Interview tips: Preparing for an interview
What to take with you to the interview?
Obviously, take the ‘invitation to interview’ email, your CV and your cover letter. If it was an online application, you should have printed that out too. Reread these before you go in to the interview! Take a pen (the nice one, not a chewed horrible one) and a small professional looking notebook or pad. I like the small moleskin ones.
What to do immediately before the interview?
Reread your research on the company, the people who will be interviewing you and the company and industry news and any trends research that you have done. Make sure that you have skimmed over all the news of the last few weeks. You will be asked about UK and European current affairs, industry trends and their likely impact on the industry. A client of mine was asked about Leveson 3 weeks ago. Another was about the future of the Euro.
The night before the interview, drink water, get some exercise in the morning and get mentally prepared. Switch your phone off! Finally, get there 30 minutes early and go through my interview preparation process to help get you “in the zone”.
First of all do the boring stuff. Precisely because it is boring, the fact that you have done it could help you stand out. Where is the interview? Exactly – in which building? If you can go there the day before so you know how much time it takes to get there. What is the format and who are interviewing you. They may not tell you this but if they do you have some research to do on the people interviewing you – this will count! Will there be any tests or group exercises? Should you bring anything? See if there is anything on the internet about the company’s interview procedures and other people’s experiences there.