Prepping for a telephonic or face-to-face interview is pretty similar.
What I send my candidates before attending an interview:
- Research the company on the web, social sites, and other mediums.
- Research the Directors / Management / Investors.
- Dress appropriately – First impressions always last.
- If you do smoke, ensure you don’t smell like cigarettes before going in.
- Arrive on time. Not early and not late.
- Firm handshake always starts the meeting well and make eye contact.
- Listen and listen well. Ensure you understand what is being asked of you and don’t be afraid to ask them to repeat the question.
- Ask appropriate and well thought out questions
- Ideally don’t bring up salary. (I’ll cover this next week)
- Make sure by the time you leave your interview; you have all your questions answered and you can ascertain if you want the position and it is the correct career move for you.
- Always be honest.
- And my last piece of advice is TO BE YOU! There is no better you than you ?
If it is a telephonic interview,
- Ensure you have a quiet, secure and uninterrupted space to receive the call.
- If it is via the internet, ensure your internet is connected and high speed.
- Find out before the call what the intentions are. Is this a technical chat, casual discussion or information briefing? The more information you have, the better prepared you can be and in turn, the less nervous you’ll be.
I know interviews can be extremely nerve-wracking, you might be unemployed, grossly unhappy and desperate for the job but please remember that you are interviewing the company as well. Are you interested in the industry? Did you like how you were treated? Did you enjoy the process? Can you see yourself working there long-term?
There are tons of resources online to prep for interviews, these are just my favourites and I’m going to end off by reiterating, JUST BE YOU.