Interview - The Pre Interview Stage Tips

I promised to give you some thoughts on how you can best prepare for your interview after that great CV has done its job. It's now time to take you through the first stage.

In my mind, your interview preparation should start the moment that you know that you have secured an interview. The more preparation you do then hopefully that will translate into you feeling more comfortable when you get to the interview.

There are several areas that will help you with the Pre-Interview Stage. I remember when I first started out on the job trail, far too many years ago for me to remember, finding information out about a company was extremely difficult. Can you remember life without the Internet?

So there you go, Tip Number One. Use the Internet and find out about the Company. Go to their Website and read it closely. Of course, depending on the job that you are applying for there will be some parts of the site that will give you more detail than other parts. You will need to look at finances, areas of operation, recent news, staff development opportunities, strategies, visions and values, etc.

But the Internet can also give you more information about the Company. So perhaps use a search engine, such as Google and Yahoo, and pick up the latest news about the organisation. You might even want to set up a news alert - that way you will be really up to date with company information at interview and can commend your interviewer on the fact that the company has just won a big contract, or has just announced its best profits ever, etc.

More and more nowadays, networking websites are becoming popular. So consider the business networking websites such as LinkedIn or Plaxo. (Note: There are other business networking sites available) As well as letting you build up your own personal network, very often they will give you some details about organisations and employees - you might even find out something about the person who is going to interview you!!! Use it to your advantage.

You might know somebody who already works for the organisation, or have a friend who knows somebody - use them to get some inside information.

From all that information that you garner, make sure you lace it through your answers to questions at interviews or refer to it during your opportunity to ask questions. Doing this makes the interviewer see you in the good light where you know a lot about the business and seem really interested in getting this role.

And Tip Number Two. If you haven't already got it, get a copy of the job description and person specification if you can. If you have them you can start to prepare how you will describe at interview how you fit that role. You have probably not done all of the job, as described in the job description but start to formulate the evidence from your previous history that will show you have the competences to take on the challenges of this role.

Think of the questions that you could be asked at the interview and "prepare" your answers. Of course, you won't ever get that exact question but if you have a battery of answers up your sleeve all you need to do is mix and match. This will also help you to relax at the interview because in advance you have a good idea of the areas you are going to cover and what you will say.

Coming up now, Tip Number Three. Just the same as you will be asked questions, you also will be given the opportunity to ask questions. So make sure you do, and make them really intelligent questions that will highlight your competences for the job and also make the recruiter think positively about you.

So you might ask about your development opportunities because you have read the detail about The XXX Company Academy and how it trains its employees; or you might ask about how your performance will be measured and against what Key Performance Indicators. If you've done your homework you will also know about the competitors in their business sector, so maybe there's a question on that.

Tip Number Four is obvious but sometimes candidates forget it. Know what is in your Curriculum Vitae. Anything you have written in the CV is fair game for questioning. So know the things you claim to have done and specifically remember those numbers. And remember when you were at which companies.

Tip Number Five is about managing your stress levels. Get a good nights sleep before the interview and leave lots of time to get to the interview. However, you get there make sure it is in plenty of time so you can re-read all your information that you have gathered. From personal experience, don't always trust your Sat Nav to take you to the right place!!! Fortunately, I was staying in a hotel overnight so it was not a problem getting to the interview on time - just imagine what it would have been like if I was lost and the interview was starting soon.

However strong you might feel about it, my personal opinion is that you should not smoke just prior to going in to the interview, even if it feels like it calms your nerves. The smell of the smoke may be offputting. I know it won't influence the final decision but you want NO negatives.

And yes, it's the same advice for taking an alcoholic drink before the interview.In the next edition I am going to talk about the interview itself and how best to deal with that. I want you to get that job.

(c) Iain Williamson 30.1.10