Preparing for your interview

 Interviews are stressful so try to keep calm. If you are anxious in an interview you will not come across as confident, enthusiastic, or capable, and that will greatly affect your possibility of getting the job. 

Here are some key ways to avoid additional stress and show that preparation is the most effective way to minimize your interview anxiety. 

Research the company, find out how long they have been in business, if they have multiple offices, what their products do, what services they offer, and how many employees they have.

All this information should be on their website so take time to read it and familiarize yourself with the situation. 

This will help you in the interview to understand the role, what is expected of you, and how you will fit in. You can also ask about the future plans for the company, ie if any expansion is planned. 

If you know the names of those who will be interviewed, look them up on the company website or LinkedIn.

You can find out what their role is and how long they have been with the company. Research like this will impress the interviewees with your interest in their careers.

Familiarize yourself with the job description, and think about how it will fit with your skills, experience, and qualifications. 

Then in the interview, you can really sell yourself and let the employers know that you are the perfect fit for this role.

 Also, think of questions relating to what exactly the role will involve. 

Research the office location and the journey, leave plenty of time to arrive, the surest way to fail an interview is to turn up late. 

Things might happen that are out of your control so make sure you have a way to contact the interviewee to let them know if you are running late.

Even if the office or role doesn’t require business dress you will always be expected to dress smartly for your interview. Make sure that you have your outfit organized, clean, and ready to go the day before.

Find out if there will be any kind of evaluation test during the interview process. Companies can ask you to sit tests to evaluate anything from your typing speed and Microsoft office skills to writing or evaluating lines of code. 

It all depends on the role you are applying for. 

Just be prepared if they will expect you to sit a test.

Take printed copies of your resume with you. This can be useful if the interviewers don’t have a copy of your resume to hand. 

Also, most interviews either ask you to talk through your resume or will directly ask you about parts of your resume. 

So rather than relying on your memory, having a copy of your resume in front of you is very helpful and will stop you from looking as if you are unsure about what your resume contains. 

Be prepared for the standard interview questions ‘tell us about yourself or ‘talk us through your resume’. If there are any gaps or unusual entries in your resume – good or bad – be prepared to talk about them. 

Practice with a mock interview. Either with a person or use a mirror! Run through your speaking voice, body language, smile, handshake! 

It’s amazing how different it is having to speak an answer out loud compared to thinking about it. 

Answers that seem clear and easy to follow may not actually be. By practicing you will get a chance to refine your answers and make them clear and understandable.

Be prepared for the standard interview questions that get asked. Don’t worry about sounding too practiced, it’s better than having no answer.

Here are a few examples of common interview questions:

• Why do you want to work here?
• What interested you about this role?
• What are your greatest strengths? 
• What are your weaknesses?
• Why are you leaving your current role?
• Why should we hire you?
• Where do you see yourself in 5 years?

Don’t forget …..Switch your phone off!

You are ready to go. Good luck.