Here are some interview tips that will help you or your clients in preparing for the all important interview.

Cheers

Jim

Career Resources from Bright and Associates

The Factory Podcast

www.brightandassociates.com.au

info@brightandassociates.com.au

Tip Sheet : Interviews

Before the interview….

Stress busters

? take your mind off the interview and go and do something else which is

interesting and engaging.

? Say to yourself ‘Why am I getting worried about this, why does it matter if I do

stutter in the interview, what is the worst thing that can happen to me, well I

won’t get the job’

? It is worth bearing in mind, that the person sitting on the other side of the desk

interviewing you is human as well believe it or not. Prick them with a pin and

they will bleed.

? The night before the interview try and have as calm a night as possible. Go

back through your résumé, flick through the material, go to a film, watch

television. Just have a relaxed evening, don’t get too tensed up and have an

early night and not too much alcohol. I would suggest that you avoid eating

food with lots of spice or garlic in it. You don’t want to go to the interview the

following day smelling heavily of alcohol or garlic, because that can be offputting.

Get a good solid meal and a good night’s sleep.

Preparation makes perfect

? take down accurate records of the time, date, and venue of the interview – so

you know exactly where you are going and when

? If there are clashes and you are already being interviewed that day for

another job, you will need to consider rearranging the interview. The thing to

do here is to consider which of the two interviews is the most important to

you. Which job you really most want or which job is the one that you really

feel you are most likely to get and then rearrange the least preferred interview

for another day. You can be very polite about that and I would suggest that

you don’t say that you are being interviewed elsewhere, but make another

excuse such as you are unable to leave work that day if you are working, or

perhaps a white lie ‘for personal reasons you are unable to attend on that

day, but you would be more than happy to attend on any other day that they

may care to choose’.

Provided by Bright and Associates www.brightandassociates.com.au

Career Resources from Bright and Associates

The Factory Podcast

www.brightandassociates.com.au

info@brightandassociates.com.au

? Pull out from your work file the copy of the job advertisement and the résumé

and cover letter that you sent. Study those closely and try to remember as

many of the points that you made about yourself as possible.

? Any information that you found out about the company that you stored in your

job file you should go through now.

Attire

? Now is the time to make sure that you have your suitable attire for an

interview. Whether that happens to be a suit or just a smart pair of trousers, a

shirt, and some shoes that are well polished and look smart and match with

the accessories.

? Avoid strong cologne

? Avoid garish make up

? Ensure you hair is well cut, clean and dry

On your toes

? The minute you walk through the door of the building on the day of the

interview your interview has started. In fact, the minute you have a telephone

conversation with the recruiter or the recruiter’s secretary the interview has

started.

? Never make the mistake of patronising or underestimating the administrative

staff in an office.

? you need to have a copy of the résumé with you at the interview, but you

need to know your résumé well

? the cardinal rule in the interview is keep your cool. It is not the time to start

arguing.

? If you are sure of yourself and you know where you want to go and what you

want out of the job, then you should ask questions. Not asking questions at

interview when invited to do so, gives the impression you are not interested in

the position, or that you have not prepared properly

? Take your time to respond to questions

? If you do not understand a question ask for clarification

? Do not always accept the interviewers premise i.e. “So you left Bloggs and

Co. pretty quickly, where did you work next?”. Why accept the interviewers

premise that you left quickly? This is a typical trap, instead reply “Well I was

at Bloggs and Co for a year, so I was there a reasonable amount of time, and

in that time, the company restructured which removed any chances of

progression in my specialist field…”

Provided by Bright and Associates www.brightandassociates.com.au

Career Resources from Bright and Associates

The Factory Podcast

www.brightandassociates.com.au

info@brightandassociates.com.au

? Emphasise positives during interviews – do not dwell on negative experiences

such as sackings, work disputes, long periods out of the work force. If you

have had such problems in the past and the interviewer tries to get you to

explain such events, you can try cutting this short by saying, “ I am really

most interested in how I can best develop my career now and in the future,

and I am positive I can make an excellent contribution…”

? Panel interviews (where two or more people interview you at the same time)

are fairer for you, so do not be intimidated, they are less likely to be biased by

factors such as personal rapport, race, gender and other irrelevant issues.

Compiled by Professor Jim Bright, Bright and Associates

Provided by Bright and Associates www.brightandassociates.com.au