Sending in your resume:
Cover letters are not obsolete! If you're applying for a job outside your normal field or that pushes your experience, a good cover letter (even in the body of an e-mail) can support your resume and get you in the door for an interview.

Before interviewing:
Prepare. Seriously. Read up on the company (at least their web site), practice answers to the classic questions (why you're leaving your old job, strength/weakness, etc.). Write down a couple questions you want to ask about the company and working at the company. Bringing notes to the interview is totally fine. In fact, it's great because then if the interviewer answers your questions, you can refer to your notes and say so!

When I hired for the first company I owned, I put very specific instructions right on our website for all to see. Unfortunately, less than 5% of potential job seekers actually followed my instructions. (If Justin got a 50% rate of compliance, he should consider himself lucky!) I finally added this on the job opportunities page of our website, hoping it would reinforce the idea of following instructions. (Sadly it didn't.):

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"I sent you an email. Why didn't I hear back from you?"

Unfortunately, despite our best efforts to clearly outline what we are looking for in an application package, most applicants simply do not provide us with the information we ask for. Similarly, others write to ask if they should bother applying. (Should we bother replying?)

Mostly Math provides professional services, and our employees must be highly service oriented. If you are not willing to take the time to find out about and follow our application requirements to serve yourself in this process, then you will not be willing to go that extra mile to serve your students.
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I know it's not exactly advice for getting through an interview, but it's crucial advice for getting an interview in the first place!

Stay as sincere as possible. Don't try to say or proclaim things that you did not do. If you don't want to say that you don't know several aspects of the job you are being hired for, then say that you are willing to learn, and improve your skills. Don't lie in your resume,you will end up fumbling. Interviewers are not stupid. They have been interviewing for ages and they know how to smell all these things.

If phone interview, write up and prepare all possible questions and answers. Before interview, keep talking to someone nonstop about what you do, how you did what you did, what is your future aspirations etc. When you practice talking for a long time, talking for an interview becomes easy and it flows cause that is what you were doing for days before the interview.

I work for an internet anti piracy firm and when I was asked in the interview if I had ever pirated anything I paused for second. I thought in my head do I lie and say I'm an innocent iTunes user or do I tell the truth. So I told them that I had already had my internet shut off for downloading a movie. They explained it was probably caused by them. I thought for sure when I walked out of there that I was either going to be exactly what they want because I was already an insider in the world of piracy OR they would view me as the 'enemy.' Later that day I was called back and told to pick up some extra paperwork. A month later the office opened and within 3 weeks I was the manager. Best job I've ever had. The company has doubled in size(from 60 to 120ish) since I started working here.

The funny thing is, that the person I interviewed with was actually the Chief Operating Officer. I had no idea. Sometimes a story that appears to be negative can be a positive if it demonstrates a certain skill, such as computer proficiency or demonstrates some other specific skill.

If you've ever heard of a behavorial interview, you know how scary these can sound. The key to these interviews is to have a few (4-6) good (and true, every word!) stories about projects you have worked on. Even if you have only had one job, you will have plenty of stories to choose from. Remember though that you should think these up at least 24 hours in advance so you can sleep on it. If you're rubbish at remembering details, don't worry about it, the sleep will help you to remember them since you called up the framework for that memory.

The idea is that they ask a question like "Describe a time when you were working on a team project and you had to motivate your teammates to accomplish their tasks." This is a really broad question. You're really answering these questions: What was the situation? What did you do? How did you handle this situation and what was the result? What they're really trying to find out about you is how you have reacted to situations that you may get into again and how you'll act then. Past behavior is not like the stock market, in that it IS indicative of future performance.

To give you some clues, I'll go through each question they're actually asking.

Q: What was the situation?
A: Tell them who you were working with, any important factors about these relationships, and the problem itself.

Q: What did you do?
A: Tell them how you interacted with those around you, and how you went about solving the problem, including any obstacles that came up.

Q: How did you handle this situation and what was the result?
A: If there was an obstacle, tell them how you overcame it, especially including fall-back plans you made ahead of time. The most important part to the entire story is that the result must be good. Even if there was a terrible situation and you turned it into just a normal day, that's not good enough. Stress the parts of the problem or obstacles that were stressing you at the time, and show how you solved that problem. These results should be at least a 7 on the 1-10 scale of how it ended up.

Review your own resume before you go in so that dates are fresh in your mind and to remind you of any good stories/relevant work experience you may have. I've had interviewees come in and give me wrong dates (off by almost a decade once) from what is in front of me on paper, and had others who seemed to have done some really neat things but couldn't talk about them in the interview. Yes, you should already know this stuff, but make sure it is fresh in your mind before you walk through the door...

I'm talking ironed clothes, coordinating colors, beautiful hair, white smile, shined shoes.

This can mean the world. Your appearance is indicative of how seriously you are taking the job. If you look like you didn't invest any time in getting ready, it indicates that you wouldn't invest much time in the job!

Don't send that message. Look your best!

-Miss DJ

A big mistake people make is not thinking beyond their desire to get a job offer. The wiser goal is to see if you’re a mutual match, emphasis on mutual. Think of it like dating: If you approached every date determined to make your date fall for you, you’d lose sight of whether or not you were right for each other. Don’t get so focused on wanting them to like you that you forget to make sure you actually like the company and the job.

And "what are your weaknesses?" seems to trip up a lot of people. I have a post on it here that I hope will be useful.

The most important thing to remember in an interview situation is that you are interviewing THEM just as much as they are interviewing YOU.

You've got to figure our whether this is a company you really want to work for. Is this a good learning environment with active mentors who will help you in build your career, or are you just selling yourself to them because they're the first person who paid attention to your resume, or they're the most prestigious company that has deigned to interview you?

Make sure you ask good questions designed to show the interviewers that you're interested in investing the next few years of your life with them IF they're willing and able to help you build your skills and value.

This is not to say that you should only ask self-interested questions, or that any self-interested question will do.

Bad: "How many sick days to I get?"
Good: "What does your company do to promote employee wellness?"

Bad: "What's your 401k match?"
Good: "What's your strategy for retaining good people?"

Bad: "The other guy has free beer. Do you have free beer? Can I have one right now?"
Good: "A lot of companies encourage team-building activities and "fun" at the office that promotes work-group cohesiveness and improves long-term productivity. Do you have any activities like that? Can you give me an example right now?"

The right company will respect your desire to grow your own human capital -- indeed, they will see it as a clear strength of yours -- and will demonstrate THEIR capacity to meet YOUR expectations, not just the other way around. I'd hire a critical thinker who shows forethought in career planning over a desperate yes-person who's over-impressed with my brand any day of the week and twice on casual Friday.

I've always done well in interviews. The key is not only to engage in friendly conversation but to also learn more about the interviewer. I usually end up interviewing the interviewer and in the process come across as being more assertive and personable. Your resume will speak about your accomplishments and qualifications. The interview is meant to show that you can fulfill the personality and confidence department.

-Raymond

Researching the company and then using that research to ask questions like "I just saw some interesting news about Project X. Can you tell me a little more about it?" and slip in where you have experience with some part of it or that you're interested. Definitely have questions for the interviewer. Two that have served me well are "What brought you to this organization and/or what keeps you here?" and "How will I be evaluated?" For some reason, the latter one in particular catches interviewers off-guard, in a good way.

I would also have to say be prepared, but I'll narrow that down to one specific area.

Grab a notebook and interview yourself. Ask yourself the traditional "Where do you see yourself in 5 years?" and the dreaded (if you are a lone wolf like me) teamwork questions. Then make a new page.

What are your strengths? What are your weaknesses? Now spin each into the opposite - how can your strengths also be weakness? How can your weakness be a strength? You'll have several answers you can use in answering a question about strengths and weaknesses. Circle two from each.

I've got a horrible memory and I struggle answering the questions "Was there a time that you...". In preparation for interviews, I review my notes on my accomplishments just before interviewing and these help to jog my memory for experiences that I might be able to share.

If you want the job simply ask for it! Let them know that you are enthused and that you will work hard for them.

I want to supplement my response with this: Pay attention!

I mentioned above that I had people not follow instructions when applying for the job I recently advertised. I've started getting emails, though, that take it to a whole new level.

My ad was pretty specific, becasue we were looking to expand the type of bloggers we have on FWW (an online community for divorced women). Right now, we've got about six who are finished with their divorce and write from a "life-after-divorce" perspective. We wanted to add some ladies who haven't yet filed but are thinking about it, as well as some who are currently in the middle of the process, so that's what we advertised. 

Ten seconds on our site reveals that everybody we have is currently post-divorce, but I still got about a dozen emails saying "Did you ever think of having someone who was already divorced?" They each got the response "Yes, we did, in fact we have about half a dozen already. If you take a look at the site, you'll see that." 

I'm astounded that someone could apply for a job without even looking at the company their applying with. I'm even more astounded that they could have the audacity to try and call out the company on something without even checking their facts first. I will give credit, though, to one woman who wrote back and admitted that she hadn't looked before she leaped. At least she was honest - after she got caught.

So, while you're following all the other tips here, be sure to pay attention. If you're going to apply, take the time to find out what the story is.

That's my best advice, having been on both sides of interviews. Listen to what the interviewer is asking. If you need to ask questions to make sure you've understood what's being asked (or just to give yourself time to be calm), that's fine. But really listen, and then respond with an individual answer, not a canned one - no matter how many times you've planned out what you will say. The interviewer, if he or she is any good, needs to form an impression of who you are. That comes through in everything that takes place, and it begins with listening.

The Onion ran a headline a couple weeks ago with the best answer to the question "What's your greatest weakness?" as "My ability to answer this question." I don't recommend answering the question that way, but I thought it was pretty funny. I really do hate that question though.

My serious advice is to bring questions with you to ask. Also, it is important to be eager but not to the point where they think you want them more than they want you. Even if you think the position is your "dream job" try not to be overly psyched up for it, or worried that life will not go on if you don't get the job.

Also I would advise women who are recently grads/early-mid twenties to avoid buying a suit in the junior department. You may still be fitting into them, but the suits are often too short and not really business appropriate. You want to look professional though, not matronly. And don't be afraid to remove shoulder pads! For some reason I kept finding suits like this, and they were just awful.

Likewise, buy a suit before you need one. Unlike men who can walk into any department store and buy a nice suit that fits them, no matter what season, this is not the case for women. I tried to buy a suit last July for an interview, but all I could find were these horrible cropped suit pants and jackets. I managed to buy a pair of black dress pants and a jacket, but it was a shopping nightmare.

Finally, if possible, do a practice drive to the interview site. At the very least, leave 15-60 minutes ahead of when you normally would. An hour seems like a lot, but if you have to get on the freeway, you could easily get stuck in a traffic nightmare.