10 tips to improve your interview skills

1. Know the job, and know the company. "If I've got a place open for a nuclear engineer," told Laura Paddock, talent acquisition manager at TVA, "do they understand that I'm a utility. Do they understand what TVA does? We're always surprised to hear public say, 'I don't know a lot about you, other than that you make electricity.' "

2. Be willing to do what it takes. Brad Pope, vice president of human resources at Memorial Health Care System, told knowing that a candidate has the willingness to do the job for which he or she is interviewing is the No. 1 thing he looks for during a conference.

3. Be on time. Or early. And if you're kept waiting, be gracious about it. "We've had candidates who have complained," told Kathy Reid-Papson, talent acquisition manager at BlueCross Blue Shield of Tennessee.

4. Be honest about your experience. "Don't lie, either on your resume or during the interview," Paddock said. "Don't oversell yourself." Speak accurately to the roles you had in previous jobs.

5. Turn off the cell phone, or better yet, leave it in the car. You want to focus on the interview, not on what is ringing or vibrating in your pocket.

6. Address the interviewer by the right name. "It seems like many candidates don't go to the trouble, when setting up an interview, of listening to hear with whom they'll be speaking," told Reid-Papson. "Maybe it's one person, maybe it's three, but they need to know who they are and what their titles are, so ask that when the interview is being set up."

7. Look and act the part. Be professional in dress and demeanor. "Can they articulate?" said Paddock. "Do they provide professional responses, regardless of the position?"

8. Don't talk to the interviewer about your personal problems. "If a person's looking for a job, obviously they need and want to work," told Reid-Papson. "But if they start getting into too many details about not liking their former boss or their husband doesn't want them to go to work, anything that's personal can become a turnoff pretty fast."

9. Don't ask about salary out of the gate. "That's a bit of a red flag," said Paddock, "because it sends the message that the person is only interested in the salary and not in the bigger picture."

10. Be specific. Employers are interested in hearing examples of your successes and failures. Rather than just saying, "Yes, I have management skills," tell the recruiter about a project you led and what you learned.