear this place is a sweatshop. Is it?" to:

- EXAMPLE: "Thank you for the chance to ask these questions. In deciding the best career move for me, there are several issues which are very important to me. I want to be in an organization where I can continue to learn and grow as a professional; where I can make a genuine impact on the bottom line; and where I can be a good fit. My experience at (current company, prior company) has shown me that the morale and culture of an organization is a major determinant of how much contribution someone at my level can make. I have been very effective (at current company) in an environment that is (describe current environment). Can you help me understand the work environment, culture, and morale here?