Interviews can be a daunting experience, regardless of your level of seniority, experience or qualifications. Not only can preparation make a great difference to your confidence, it is also proven to enhance your chances of being offered roles by up to 40%. Read through our interview top tips below to help with your preparation.
Research:
Take time to research as much as possible about the organisation and the interviewer’s background. Try to find out about the company’s history, products, recent changes, projects, culture, competitors, and clients. Their website is likely to hold a lot of information but your ENS consultant should know a lot of relevant information too, so do take time to prepare with your consultant.
Plan:
Ensure you have all relevant details such as time, date and interview location, as well as the interviewer’s name. Plan your journey and allow for potential delays. It’s a good idea to make sure you have the company’s telephone number with you in case of any emergencies.
Prepare:
Make a list of your strengths against the job description and the responsibilities of the role and read them out loud. This will help you to start becoming ‘fluent’ in selling yourself and help with your confidence.
Write down the ‘typical’ interview questions, together with your answers and practice answering out loud. Questions can include:
- Give me a brief overview of your career to date.
- What do you know about our company?
- What is your understanding about the role?
- What are your strengths?
- What are your weaknesses?
- What do you feel you can bring to the role?
Make a list of 5 questions to ask, to show you have thought about the role, not how interested you are in the benefits!
Put together your interview ‘pack’. This should include:
Dress Appropriately: Always wear more formal business dress.
Body language:
Shake hands firmly with the interviewer(s) at the beginning and end of the interview; a friendly expression will indicate that you have a positive relationship led approach; maintain good eye contact (if you have more than one person interviewing you, look at the person asking the question when you reply but glance at the other interviewers from time to time).
Keep to the point - but be yourself:
Keep your answers succinct and don’t go off on a tangent. Give yourself time to think and collect your thoughts, especially when asked a complicated question. If you don’t know, admit it – never lie. Be yourself! That’s who they want to see and in the end, it’s who you need to be if you are going to be happy in this role.
Don’t think of the interviewer as a mind-reader:
Interviewers are often as nervous about the interview as you are! Help them to make the right decision by ensuring they understand you, your skills and your attributes by offering some specific examples of these. And tell the interviewer you are interested in the role.
Written thank you note:
Following the interview, on your behalf, we would like to forward a brief note to the organisation to express your interest. Please call us to explain specifically why you are interested in the role and what you can bring to it. We can then ensure that we represent you in the best way and this type of follow through is proven to enhance the likelihood of securing an offer.
GOOD LUCK!
If you have a vacancy that you would like ENS to assist you with, then please let us know using the Submit button below and one of our consultants will be in touch.
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