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How to interview well

So you've assessed your skills, polished up your CV and now you have an interview. Congratulations. Now the next step is to impress the bosses enough to make them want to hire you.

How to prepare for the interview

Interview preparation is essential. There is no substitute in how to interview to doing your research and making yourself thoroughly ready to demonstrate to the interviewer that you are serious about the position.

Researching the company is key. Understand what it does and some details about it, going beyond its website if you can. The trade press may be good for extra information.

Interview Questions and Answers

Preparation also involves trying to foresee in advance what sort of questions you might be asked. Look over your CV, application form, person specification and the job description to get some ideas of what the interviewer might say to you and prepare some good answers.

You would do well to think about why you want the job, why you could do it and what your strengths and weaknesses are. Communicating why you want the job is very important.

Remember when preparing and giving your answers that the purpose is to sell yourself. Think of things you have done in the past that demonstrate you as able and capable and bring out your contributions and experiences.

The job of the interviewer will be to dig deeper into what they already know about you from your CV. Usually they will want to know what your responsibilities were and what your role was. They will usually ask for specific examples of what you did to provide evidence that you are genuine.

Make sure you have some questions of your own written down and cross them off as they tell you about the job. Interviews are two ways. You are interviewing them to find out whether this is the job you really want. For starters, "Assuming you get the job" (say this, so as not to appear over confident), you will want to know:

• What your role will be
• What your responsibilities will be
• Who you will be reporting to
• Who you will be working with
• How will you be appraised and rewarded
• What future prospects might be
• What training is available
• Pay, hours of work, holidays, social events etc
• You might want to ask about the companies policy on certain things like "Corporate Social Responsibility"

How to present youself in the interview.

First appearances count. While some people may think it would make a good impression to dress flamboyantly or memorably, it is safest simply to look smart and stick to simple colours such as black or navy.

Be punctual, do not swear and do not argue. And certainly do not forget to turn off your mobile phone. Try to present yourself as confident without being arrogant. Smile at interviewers and take a little time to think about the answers if you need to.

More interview tips

Recent research by TheLadders.co.uk found that 95 per cent of executives think orange is inappropriate for a job interview, while 84 per cent dislike red and 83 per cent would be put off by pink.

Finally, if you are not successful, treat it as a learning experience in how to interview. Get feedback and try to use it to improve next time.

• How to Interview Well
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