To get the job you must market yourself better than other candidates do. You may be competing with peers from your college in your own major, students in other majors, and students from other universities and colleges across the United States and the world. The competition is tough!

During the interview, you must convince the recruiter that you have the skills, abilities, personal characteristics, values, interests, and potential that you need to perform successfully on the job. You must show that there is a good match between what the job offers and what you want to do. Finally, you must show that you are interested in the position and the organization. You indicate these attributes through your communications during and after the interview .

The following are interview tips that will help you communicate more effectively.

1. In talking with the recruiter, use positive non-verbal behaviors. Maintain eye contact. Look at the interviewer while you are talking. Sit up. Posture is important. Smiles, head nods, body and hand gestures (yes, it is acceptable to "talk with your hands")-all can communicate positive things about you. A "lively" voice, one that changes in volume as well as pitch, communicates more effectively. By using these non-verbal behaviors, you can increase your ratings in important areas such as ability to communicate, leadership potential, enthusiasm, motivation, sociability , aggressiveness, initiative, persuasiveness, self-confidence, positive attitude, and intelligence.

2. Expand your answers. Sometimes one- or two-word answers are appropriate. However, the recruiter rarely learns much about you from these very short answers. In addition, they make it difficult to keep the conversation going. Elaborate! Give examples of personal experiences to demonstrate a point. The interview will flow more smoothly, the recruiter will learn more, and you will increase the probability of a job offer.

3. Ask questions. You need to learn about the organization and the job to make a good decision about the position. Questions also convey your interest in the company and the job. The rule of thumb for many interviewers is, "No questions, no job."

What kind of questions should you ask? Not ones that are answered in the organization's literature that you should have read. If it looks like you did not prepare, the organization will not be prepared to hire you. Do ask questions that will help you decide if this is the employer and the position you want. Ask questions generated by the company materials. If you tour the organization's facilities , ask about what you see and what you are being told. In general, ask about what you want to know.

Prior to the interview, it may help to generate a list you want to ask the recruiter. As you do, you should notice that some could be asked of almost any employer. You've just created a good "question base" for every interview.

4. Anticipate problem areas and prepare to address them if the interviewer asks about them. You should not address these areas if the recruiter doesn't. Find a way to put a positive spin on them and make yourself look good. The subject in this category most often of concern to students is grade point average. Consider this situation. A student' s overall G.P.A. is low but improving. In response to a question about the low G.P.A., this student could say "When I began college, my study skills were poor, and I did not realize how much study time was required to make good grades. The last two quarters, after I began to learn what was required, I made a 2.8, and I anticipate at least a 3.2 this quarter."

5. Be prepared to give a pitch that will show you already have, or are developing, the skills, and other qualifications that will make you an excellent employee for the organization in the position you are seeking. Show that there is a good match between what you want to do and the potential job. Express interest in the position. After the interview, usually within a day, indicate your interest and initiative by sending a "thank you" letter. (This reminds the interviewer of you.) Thank him or her for the interview, reiterate your interest in the position, give a brief review of your reaction to the information you received, and respond to or follow-up with any specific requests made during the interview. This is also the time to request any additional information you need. When an employer is unsure of which candidate to hire, the student who writes a thank you note can be the one that gets hired over those who did not bother to take the time to write and send this important piece of correspondence.

6. As soon as possible after the interview, make notes for yourself. Write down key points about the position and the organization. Later, when you are trying to recall what you discussed during the interview, these notes will be invaluable.

7. Shortly after the interview, debrief yourself. Think about what you did well in the interview and want to continue. Identify areas for improvement and devise ways to better your performance in the next interview. To improve your skills, participate in additional mock interviews to practice and receive feedback. Do not expect to receive an offer of employment from every employer that interviews you. This will not happen no matter how good you are. There are many factors that affect employment decisions. Some you can control and others you cannot. Prepare to successfully interview every organization. Success is measured by how well you interviewed, not by whether you got an offer from each employer. If you have enough successful interviews, you will receive job offers.