I am new to this blog, so pardon my late posting to this thread.  One thing I am noticing is an instance from some about an interviewee must wear a suit and tie to an interview.  What an interviewee should wear is something appropriate for the culture of the organization they are interviewing for.  Many west coast tech companies (I am in Redmond WA) expressly do not want people who are in suits and ties.  Microsoft is famous for failing people on the first interview for wearing a tie due to “failure to understand and respect our company culture.”  Other tech companies are the same out here. 
I am not making an opinion statement on one dress code or another, but that can be a key factor in a company’s culture and an interviewee should be mindful of the culture of the organization they are looking to be a part of.  Make it part of your exploration of the company before you apply.  

Don’t get too comfortable, you’re not hired yet. You should still have respect for the person you’re talking too. A few Mr, Mrs, Dr titles thrown in show respect whether you’re younger or older than the interviewer, unless they demand otherwise. Great ideas Chris, I’m keeping these as a little reminder for the interviewer…me.

1. Don’t provide more information than requested.  
 
I interviewed a very nice woman for a legal assistant position in my firm.  At first, her answers were exactly what we wanted to hear; however, as the interview continued, she started turning her answers into tangent stories.  I learned more about her than I needed to know, but, thankfully, I learned that she was not a fit for our firm!
 
2. Don’t apply  for a permanent, full-time position, if you intend to keep your part-time job or go back to school in the next couple of months.
 
While conducting a recent interview, an interviewee revealed that she thoroughly enjoyed her relationship with another law firm and would try to find away to keep working with the other firm.  That doesn’t work when I need you here 40 hours a week and focused on OUR work…
 
Another interviewee informed me of his plan to go back to school relatively soon after the hiring date for the position.  While I’m all for your education, I don’t want to feel like you’re using me to support your education when I need someone here that is committed to the job and wants to grow in the position.

Couple of stories about two of my many interview experiences.  The first was nearly 10 years when I was interviewing for my first PR job.  All was going really well until I they asked me to layout a newspaper page.  All of the page elements (headlines, stories, photos, captions, etc.) were there. I just had to design the page to demonstrate that skill.  It was a disaster. 
 
The mouse was some type I’d never used before and it was left handed.  I’m right handed. And I didn’t know the software program to save my life.  My stress levels peaked!  A team member was there to help should I need it.  I turned to her countless times.  After about an hour of struggle, I’d made some headway and then the program crashed.  And of course I’d forgotten to save any of my work, even though I was reminded to do so early on.  It was a total disaster…..or so I thought. 
 
After the horrid experience, I met with the director and deputy director again for our last chat.  During that time, I told them that although I struggled with the layout test, I am a quick learner, would learn the program and go on to contribute greatly.  I said all of this with confidence and strength.  I remember it like it was yesterday.  I ended up getting that job and was told they were convinced I would learn it, and they also liked how I responded under pressure during the test even though it didn’t go well.  Apparently I wasn’t acting as freaked out as I felt. 
 
The second story did not end so well.  About two years ago, I was applying for jobs in the DC area and was asked to interview with an agency.  In short, I was just looking for a j-o-b to get us to DC and it showed during this interview.  I went in completely ill-prepared.  I had hardly researched the organization.  I may have spent 5 minutes. 
 
When asked about the organization’s mission, I fumbled around for what felt like a day until I was stopped. The interviewer then clarified the mission and asked me if I’d visited the website. While I had, that wasn’t what she was asking.  She was really asking me if I’d researched the organization at all. I’m pretty sure my face was the shade of an maraschino cherry.  I felt like an idiot. 
 
Needless to say, I didn’t get that job, even though I was qualified.  But it was clear to them I was just looking for a j-o-b. 
 

Don’t high-five the interviewer. Yes, that has totally happened to people on my team in the past year.

A job interview is a sales pitch. You have a great product named “You” and you’re selling it to the interviewer.  That puts you in the driver’s seat and eliminates a lot of the anxiety.  Having said that, here are some things that I’ve done that have been successful, after having bombed an interview or two:
 
1. Research the company extensively.  Read news articles, annual reports, the works, not only the splash page of their website. You should know their mission, vision and values by heart and use examples of how you meet those with your skills and experience.
 
2. Smile, show passion! If you don’t love what they do, don’t even agree to interview with them.
 
3. Ask for the job! Close your sale! Say, “I am excited about this opportunity, I think it would be a great fit for me and I look forward to joining your team and working with you. I really want this job”  When are you expecting to make a decision? When would it be a good time for me to contact you next week?  Amazing how in the jitters of the interview we forget this critical part.
 
I can confirm what we’ve discussed here before. Passion over performance and experience can sometimes seal the deal.  Here’s a story.  Six years ago I had posted my resume online.  A company calls me for an interview and I have no idea who they are or what they do.  Turns out they’re a leading company in the learning outsourcing business and the parent company has 85000 employees.  I get to the interview, there are five people in the panel, four across the table and one sitting next to me.  They grill me for 45 minutes, then ask me to draw a storyboard of a sample training course based on a one-page article.  They come back, grill me some more and are ready to dismiss me.  I failed miserably on the technical part because I did not know any of the software packages they used.  As I’m about to exit, I sealed the deal. I said, “I know my experience is limited in what you do, but I am willing and eager to learn.  I know you provide your clients with top-quality learning solutions and I want to be part of your team. You’re a winning organization and I look forward to working with you”.  Two days later, I had an offer.   The person who hired me said to his team  “She is so green that we won’t let her touch anything for six months.”  He later confessed to me, I misjudged you and I’m glad we got you on board. You passed with flying colors.  He also said, you were the only person out of 18 candidates that did research on our company.  That and your positive energy got you the job. Oh and the panel who interviewed me?  The curriculum manager for North America, three Team Leads and the HR generalist.  I had no idea who they were or I would’ve frozen right there. But they were the right people to pitch the sale.
 
Sorry about the lengthy response, but I am truly passionate about this topic and helping people ace their job interviews.  I’ll shut up now

I am not too HR savvy, but when I interviewed for positions I’d find myself analyzing the interview process and making assumptions regarding the employer by how well they conducted the interview. If the interviewer didn’t have a transparent goal in mind (were they trying to build a larger talent pool for selection, or weed out applicants) I generally checked out of the interview. In that sense, not only were the interviewers wasting their time and mine, but they were signaling a very poor organizational behavior that would indicate that the company as a whole doesn’t put too much thought into decisions.
 
I’m guessing exchanging letters and digits like what happens so often in these comments is not acceptable in an interview either. Imagine: “I’m an INTP, 11-67-88-99 type, Ideation orientated, 39-Wonderlic’n guy — you think I’m a good fit?” I imagine the interview would go better if it were with a psychiatrist,  and not necessarily for a job interview.

I work at a university. We often run across “helicopter” parents.  A co-worker told me that he once had a parent show up to the interview with a guy who was interviewing for a full-time position.  I wouldn’t even do this for a student worker job, much less a professional position!
 
One more piece of advice:  Don’t talk about how you’ve heard how terrible things were in that department and how you would start off the job by firing most of your subordinates.

Great advice Chris! I appreciate your suggestion to have questions ready. I was never taught the importance of that and it makes total sense!
I haven’t done a ton of interviews, but another “no no” I would imagine would be being too honest or transparent when the interviewer asks “how are you today?” No one really wants to hear about all your woes…a potential employer DEFINITELY doesn’t want to know all of the issues you’re going to bring to their workplace…