You are going to an interview, probably not the first and the last one. Even if your resume contains a truly overwhelming experience, you should not rest on your laurels and skip reliable preparation for live meeting with representatives of the company to which you are applying. Read what you should pay special attention to and how a slip-up may indicate your approach to potential duties.
Interview — 5 golden rules
- Be punctual. You must already fully realise the significance of this trait in everyday life. Think how much time you need to reach your destination. Have you already foreseen a margin? OK, now add another 30 minutes just to be sure — in case any accidents happen. What a recruiter might think if, despite graduating, you still have a loose approach to the “academic grace period?” They will simply think you are not diligent and can not be relied upon. The recruiter will evaluate you not only in terms of your experience. It is equally important whether you will be able to properly manage your time and meet deadlines. And all this may be challenged by your lateness.
- Prepare for the interview. Another fundamental rule. We hope that you too cannot imagine going to an interview without first checking the information about your potential new company. If you know nothing about the company you are applying to, you will definitely not gain a score. And the result? It will not be surprising if in the eyes of the recruiter you will seem ignorant, if you have not even looked through the company’s website.
- Be weary of questions about your former employer. It seems obvious that since you participate in the recruitment process, your last employment was not or is not fully satisfactory. There is a very good chance that the recruiter will want to find out what your reasons are. Prepare your answer before the meeting. Naturally, we do not recommend lying, but leave the detailed reasons for yourself. The recruiter should do fine with the following answer: “I have decided that it is time to look for new challenges” or similar. Why should excessive sincerity work against you? The principle of loyalty should not be deemed completely invalid when you change jobs. A wise recruiter will immediately understand that if you were to leave their company, you would act in a similarly inelegant way.
- Financial expectations. Even if you have specified them in your resume, this issue will probably be addressed again. You should not change your opinion, but it is always worth stating that you are open to negotiations. If you were asked about your “financial limits” during the interview, you better already have a well thought out answer. Why? We have already addressed it here: CLICK
- Ask questions. At the end of the meeting you will most likely be asked by the recruiter whether you would like to learn something from them. Naturally, it is not proper to ask questions like “what does the company do exactly?” at this stage, but this has already been addressed in point 2. If an issue raised at the meeting interested you particularly, you can ask for elaboration. Besides, you can always ask about the atmosphere between colleagues or the dresscode, and also raise strictly technical issues, related to specific projects. No questions may seem alarming to the recruiter.
In summary, even if the interview does not make you thrilled, you should adhere to these few tips. In today’s tough job market hard competences are not all that determines getting your dream job.