And want are firm’s trying to find out about you? Leadership. Honesty. Trustworthiness.

You can practice with a friend or family member but they may not be much better than you. So how do you practice you presentation and get immediate feedback in order to improve your presentation and demonstrate these attributes?

Toastmasters (www.toastmasters.org) offers people an opportunity to practice how to speak throughout their program. Whether you answer extemporaneous questions off cuff for 1-2 minutes in Table Topics (“It’s warm! It’s summer! People start to go to beach and spending time outdoors. Tell us about a time you had fun at beach, Jeff.” Notice that you only find out when you will speak at end when you hear your name) or by doing actual 4-6 minute speeches, Toastmasters offers concrete opportunities to get used to being “on spot” as happens in an interview. It also gives you an opportunity to observe others and learn from them and from evaluations that are given.

There are Toastmasters clubs throughout world. To find one, you can go to http://www.toastmasters.org/find/.

Jeff Altman Concepts in Staffing jeffaltman@cisny.com

For example, interviewer asks, “How would your former employer describe you?”

Your answer would start off as, “My former employer would describe me as…”

When answering a question, keep your answers short and to point. If you’re telling a story, keep it simple. The interviewer doesn’t need to know life history of people in story. Don’t use slang or a bunch of um’s and uh’s. Remember, you are trying to demonstrate to interviewer that you have excellent communication skills. When you use um’s and uh’s throughout your answers, it signals to interviewer that you aren’t sure of your answers or you don’t have excellent communication skills.

Practice your answers before interview. You can’t know every question that he or she will ask you, but with “most frequently asked questions” section of this website, you’ll be more prepared than most people.