BY: Chelsea Bassett
Interviews can be extremely nerve-racking and incredibly frustrating, especially if you feel like you’re overwhelmingly underprepared. However there are some simple and effective steps one can take to make sure they nail their next interview.
The following are commonly known as the Three C’s of a job interview and should be able to be answered before any job interview that you have according to forbes.com:
Competence:
Do you have the capability, skills, knowledge, and experience to not only accomplish the job, but accomplish it well?
Compatibility:
Will you make a good fit for the company and share in its core values and beliefs by helping the company succeed in achieving them?
Chemistry:
Are you someone who this company/employer wants to work with? Specifically, will they enjoy spending an allotted amount of time with you?
Once these three questions are answered, you can work on some of the next steps that will bring you closer to nailing your next interview. However, there are some other aspects one must take into consideration when preparing for the interview process that most people do not think about.
Here are some helpful tips for your next face-to-face interview according robertwalters.com.au:
● Your interview begins as soon as you leave the house. You never know who you might meet before your interview. Often times you might meet a possible future co- worker while waiting for your interview to start, or you could even run into the person conducting your interview while traveling to the location it is at. Also make sure that you arrive early, not only does this make you look punctual, but it will give you time to settle into your surroundings, put your phone on silent and put it away, and possibly create small talk with a receptionist.
● Treat everyone as if they will be your possible interviewer. This goes from the moment you enter the building until the time that you leave. You must remember that some of the people you meet that day could be your future co-workers, and often times co-workers will share the experience they had with you with each other or their boss, whether it is could or bad.
● First impressions are important, make sure you create a strong one. Everyone knows that you only get one first impression and it’s important to make yourself memorable. Body language plays a very important role in first impressions so make sure to smile confidently, have a firm hand-shake all while making eye contact. Also make sure you wait to be invited to sit down before you do.
● Small Talk, be ready for it. Most interviews begin with small talk so make sure you have prepared yourself with possible topics that may come up. We’re not talking about small talk that involves your hobbies, family, or pets. Make sure that the topics you choose to speak about directly involve story that would be beneficial for the company while also revealing something about yourself.
● Make your message clear from the start. Go into the interview knowing the key messages that you want to portray to the interviewer from the start. Make sure the focus of every conversation can be brought back to those main messages in one form or another. Remember, these are the there key aspects that you want your interviewer to remember about you, so make sure they are positive for the company and yourself.
Information from:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/nextavenue/2017/05/02/the-no-1-way-to-nail-a-job- interview/#44d544735c29
https://www.robertwalters.com.au/career-advice/cv-and-interview-tips/how-to-nail-a-job- interview-in-the-first-5-minutes.html