Interview Preparation Tips – What Should You Do Before a Job Interview?

Interview Preparation Tips – What Should You Do Before a Job Interview?

Tips to Help You Succeed in face – to – face Job Interview

Are you a fresher preparing to apply for a job?

Are you in dilemma wondering ‘How Can I Best Prepare for my Job Interview?’

Then you are at the RIGHT place.

In this blog I am going to focus on and share with you two things:

1.     What is a Job Interview?

2.     The  Levels at which you need to prepare to Crack Job Interview

The interview tips and ideas mentioned in the blog are going to be a great help for freshers.

Even if you are a student and still have a year before you start applying for a job, start preparing starting this year. The interview tips will help you build a strong foundation to face the job interview.

Candidates who already have experience working and are looking for a change in their job can also benefit from the guidelines mentioned here by learning to polish their job interview skills.

So, are you ready?

Let’s get started…

What is an Interview?

Any interview involves two parties – the interviewer and the interviewee.

Interviewer is a person who conducts the interview by asking relevant questions to the candidate while interviewee is a person who gives the interview by answering the questions asked to the best of his knowledge.

The term interview has been derived from a French word ‘Intrevor’. The word means glimpse. By conducting an interview we get a glimpse of the interviewee in a short span of time.

An Interview is a form of formal communication. Here people interact with each other in an official setup and get to know more about the people participating in the interview.

When you attend an interview you need to know that there is a purpose behind conducting that interview. And you need to prepare to be benefited out of that interview.

JOB INTERVIEW

Job interview has become one of the most important types of interview in the market place. These are single or a series of interviews conducted by organizations to fulfill the requirements of Human Resource.

Both, the interviewer and the interviewee look forward to a job interview because there is a need to fill in the vacancy created in an organization.

In Short…

A Job Interview is a formal meeting where a candidate is asked several questions by the interviewer to gauge and understand whether he is suitable for the post they want to fill.

TYPES OF INTERVIEW

·        Walk in interview – Few organizations publish advertisement and ask candidates to walk in for a personal interview along with their resume. This type of interview is conducted mostly by organizations who want to quickly fill the vacancy.

·        Telephonic interview – This kind of interview is a part of the overall recruitment process. Here the candidates are assessed on the basis of the answers they give over the telephone. If the interviewer is satisfied with the telephonic interview the candidate is called for the next round.

WHY IS THERE A NEED TO CONDUCT A JOB INTERVIEW?

Let’s take an example. Say, there is a company looking for an accountant. A candidate who happens to be a Commerce Graduate approaches them and asks for a job. The company decides to conduct a job interview. Why is it so? Why don’t they hire him immediately? As is they require an accountant.

There is a reason behind this.

The reason why the organizations want to conduct job interview is because...

·        They have a choice - There are many candidates aspiring to join the company for the same job. The organization can choose the best out of them. The company has a choice.

·        There is competition – The job market is getting more and more competitive. A job aspirant has to compete with other candidates applying for the same job. In order to beat them he has to be better than them. So he trains himself to be better at his skills than others in the market. The organizations want to take advantage of this competition and pick out best candidate for their company.

·        There are limited vacancies for the post – Due to limited vacancies for each post the organizations want to fill it with right candidates who can be an asset to the organization.

FEATURES OF A JOB INTERVIEW

1.     A Job Interview is always goal oriented. For the interviewer the goal is to screen and select the best candidate and for the interviewee it is to prove to the interviewer that he is the best choice for the post.

2.     If the process of the interview has to be successful then both, the interviewer and the interviewee has to come prepared.

3.     The date, time and venue of the job interview is predefined and communicated. This ensures that the process of interview goes smoothly and gets over on time.

4.     In a job interview there is one interviewee and there can be one or multiple interviewers.

5.     The interviewer asks questions to the interviewee to analyze his competence and suitability for the post. The interviewee in turn answers the question to the best of his knowledge. So there has to be clarity and authenticity in exchange of information.

Are You Applying for a Job?

Here’s How You Need to Prepare for Your Job Interview.

First and foremost you need to take your job interview seriously. You can test whether you are serious about your job or not is by looking at your preparation. Your preparation for the job interview should begin well in advance.

Here are few things you need to start working on way in advance if you want to make a good impression in an interview and increase your chances of getting selected –

·        Your Attire and Appearance

·        Your Body Language

·        Your Communication Skills

·        Your understanding of the job profile

·        Your confidence level

·        Your Interpersonal Skills

Your preparation for the job interview should be spread over 4 levels. Study each level minutely and prepare an action plan for it.

1.     Physical Level:

·         It’s very important how you appear in front of an interviewer. If this is your first job interview then you need to take extra care how you will appear in front of the interviewer. Usually college students have the habit of wearing casual dresses and having hair styles that don’t go with the organizations. So, you need to work on your dressing sense as well as your hairstyle. I am not advocating that you go for expensive clothing. You just need to wear something that makes you look smart and at the same time it looks professional. Never go for an interview dressed as if you are going on a vacation or a party.

·        Next thing you need to focus on is your posture. Posture is all about how you stand, walk and sit. You need to closely look at your posture. Maybe you can ask your friends to tell you what they think of your body posture. Then work on making it better. Few good postures are – put your body weight on both the legs as you stand, sit straight and keep your shoulders open, as you walk ensure that you look straight and walk lifting your legs instead of rubbing your feet on the ground and walking.

·        Next thing that you need to develop is good manners. Your mannerism is good or bad depends on how you behave in front of people and when you are having a conversation with them. For example leaning too close to someone when you are talking is bad manners, saying thank you to someone who has helped you is good manners. Do some research and come out with the good mannerisms that you need to develop during interview. Practice them and make it a part of your lifestyle. Remember, good manners should not end with the end of job interview. It should stay with you forever.

2.     Mental Level:

·        You need to develop your mind to answer questions related to the kind of studies that you have done in your college (if this is your first job interview). For this you need to revise what you have studied. Know the meanings of terms and how it can be applied in solving a problem. Interview questions are going to be different than your college exam questions. In job interview the interviewer wants to know if you can apply your academic knowledge in the real world or not. For example, if you have studied Digital Marketing, the interviewer wants to know if you can suggest some right ways to promote a product online.

·        You also should be able to discuss about the recent happenings in the society. You need not be a PhD yet you should have some understanding of the current affairs, what you think about them and you’re reasoning for it. In short, you should be able to discuss or debate on a topic of current affairs or important issues facing the society.

·        If you want to work in an organization then you should know in detail about the company. Do some research and find out a bit of the history of the organization, look into its products, who are their competitors, what challenges is the company going through? In the world of internet everything is just a click away.

·        The organization wants to hire you and not your resume. So whatever you write in your resume should be a reflection of you. Never write something in your resume that you have not done or that you are not. The interviewer is going to ask you general and personal questions based on what you have written in your resume. You need to be prepared for that. Don’t make it obvious that you know everything about yourself. I have asked many candidates one simple question that has made them go blank on face. Say, the candidate has done her Masters in Computer Science. The simple question that I asked was  – ‘Why did you choose to do your Masters in Computer Science?’ The candidate was not able to give satisfactory answer. So, know yourself. Have answers to support whatever information you have provided in your resume.

3.     Ethical Level:

·        Be honest with yourself and your interviewer. Never try to bluff or lie to the interviewer. They are well experienced. They can quickly catch your lie. They might not tell it on your face. It will show in the result - They will reject you. If you don’t know the answers accept it. Candidates who are honest about themselves are respected more than candidates who try to impress the interviewer by trying to act smart.

·        Show loyalty towards the organization. Give the impression that if you are selected for the job, you are willing to commit a minimum of three years to the organization. And when you get the job, you better stick to your commitment.

·        Have dignity. Show some self – respect. Never beg for the job. Don’t think that people will have pity on you and give you job. It doesn’t work that way. Instead, learn to fight for the job based on the skills that you have developed.

4.     Confidence Level:

·        Confidence comes from competence. Competence is your ability to do something successfully and efficiently. So, if you want to show confidence in any aspect of your life, you should be competent in that particular aspect. For example, if you want to appear confident in your job interview, you need to have competence in performing in a job interview. This competence can come in you if you have practiced giving interviews. If you have made yourself go through the process of job interview. Not once but many times. If you are a fresher, you can gain this competence by practicing giving interview with your friends and colleagues. This is called Mock Interview. If you do it with utmost seriousness your real interview will become a cake walk.

·        Another way to boost your personal confidence is by doing your SWOT. SWOT is analysis of your STRENGTH, WEAKNESS, OPPORTUNITIES, and THREATS. SWOT helps you take a look at your inner self closely. It will guide you in understanding whether you are the right fit for the job or not. Just because the company is good and is offering great salary doesn’t mean that you should apply for the job. Your SWOT Analysis will help you understand where you stand in terms of the job requirement and whether you are qualified enough to send in your resume.

Trust the above pointers give you some ways to make a good first impression at a job interview.

In Conclusion

Understand that unlike college there is no pre – defined or pre – designed syllabus for a job interview. So, you can never be hundred percent prepared for your job interview. By your job interview preparation you can only improve your chances of getting selected.

Let me summarize for you the points you should focus on before you leave your home for your job interview.

I have put the points as a checklist. You need to keep a tab on the checklist and make sure you have done your best for each point.

Here’s your Interview Preparation Checklist to ensure that you are well prepared to Crack Your Job Interview –

1.     I Know Myself – This is one of the most important aspect of a job interview. Know the important ‘what’ and ‘whys’ in your life. Know about your strengths, weaknesses, and your interests. The more you know about yourself the better you will be able to answer the interviewer. The interviewer doesn’t know about you that is why he is asking you. Even if you don’t know about yourself you will be rejected.

2.     I Know My Resume – Most of the time candidates copy paste their resume from the net or from their friend’s resume. They don’t even go through what has been written in the resume. With zero knowledge about their resume they attend the interview. When the interviewer asks them questions based on what is written on the resume they stare at him blankly as if they are hearing this for the first time. Most candidates are so naïve that they tell the interviewer that they had copied it from their friend and don’t know what it is. How will anyone hire such a candidate who doesn’t take out time to prepare his own resume?

3.     I have Anticipated and prepared the answers for the questions that can be asked by the interviewer – If you can’t anticipate the questions on your own search on the net, ask your friends. Take some actions to come out with as many questions as you can. Then sit down and come out with impressive and intelligent answers to the questions. Learn the answers to those questions.

4.     I have polished my communication skills – Whether your communication skills are really good or average, you need to polish them so that you are able to communicate without any filler. If your communication is not good, learn to speak in small sentences, reduce the speed of your speech.

5.     I have practiced well for the job interview – Practice gives you a chance to test your preparedness for the interview. Let your friends, parents or colleagues become your interviewer. Learn to answer them as if you were answering your interviewer. This will slowly and steadily build your confidence. If you practice well the answers will smoothly flow. Thus you will be able to create a positive impression on the interviewer.

Do you get the idea? Are you going to implement what you just learnt about Job Interview?

What else are you doing to prepare for your job interview? Do let me know in the comment box. This way other readers will also benefit from your tips.

In addition, do you have any query or doubt related to job interview? Do let me know and I will address it in my forthcoming blogs.

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