HELPFUL HINTS: Interview Guidelines

1. Get to the interview location no less than 10 minutes early so that you can be calm and have a chance to collect your thoughts. Don’t be late. But if unavoidable circumstances arise and you can’t get there on time, call us and/or the client as soon as possible.
2. Be sure to have with you: a clean, updated copy of your resume, your portfolio or writing samples.
3. Dress professionally for the first interview. If you find that the climate is quite informal, you may make sensible adjustments for later interviews.
4. If the client presses the salary issue, state that for now, your understanding of the job description and the client’s needs are more important and refer salary negotiations politely to CM Access.
5. Try not to "get the job" in the first interview. Your objective for this first interview should be to get the NEXT interview. This takes a lot of pressure off you and allows you to listen openly to the issues at hand. This first interview is an opportunity for you, also, to explore whether this position, the company, its culture and the requirements are a good fit for you. Please call us at 617-886-0700 as soon as you can after the interview with your feedback and further interest.
6. Write short thank-you-notes after the interview to each of the persons you interviewed with. Make sure you get their business cards or their full names and titles. If in doubt, call the receptionist to verify this information later, or call us.

The thank-you-note should mention specific points of interest from the interview to show your understanding of the client’s concerns and impart the sense that you will be able to provide solutions. Do not attempt to solve their problems right there and then, though. If you are a designer, imaging specialist or desktop publisher, please make sure that your resume is in perfect order. Our creative clients, and that often includes marketing managers, are likely to make their first decision based on the appearance of your resume. They are always sensitive to a clean, creative layout, excellent typography, correct spelling and legibility.

If you present your portfolio, have it in perfect order in a clean, neatly arranged case. Present the pieces in an order that shows your professional growth and expertise, your production skills, your sense of typography and layout, your own personal style and creativity and examples of your creative problem solving ability. Choose your best representative pieces but don’t overwhelm the viewer with everything you have ever done! You’ll want the viewer to "get the picture" quickly – and to your best advantage.

Before we begin setting up interviews for you, we generally have a sense of the salary or fee range. Our clients will have been advised about the process and about our fee structure and have agreed to these conditions.

Remember: Every interview is a good interview! Even if you don’t want the job, even if you don’t get the job. Sometimes, job offers fall apart at the last minute for reasons that none of us can foresee. If that is the case, we will do everything we can to provide other interview opportunities for you.

If, after the interview process, both parties agree to work together, the client will present an offer, usually through CM Access. We will discuss the offer with you and assist in salary negotiations.

GOOD LUCK!