Ok. Lets say you get to first base. Youre invited in for an interview. Now what?

Well, the worst thing you can do is handle it like a traditional interview. Your biggest mistake is to allow the interview to turn into a Q & A session . . . you sit there passively and answer all the questions as diligently as possible.

You get one shot at the person who may be your next boss. You gotta make it work for you.

So here are some practical tips for turning a routine interview into an exciting and resourceful presentation:

1. Do NOT launch into a recital of your work history. Let your resume do that. Your face-to-face time is too valuable to bore this decision-maker with information thats only marginally of interest.

2. DO establish a dialogue in which you engage in a serious discussion of the decision-makers goals and needs. You do that by demonstrating that youve taken the time to learn something about the organization and its direction. And can ask intelligent questions of make informative comments about what youve learned.

3. Remember that employers are only interested in learning two things from you . . . what you can do to make a difference to the bottom line . . . and what you can do to make his/her job easier. Only to the extent that youre prepared in advance to answer those questions are you guaranteed to grab his/her attention to your benefit.

4. Demonstrate that you know how to solve the kind of problems the employer is facing. Heres where your past work history can illustrate what you can do going forward. But, frankly, no one is interested in what you used to do for someone else unless you can make the connection to your prospective boss needs.

5. Be prepared to show how you work by presenting a portfolio of successful projects youve worked on. This portfolio could include samples of your work, letters of recommendation or commentaries from bosses, and co-workers, and letters from customers or happy clients, etc. Be sure to quantify what youve done. Employers are impressed when you can show percentage increases, savings, dollars gained, productivity upgraded, etc.

Look. When youre carefully prepared, you look and sound like a pro. And this will put you light years ahead of the competition!