Job Interviews

Getting a job interview itself can be hard these days when jobs are sparse and everyone is going after the same job with the same (or no) experience. If you're going out looking for your first ever job, you're better off looking for some voluntary experience beforehand so you have something to talk about and show in the interview. Even so, with some experience in a related job doesn't make getting that job that much easier anyway, but there are some things you can do you make sure you leave an impression on your interviewers. 

Here's some of my opinions and experiences I'd like to share throughout an intense 3-4 months worth of continuous job applications and interviews.

Before the Interview

Some people I know turn up to interviews without preparation - never do this. A lot of companies now make it a norm to ask the "what do you know about our company?" question, you don't want to be sitting there regretting to research the company. Before the interview, always make sure you research, research and research some more about the company, make some notes on a notepad and rehearse them before you attend - memorise facts, figures, awards etc, it'll impress them when you bring up achievements that the company has obtained.

If this is your first job interview, try get a friend or family to help you rehearse and go over some standard job interview questions (google them, they're everywhere). Otherwise, if you're used to interviews then make sure you know your CV inside out, your skill sets and some examples of when you demonstrated these skills. 

The Day of the Interview

Wake up early if you tend to be an over-sleeper or take long to get ready, either way, wake up earlier than you would if you were going to work at this place. You never know what may happen with traffic and public transport so it's better to arrive 30 mins early than be running 30 mins late! 

Dress professionally, doesn't matter what industry you're going into, it's better to be overdressed than underdressed. I was completely overdressed for my first interview at my current workplace, but they invited me back after the first interview and told me I could dress comfortably for my next one. It's nice because that gave me a chance to show my personality through my clothes. I'm one of those awkward 23 year olds that squirm around in professional attire. 

Grab a drink before you head into the interview. Depending on time (I usually try to arrive 30 mins early), it's good to be able to grab a coffee/tea before you head into the interview, it gives you a chance to relax, wake-up and rehearse to make sure you're completely ready. If you're running late, don't be afraid to ask for a glass of water or bring a bottle of water to the interview, you'll be doing a lot of talking so water is always perfect to have around. 

The Interview

Make sure you always smile, greet and shake hands with whoever is interviewing you as soon as you see them. Relax whilst you're waiting for them to come and get you or else you'll have clammy, sweaty palms that no interviewer likes! When you sit down, make sure you get comfortable before you start the interview, meaning, take off your coat, put down your bag etc. No interviewer wants to interview someone who looks like they're about to dash out of the door in the next 10 minutes. 

When answering questions, make sure you always provide examples, this is similar to a competency type of interview but interviewers always like examples to prove that you have shown a particular skill. It also sounds a lot better than "I have good time management. I have good organisation skills. I have good leadership skills." Tell stories where possible, interviewers like hearing stories about what happened, what action was taken and what the results were. Obviously, don't waffle on about what happened, I remember I did that once and my story took about 5 minutes to tell but luckily they were still interested.

Always ask questions at the end, the more questions the better in my experience. It's a good idea not to prepare your questions before the interview but to have an idea of what you would ask. You don't want to end up asking a question that has already been answered earlier just because you were scripting it. Also make sure your questions flow logically or it'll sound very scripted and ripped off online - such as, you wouldn't go from asking a question about the job then another question about the company and then another question back to the job. Group your questions as part of your preparation. Some standard questions would be asking to know more about the company and what they do, the department you would be working in (structure etc), challenges and rewards of the job and the likely timeframe you would expect to hear back from them. DO NOT mention about salary in the first interview - some people like to and can get away with it, but it can come across as if you're assuming you already got the job. Of course, if the interviewers start talking to you about salary then go ahead and discuss. But there's always time to negotiate upon offer rather than in the first stages of recruitment. You want to come across as if salary is the least important factor and that you're more focused on the enjoyment of working for their company rather than the pay. 

When you've made it (and survived) till the end of the interview, thank the interviewers for their time and make sure you shake hands, wish them a nice day and mention that you look forward to hearing from them. 

After the Interview

Congrats, you made it out alive. It's always a good idea to reflect on each interview experience, making note of what went well, what didn't go well etc. For my first interview, it wasn't a great experience and I was left feeling pretty certain that I didn't get the job despite wanting it quite badly. But with every interview you tend to learn a bit more about what the job involves (assuming that you're applying for similar roles). I made sure to make notes about what they said about the job and to use it for my next interview. Some interviewers tend to ask you what you think the job involves so make use of these notes to prove you're an expert in knowing what the job involves (or read the JD if they give you one). You also tend to learn a bit more about yourself and how to present yourself to other people, so even if an interview went badly, use it to your advantage for the next one instead of dwelling on it. 

Try and avoid going home and googling "how do I know if I got the job?" or "signs you got the job" (I was guilty of this), you'll just be scaremongering yourself or setting yourself up for high expectations of a second interview or even a job offer. Although some of those signs you find online may be true, they're not always the case, short interviews are not always bad, ok, usually they are in my experience but my second interview was shorter than 30mins and I still got the job. There's one popular one that when interviewers mention that they are interviewing other candidates, it usually means you didn't get the job. For my job, they mentioned it in the first interview but not in the second interview. Use these "signs" as guidelines of what you may expect but by no means use them as set-in-stone rules of recruitment. 

Also, use the time after the interview to consider whether you like the company and whether you can imagine yourself working for them. People often forget that an interview is a 2-way process, at the same time you're trying to impress your potential employers, they're also trying to sell the company to you and others (even though the ball is mostly in their court). As much as you're pressured to be employed, never accept a job offer for somewhere you know you won't enjoy working. I had an awful interview experience where I was offered a second interview the next day but I withdrew myself from the process because I know I couldn't stand working with the person who interviewed me. Go with your gut feelings rather than how much money/experience is offered to you.  

If you're offered a second interview then congrats and just prepare for it the same way as your first interview, be prepared to repeat some of the skills and examples as it is highly likely that you'll be having your second interview with different people. The most difficultly I had with second interviews was asking questions, I had literally asked all my questions to my first interviewers so I had to repeat some seeing as my first interviewers weren't there for the second interview. It's a bit cheeky asking questions I already knew the answers to but it's always good to get clarification from people higher up as well. Other than that, the second interview should be a breeze, I have a suspicion that by the second interview, they already have an idea of who they want to hire based on feedback from the first interviewers, so if you feel like you did well for your first interview just perform as if you're meeting the higher ups before you get a job offer.

A great tip for any job interview is to think of it as a conversation rather than an interview - good luck!