By Dean Reagan
Get the best out of your interview
You know how it is: you sent your CV off a week ago, and now you’ve got a reply. They want to see you in person! What is the best way to prepare for it? Here we take a look at the best way you can prepare for your interview. Before we get going, I have to presume (I don’t like presuming) that you’ve done the most obvious thing — you know you are suited to the position. You must make sure that your profile meets the job description and you’ve got the qualifications to suit. Once that’s sorted, you’ll need to do a few more things to ensure you get the best out of the interview, and that the interviewer gets the best out of you.
What do you know about the company?
This information will be crucial at your interview, so do your research. The company: who are they? What do they do? How long have they been operating and in which areas (geographically as well as professionally)? How much is their annual turnover? What are their staffing levels? Who is the (hopefully soon to be your) boss? Is it a family run business? If it is, how could that make them operate differently? Who are their customers? Who are their rivals? Why is this company better than their rivals? (You might want to drop this in during the interview.) You can check the manager and company profiles on Linkedin.com, Monster.com, Indeed.com or plenty of other websites. Linkedin.com leaves a footprint of your visit if you are logged in, so if you want to go incognito, don’t log in. While it’s acceptable to check out the company’s Facebook page, it’s not a good idea to stalk a future employer!
Make the right impression
Always look your best; make sure you’re “suited and booted” and your clothes are clean and that you are interview ready. Is your hair neat and tidy (pony tails should be brushed or combed, not scraped together with little bits hanging out)? Have you cleaned and/or polished your shoes? Is your shirt/blouse ironed? Is your tie free of stains? Are your tattoos covered up? Is your nail varnish chipped? Are your fingernails clean? First appearances count for a lot, and as much as we don’t like to think we judge a book by its cover, a first impression only happens once: make yours memorable for the right reasons.
Get there on time
If you can’t be on time for your interview, how happy will a prospective employer be when thinking of hiring you? I’ll tell you — not very. Not only should you be on time, you should also be there well before time, maybe even by 15 or 20 minutes. Do a dry run the day before your interview, and see how long it takes you. If you do it the week before on the same day as your interview, you’ll get a good idea of how the traffic is, or how long the taxi, bus or train will take you to get there. If your interview is on a Sunday (Middle East) do a dry run on a work day so you know what the traffic flow is more likely to be.
Fail to Prepare and Prepare to Fail
Take couple of extra copies of your CV along and make sure when you hand yours over it’s in a neatly presented folder. Try a light, bright colour (light blue is more business-like), but not one with a picture of Mickey Mouse on it. You want to stand out — but for the right reasons. What about references? Have you got those tucked inside the folder too? You can mention that they’re included with your CV. If you haven’t worked before, who can vouch for you? Who knows what kind of person you are? No company HR manager is going to take your mum’s word for it, so if you haven’t got experience in work, ask one of your tutors to give a reference. If you’ve performed well and to the best of your ability in class, the reference will reflect your diligence and hard work. Take a pen and a note book with you. If you want to make notes (brief notes!) ask if it’s OK. No boss in their right mind is ever going to say no, and it shows you’re prepared and willing.
Let the interviewer/s know you’re enthusiastic, willing and able
A good hand-shake will serve you well, but don’t go into macho mode and try to crush your interviewer’s hand. It’s more and more usual now for women to shake hands too — even in Dubai – so if your boss offers you her or his hand, my advice is to shake it: this is your future we’re looking at. You should also keep eye contact while you talk and smile a lot (but don’t grin like a goon). Psychological studies have shown that a smile goes a long way to lowering barriers and someone being more open to accepting you. A nice friendly smile makes people feel at ease. Another thing: make sure your voice is strong and confident but remember there’s no need to shout.
Listen as well as hear
If you take mental notes on what the interviewer tells you, you can repeat information back at a relevant stage of the interview. This will demonstrate you’re not only listening but also taking on board what you hear. Nod in the right places, don’t interrupt, and answer all the questions you are asked. Try not to wander off subject at this point, as you’ll almost certainly get the opportunity to say more at the end of the interview, that’s when you can elaborate. Keep your answers short and simple at this point, if they want more info, they’ll ask you to expand.
Evidence
Give solid evidence of your experience. If you gloss over details briefly, you’ll come across as vague, so be sure to give specific, relevant examples of what makes you the ideal person for the job. If you lack the experience, read up on the job description and offer close examples of how you’ve done similar.
Tell me about yourself
As much as some people hate talking about themselves, others love it. The trick here is not to go overboard, but don’t undersell yourself either. Everyone has weak and strong points and an employer will usually ask about both. List your three strongest points and say you feel the company you’re interviewing for will enhance and/or hone those, and while you don’t feel you have any major weaknesses, maybe something like speaking in front of large crowds is yours. Tell them how you deal with that: say that you’re doing more presentations and that with each, your confidence is growing.
Who are you?
Always be yourself and act as naturally as you can. Trying to be something or someone you are not could mean you come across as false. If you ARE bluffing the odd thing or two, make sure you have done some homework on that too (not that I condone bluffing).
Your turn to ask
Have a list of questions ready that you want to ask. If your interviewer has covered them, you should perhaps have a few in reserve. A good one that bosses almost never mention is turnover of staff. Ask who is the longest serving staff member, and if it’s usual that people stay so long or for such a short time. This will also show your prospective employer that you are in it for the long haul too, which is important. This is also where your research comes in. You can flash a few figures around about the competition and demonstrate how you understand that this company is better and why it’s the market leader in the field. If not, you can see how they are becoming the new market leader… get the picture? All your research should come to fruition here. Practice your questions, practice your pitch. It could be the thing that sets you apart from the other interviewees.
A final interview note
You may also want to make two or three CVs. If your talent lies in a number of directions, it is useful to tailor each of them to specific talents. Say, for example, that you can design posters as well as you can direct, and that you can write journalist copy as well as you can edit. Why not tailor three or four different CVs so that you can offer your skill sets more relevantly for each skill? That way you show each employer your range but offer the one that fits the bill in their particular job description. Your other skills are important, of course, but you should always try to fit the bill as best you can. If this means making more documents, so be it.
Some real-life examples for you
A couple of people I know wanted their jobs so badly one mocked up a front page of the newspaper and sent it to the editor, thereby demonstrating his creative skill as a designer. The other called one of the company’s opposition and pretended he was doing an interview for a trade magazine. He got through to HR and asked what the most important questions you could ask a prospective employee were. Then he researched the questions, got the answers and went for the interview. They both got the jobs. The first was for a national newspaper, and the second was for a communications company.
Watch out for your own footprint
What you do and say on social media is open to almost anyone in the world to look at, so if you’ve got terrible pictures of you doing terrible things on your Facebook or Twitter account, it can be seriously detrimental to your employability prospects. A simple rule of thumb is that if your mum and your gran can see it without being offended, then almost anyone else anyone can too. As a former employer, the first thing I did (and would do again) is research social media for prospective candidates. Needless to say, if I see someone free-running across the tops of buildings then I don’t think they will make good candidates — unless it’s for a job as a stunt man!
Now it’s over
Can you sit back and relax? Will you wait for the response? No! Absolutely not. Write back and say what a great experience the interview was for you and that you found the interview to be an enjoyable and beneficial experience. If you’re new to it you could mention that too, and then thank the person for making it go so well. There’s no need for this if you’ve got experience but it wouldn’t hurt to thank them for their time when they’re so obviously very busy. As a side note you could offer to email again in a week to see what progress has been made.
Good luck!