Going for an interview can be really nerve-wrecking, especially if you don’t have much experience of being interviewed, or haven’t ever been interviewed before. However, you don’t need to worry, because interviewing is a skill you can master. Follow these techniques and tips to become confident in sharing your value with your potential employer and get that job.
Tip 1: Get as much interview experience as you can
If you get a lot of interview requests it can be tempting to only interview for the jobs you really want, but actually what you should do is interview for as many as possible. There are lots of benefits to interviewing as much as you can, these include:
- You might find opportunities you would have overlooked if you were limiting yourself to a strict search criteria.
- It is excellent practice, allowing you to develop upon your communication skills and selling yourself.
- You’ll be able to refine your job search more by interviewing with different companies and learning as much as you can about the industry.
- You’ll build up a network. Networking is a crucial tool in business, any kind of business, and you can use interviews as a way to network and meet new people.
Tip 2: Develop your story in detail
Selling yourself is probably one of the hardest things to do and the biggest hurdle people face in interviews. So before you go for an interview think about your story. Consider:
- Where you came from, where you started.
- Your journey so far.
- The things you’ve learned.
- Your achievements.
- Your failings.
- Your dreams.
- Your future goals.
Showing that you’ve thought this through and have answers readily available leaves an excellent impression in an interview. It helps other people to understand who you are, gives you a chance to showcase your best features and it shows you have prepared well for the interview.
Tip 3: Tailor your resume and story to the job
Most people will apply for more than one job and each role has a different job description and person specification. Which is why you should tailor your resume and the stories you tell to the job. This doesn’t mean you have to become a different person, it just means you might need to re-word things or focus on some points more so than others depending on what the job description is looking for.
Tip 3: Be prepared
An interview can last a couple of minutes to an hour, sometimes it can even lead to a number of interviews. To make sure you can get through this rigorous interview process, you need to prepare as much as possible so that you can be relaxed during the interview.
Here are some things you can do to prepare for your interview:
- Practice: Ask friends or family to sit with you and practice your interview. Get them to ask you questions and provide you feedback on your answers. Dress as you would for an interview and treat it like it is an interview. The more you answer the questions and the more you practice, the more comfortable you will appear during your actual interview.
- Research: Research the job and the company as much as you can so that you can tailor your resume and the answers you give to best suit both.
- Record: Record any practice interviews you do and watch them back. Look at your verbal presentation and body language. Ask yourself. Are you using positive body language? Are you maintaining eye contact? Do you have a strong handshake. Do you use many verbal fillers like “erm”?
- Details: Finalise the details for the interview early. By this we don’t just mean find out when and where the interview is, but arrange how you will get there, what time you will leave, what you will wear, what you will take with you, etc. This way you have less stress on the day.
- References: If you have given details for previous references, now is a good time to let them know to expect a call.
Other Tips:
- Anticipate behavioural interview questions, like “describe a situation…” or “what would you do in this situation….”
- Prepare questions for you to ask the interviewer about the role and the company. This will show your eagerness for the role and show that you are seriously considering the position. However, do avoid bombarding the interviewer with questions.
The important thing to relax, try to enjoy the interview and show the best version of yourself.