Tips for Surviving the Never-Ending Rounds of Interviews

So you've got a one or two-day interview ahead of you, during which you'll meet everyone from the CEO to the janitor. What can you expect? How can you make your best impression and somehow not collapse from the stress of repeating yourself and smiling for hour upon hour?

Check out this article for some solid advice. More and more, risk-averse employers are investing plenty of time in getting to know you before extending an offer.

The good news is that serial interviews give you a great opportunity to assess critical factors, such as how functional or dysfunctional the environment is, and how kooky the people are. One interview alone often can't give you such an accurate lay of the land.

Thriving during a string of interviews can be tough, but if you keep a few points in mind, you'll be better prepared:

• Try to find out who will interview you ahead of time.

Find out anything you can about them on LinkedIn, the company website, or other networking sites.

• Get into a positive frame of mind.

If you arrive expecting to hate the day, guess what? You'll hate the day and others will pick up on that. Talk to yourself as positively as you can. Expect things to go well. Be gentle with yourself. If you've done some preparation beforehand, you have every reason to be confident.

• Expect to answer the same questions over and over again.

Build on your increasing knowledge of the company to add whatever new elements you can.

• Bring lots of questions.

Some people who interview you may not be folks you'd work with often - they are there to find out if you're easy to work with. If you come with good questions to ask, you'll have a way to fill the silence when they're done with their questions.

Of course you'll want to ask good questions of everyone else, too.

• Use break times to jot notes down about your interviews so you can write good thank you notes later.

The names, titles, and conversations may all be a blur if you rely solely on your memory.

Serial interviews make for long days, but ultimately are helpful for everyone to decide whether there's a good match.