Hi! I am Brian Alden, founder and CEO of job.

com, and today we are talking about how to find a better job in a down economy as well as how to get a better job in any economy. Right now, we are going to talk about one of the key components of your job search which is the interview. This is where you make you first impression on a potential employer.

You prepare for an upcoming interview by making sure that you do a lot of research on the company that you are interviewing with. Go to their website, look at press releases, read about what they are building or what their plans are. It's so important that you are prepared to know enough about the company, just sound like a mini-expert while you start the interview process.

Also you want to practice answering questions, and the questions that you want to practice answering could either be done in a mirror or that can be done with one of your friends asking them. You want to be able to sound unrehearsed and very fluid as you answer the questions about what your strengths are, what your weaknesses are, how did you accomplish x,y and z in your resume. Because a lot of the interviewer's questions are going to come off that resume. So you make sure that you know all the answers and then you are able to express yourself clearly and concisely.

Additionally, you want to have a couple of questions prepared for the interviewer and those questions are not necessarily going to be about salary, but they are going to be more about where the company direction is, what they see this position evolving into, how a person can grow within the organization, things like that, more along career path than on compensation.

When arriving for an interview, you want to make sure that you arrive at least 15-20 minutes early. That way you cover yourself in case of any traffic or what have you. Additionally, you want to make sure that you are dressed professionally. A good rule of thumb is to dress one step above what the current office dress code is. When you set, arrange your interview, make sure that you ask what the dress code is, so you don't show up in shorts and jeans when everybody else is wearing suits and ties.

As equally as important as arriving early and dressing professionally, it's very important to make sure that you are friendly with everybody that you meet, whether it's the person at the reception counter or somebody walking through the hall. Always have a big smile on your face, be very open and really look like you would enjoy working there at the company.

An interview is like a sales process. In a sense you are selling yourself to the company. So you are going to be talking about your accomplishments and your responsibilities because what you want to do is, you want that interviewer to say in their own mind's eye, I can see this person working for us, I see this person sitting at a desk or calling on our customers. So you need that visualization if you will. So you are selling yourself throughout this whole process.

Now, as equally as important as selling yourself, is making sure that you close the sale. At the end of the interview when you feel the interview coming to a close, you want to make sure the interviewer knows that you are interested in the position, it's just out, now tell him. Mr. so and so, I want you to know that I am very interested in coming to work for x, y, z, I think I can sell a lot of widgets for your company. As an interviewer goes back and looks at multiple candidates, and remember there is a lot of candidates out there, there's a lot--[Audio ends abruptly]