Tips to Improve your Interview Success

Interviews are still the most popular form of selection for most positions and often individuals that perform well at interview are selected ahead of those that are perhaps better qualified but who do not perform as well. Good interview technique is vital to securing the top jobs and like exam success it can be learned.

Here are 10 tips to improve your interview skills before, during and after the interview.

Before the Interview

By conducting thorough research you have a better chance of success as you identify issues and practise questions that are likely to be asked.

1) Research yourself, your skills and experience

At least half of the interview will be about you, particularly your skills, experiences and career goals. It’s therefore essential that you know everything there is to know about yourself and be able to answer any question confidently and concisely. You are likely to be probed about your profile and so you need to be able to describe and portray yourself in a positive and balanced manner. Review your career to date and understand your key skills and strengths, your reasons for making a move both now and previously as well thinking about your short and medium term career goals.

2) Research the company, its products/services, culture and vision

It’s important to research the company for several reasons. You want to know for your own purposes that it’s a company you want to work for in a sector you want to work within. For the purposes of the interview you may also be asked a question or wish to ask a question.

A popular interview question is “How much do you know about our company?”. It helps if you can respond with a brief summary about the company. It shows that you are someone that does their research which is a positive feature.

During the course of your research you may also unearth an issue or two about the company that you want to clarify which may, for example, be related to their trading performance or a new product or service.

3) Research the job

It’s important to spend time analysing the job specification for two reasons. Firstly, is it a role that interests you and why and can it help advance your career? Secondly, how can you use your skills and experience to add value to the role? The interviewer will be focusing heavily on this latter aspect so it helps for you to be able to answer this question effectively.

4) Research likely questions and answers

There will be questions back and forth on both sides and it helps if you have an idea about both the questions to be asked by the interviewer and the questions you wish to ask of them. It’s a similar process to knowing what the questions are before you take an exam. The questions asked are likely to be related to you and your profile and your relevance to the role and how you can add value in the future.

Questions to ask the interviewer

Interview Question Guide

During the Interview

5) You never get a second chance at a first impression

Ensure that you are professionally presented and have maximum impact. In the first five minutes, your interviewer will form an impression about you that is rarely overturned so it’s essential that you are wearing the right clothes and your handshake, eye contact and smile all portray a strong image. Be prepared to conduct some small talk before the body of the interview.

6) The interview should be a two way conversation -

It’s preferable for the interview to be a dialogue rather than a monologue or a quick fire question and answer session.

Some interviewers are good at achieving this, others are not. This means it’s partly your responsibility to ensure that it’s a pleasant informative conversation. If the interviewer enjoys the meeting they are more likely to think positively about you. Whatever the style of the interview you want to ensure that your answers to questions are thorough but concise.

Practice your Interview Technique

7) Expect the unexpected

Often interviews don’t go as planned and something goes wrong with the timing, location, numbers of people interviewing or the questions asked. Expect the unexpected to happen and take such events in your stride because if you remain ‘calm in a crisis’ this will be to your advantage. Your prospective employer will view you as someone who can cope with unusual issues.

8) Ask questions of the interviewer

You have researched the questions you want to ask and you should ask them. If you can, ask as part of the dialogue or a specific Q & A session. Your questions should be about the job and the company, the sector and a good one is to ask the your prospective manager about their background and why they would be a good person to work for. Often if you can get the interviewer to talk about themself you not only learn more about them but they feel better about the interview and about your performance.

Questions to ask at an interview

9) Confirm your interest in the assignment and the company and ascertain the next step in the process

It always helps you if you finish the interview in a positive way. This is the reverse of the first five minutes. Thank your interviewer for their time and reaffirm your interest in the position. Even if you’re not interested, it is better that you have the option to proceed once you have “thought” about it. Try and ascertain the next step and by when that you should hear. A firm handshake and eye contact is necessary here.

After the Interview

10) Follow up calls and emails/letters

It adds weight to your application if you can follow up your meeting with a short thank you email or letter. This is both common courtesy but just serves to confirm your interest. If your interviewer has given you a decision timeline feel free to politely call them if that time has passed.