Career

How To Prepare For An Interview

You’ve just secured an interview for a job, and it’s a great feeling to have been selected from the likely huge amount of applicants that applied for the job. However, now comes the hardest part, the interview. An interview process can seem quite daunting, and if you’ve not been in an interview in a while, then it can often feel like you’re out of practice. You want to be able to impress those who are conducting the interview and getting that all-important second interview or the offer of a job. So here is how to prepare for an interview.

Get A Good Night’s Sleep

It’s essential that you are feeling your absolute best when it comes to an interview. Ideally, you want to get a good night’s sleep the night before the interview, so clear your schedule of any social meet-ups with friends or any life admin plans that you might have had in place. Anyone you’re cancelling on friend-wise is going to completely understand that you’re cancelling due to a job interview. In order to get a good night’s sleep, you want to have your full nine hours. This might make it difficult to fall asleep at a time you are not used to, but it’s going to really help you feel focused and ready for the interview process. Remove any electronic devices from the bedroom as you wind down. Don’t look at your phone if you need to use it as your alarm. If you need some entertainment to help you feel more sleepy, then read a book or do some scribblings in a notepad until you start feeling tired.

Use blackout blinds if you have them or an eye mask to block out any light. Pillow sprays are good for adding a sleepy scent that may help you fall asleep faster.

Do Interview Prep With A Friend Or Family Member

Interview prep is important so that you don’t go into it feeling like you’ve not got any idea on what to expect or having practiced how you might lead into certain answers. Use your family or friends around you to reenact a test interview. From the moment you walk through the door of the interview room, you can practice how you greet the interviewers. The person test interviewing you can create test questions that might be similar to what you may get. It’s also good to know what is a structured interview and what isn’t, so you can be prepared for both eventualities. It’s also good to maybe ask in advance if you’d need to bring anything with you to the interview, just in case as they may mention a clue about what is required during the process.

Leave Early To Get There In Plenty Of Time

On the day of your interview, you can’t be late. Unless it’s something out of your control, but even then it’s likely to do with traffic or being delayed. That might be an excuse that they won’t really appreciate especially as they will probably have expected you to come in early. You also have to remember that they’ll be seeing other people and therefore being late could mean they don’t get to see you at all. So always remember to leave early and that way you can find a coffee shop and take perhaps thirty minutes to an hour to relax and do some last-minute prep.

Dress Appropriately

What you wear is important when going to the interview because it can certainly have an effect on how you come across to the interviewer. It also depends on what type of role you’re going for and what industry the job might be in. If it’s a more corporate building, you may want to go very smart, but if it’s more creative, you can maybe do a more relaxed version. However, it’s not good to walk in with jeans, a t-shirt and trainers. Anything that you can consider casual wear that you’d wear at home is not the right choice for you.

Have Questions Ready For The Interviewers

The interviewer is not going just to be the one to ask all the questions. You want to be prepared to ask some too when you are offered the chance. This tells them that you’re interested in knowing more about the role and also it’s worth asking questions about the company. Have a selection prepared to ask before going into the interview.

Take these tips with you to your next interview, and hopefully, you’ll have what you need to be successful.

Claire x

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