Prepare yourself for your first interview
Make sure you know where you’re going
Ever heard of Google maps? ‘Course you have! Well now’s the time to get your route sorted with that jewel of an app before you’ve even tracked down your travel card. You’ll want to know how long it will take for you to get there taking into account traffic, potential roadworks or diversions. Are you driving? Do they have parking? Do you know exactly where you will park? Is it on a single yellow? Make sure you’ve discovered all of this information before you leave to make sure you’re on time.. actually, to make sure you’re ahead of time. Which brings us to our next point…
Leave yourself enough time to get there
You want to arrive 10 mins before your interview. And by that we mean you get to the company’s front desk announcing you’ve arrived 10 mins prior to your allotted interview time. So, if you have to arrive, pay for parking, brush your hair, straighten out your suit and check your teeth for food, you should arrive even earlier than that.
Have a contact number in case something comes up and you’re late
It’s always good to prepared. Say you get a flat tyre or all the trains are cancelled. Who are you going to call? Call us! We can sort out the rest, but don’t just leave it hoping you’ll get there on time. A little heads up can do wonders for that first impression.
Remember the name and position of the person you’re interviewing with
It won’t be very impressive if you can’t remember the full name of the person you’re meeting with, even less if you can’t remember the name of the role. So get this information ingrained in you head or write it down on a smart piece of paper.
Bring your CV
The interviewer really should have your CV in front of them, but sometimes they can forget or leave it on their desks for whatever reason. We think it’s a nice touch to bring it and shows how prepared you are.
Research the company
We’re yet to come across a company that isn’t impressed when a candidate can explain articulately what they’re about. And we don’t mean just memorising the About Us website page. Really UNDERSTAND the company and what it does. They might ask you questions and if all you’ve got is a memorised speech they’ll see straight through you. Plus, if you don’t really know what they do why are you interviewing there anyway?
Practice interview questions and answers out loud
It’s all very well writing out answers to interview questions and thinking ‘I got this!’ But the brain can play some funny tricks on us to make us believe we’ve memorised something when we haven’t. Talk out loud to a friend, sibling, dog, pet fish, with content of some of the things you want to say when you’re there. Answers to questions such as ‘Tell Me About Yourself’, ‘Where do you want to be in 5 years’ time’, ‘Explain a negative thing about yourself’, they’re all so much easier to get through when you’ve practiced. You can thank us later.
