So, you’ve impressed with your CV and landed yourself an interview even though the odds haven’t truly been in your favour. As previously mentioned in our blog (Invest in Your Future Career By Using A CV Clinic); a staggering 53.7% of CV’s are thrown away [1] so ideally you want to continue in the winning streak by impressing your potential employer.

The next crucial stage is here – the interview! Now you may be confident in your approach when it comes to the interview process therefore leading you to have a successful interview. However there are some candidates that even though they have all the skills and qualifications needed for a job role they choke on the interview stage. The interview stage although initially positive can leave candidates to feel anxious, leave them with a blank mind or in some extreme cases even physically faint.

Is this you? Well don’t worry because we’ve decided to give you a few interview tips which will help you fly through your interview without all of the turbulence.

Do Your Research – Make sure you are entirely prepared for your interview. It’s almost a certainty that specific questions will be asked during interviews so make sure you expect these questions and you have a unique way of answering them in order to stand out. It is also important to know the ins and outs of a company before you attend an interview. Therefore why not look into the company’s history, what the company is currently up to and if there are any developments that are planning to become reality. Most importantly expect the unexpected. Employers can sometimes like to put interviewees on the spot to see how they cope in under pressure or in certain situations.

Practice Your Answers – As we all know interviews can be daunting leading us to develop a sudden case of temporary amnesia. However if you practice your answers you are more likely to remember what it is you want to convey. Remember to be careful though and do not make yourself sound like a robot, the interviewer will pick up on this and it won’t work in your favour.

Look The Part – Believe it or not your personal appearance does count for a lot in an interview. Just a few tips to take into consideration; tattoos should be hidden so your image looks professional,  have a shower so you are looking and smelling clean and deter yourself from using too much aftershave or perfume as you don’t want to make the interviewer pass out. Further to this make sure you are groomed and dressed in a presentable manner (even if the job role you are applying for is informal).

Be Positive – Positivity will put you in a better frame of mind and can even alter your answers in an interview. If you go into an interview believing in yourself this will come across in not only your answers but your body language too which can have a positive effect on your interviewer.

Are there any tips that have worked for you in an interview, if so what?

[1] http://www.thecvclinic.com/