Interview Skills - Preparing for Interview
If you asked for my 3 top tips for interview, they would be
Prepare, Prepare, Prepare!
Prepare, Prepare, Prepare!
- Interviews are a two-way process. Not only is the interviewer assessing you, but you are assessing them too! So use the interview to glean as much information as possible.
- Read the company's website and their annual report.
- Read up on their marketplace and competition.
- Read the job description thoroughly- research anything that you don't understand.
- Use this information to generate informed conversation and to prepare some interesting questions to ask at interview.
- Stay off the alcohol the night before, and have a good night's sleep.
- Make sure you know EXACTLY where you are going for the interview. Allow plenty of time. Don't arrive late, but don't arrive too early either.
- Take a copy of your CV with you and don't be afraid to refer to it if you need to check dates, etc. It's worth taking a spare copy for the interviewer too.
- Take the job description and any other information with you. Read it en route and make a note of any questions you would like to ask.
- You may be asked to produce ID - passport or driver's licence.
- If you've been asked for any other documentation (qualification certificates, etc), remember to take them with you in a clean folder - and don't lose them.
- Don't be afraid to take notes during the interview.
- Don't be negative about your present or past employers.
- If you are a smoker, don't smoke before-hand, however nervous you may feel. All business premises are non-smoking nowadays, and you will carry the smell of cigarettes into the interview with you - not attractive.
- Make sure you are presentable. That includes hair, teeth, shoes, fingernails. People notice the smallest things and you don't want to be remembered as the candidate with dirty fingernails.
- Turn off your mobile phone before you enter the business premises, and don't turn it back on again until you are well out of earshot.
- Position yourself comfortably on the chair, not on the edge. Sit up straight and stay focussed. Make lots of eye contact, but not so much that you freak out the interviewer!
- Make sure you answer the actual questions. Just reflect on the question and then answer it directly and concisely. Try not to answer "yes" or "no". Expand on it a little, but don't waffle. If you don't know the answer, don't make it up; perhaps admit that you haven't come across that before but you'd be interested in learning more about it.
- Try to build up a rapport with the interviewer but don't be over-familiar; keep it professional.
- Always be nice to the receptionist and/or secretary. They play a very important role within the company and could become your greatest ally.
Questions you're likely to be asked at interview
There are several questions that you are highly likely to be asked at interview. They also crop up in online job application forms.
Click this link to read the common interview questions.
Click this link to read the common interview questions.