Top 7 Tips for a Successful Job Interview

In this post article, you will learn 7 really important job interview tips that are going to help you to be the stand out candidate. So if you have a job interview coming up, please do make sure you read this article from beginning to end because is going to help you to be successful. These 7 Interview tips will help you get hired. So let get straight into those tips.

Top 7 Job Interview Tips

Tip #1: Download a copy of the job description

One most important great way to put yourself ahead of the competition is to make sure you download a copy of the job description of the job advert, for the role that you are applying for. Because on the job description, there are some really good tips that will help you to answer the questions correctly.

So once you’ve downloaded the job description, read it and take a highlighter pen, make sure you mock the different essential criteria that they are looking for. For example, if it states on the job description,

• you are required to communicate effectively;
• you are required to work as part of a team to achieve difficult tasks;
• you are required to work under pressure.

Then, they are going to ask you interview questions based on all of those criteria. So what you need to do is prepare answers to the questions that are based on the different elements of the job description.

Also, if it says you’re required to work as part of a team, they will say to you, give me an example of when you worked as part of a team. Make sure you get a copy of that job description. It is a blueprint for helping you to pass the interview.

Tip #2: Make sure you dress to impress at your interview.

Now, if you come to an interview and you do not make an effort in how you dress, it does not matter how well you answer the questions. It does not matter how confident you are. You will not be getting hired because if you don’t dress appropriately. It shows that you don’t really care and you are not bothered getting the job.

So make sure that you dress smartly. Now, this doesn’t mean to say that you have to go out and buy an expensive suit. You can still get a relatively cheap or cost effective outfit and still look really smart in it. So make sure you make an effort, because that will go a long way to telling the interviewer that you care and you really want this job.

It does not matter which role you are applying for, does not matter if you are applying to become a software developer, does not matter if you’re applying to become a cleaner, a maintenance technician, regardless of the position, please make sure you dress to impress. It’s really important.

Tip #3: Slow down

Slow down your tone of pace when responding to the questions, because this will help you to overcome interview nerves. You should also make sure that you have an answer ready to the first question, which is either going to be introduce yourself or tell me about yourself.

You should practice your answers/response to the first interview question, “Tell me about yourself” before you go along to the interview and a great format to use when answering the question is S.E.A.T, that stands for seat.

• S is the skills and qualities you have that are a match for the job description.
• E is the experience. The previous work experience you have.
• A is an achievement, a significant achievement you gained in a previous role or also in your personal life.
• And then finally, T is the type of person you are.

So make sure you slow down when you are responding to the questions. Consider your response for that first question, tell me about yourself. Follow that format above (i.e S.E.A.T). Try to focus on what you’re going to do in the role within the first 30 days of starting.

Tip #4: Make sure you research the company that you are applying to join

It is very important you do proper research about the company that you are applying for, because this gives you confidence. It gives you something to talk about during your interview. So when they say to you, tell me what you know about our company. Now, the majority of people cannot answer that question because they’ve done very little research.

The reason why they’ve done a little research is because they are only interested in getting the job. They are not bothered about working for that particular company, and if you fall into that category, you are less likely to get hired.

So make sure you carry out your research. Look at the company, go online, visit their website, have a look at their about us page. What do they do? When did they start? What products and services do they provide and also have a look at some customer reviews, some good customer reviews, so you can tell them what customers are talking about online in relation to their products and services.

Also, make sure you have a look at the company on social media, follow them on Facebook, on Twitter. And also, if they have a LinkedIn page, make sure you check that out, take them out of their latest posts. Are they involved in any charity events or do they do any good local work for the community? This gives you lots of things to talk about when the interview asks, do you tell me what you know about our company.

Tip #5: Make sure you prepare answers to all of the common interview questions.

One of the best ways to prepare yourself for your interview is to make sure you prepare answers to all of the common interview questions that are asked at almost all interviews. Those questions are:

• Tell me about yourself.
• Why should we hire you?
• Where do you see yourself in five years time?
• What are your salary expectations?
• And also what motivates you?

Now, if you would like to know more of the common questions that are asked at the interview and also how to answer them, make sure you click here to read this article on Common Interview Questions and Perfect Answers.

Those are the questions that will definitely come up during your interview. So make sure you check that out.

Tip #6: Talk about Your Achievements.

This is a really good one. If you were asked to say your greatest achievement in life so far, what would it be? Now, where possible, have a number of achievements that you are able to share at your interview.

It gives you different experiences to talk about, and of course, it also helps you to answer that common question, which is likely to come up. What’s your greatest achievement now? It doesn’t have to be something work related. It would be better if it is, but it might be something that’s relevant to academic achievements, a sporting achievement, or also carrying out a successful charity event. If you do relate to an achievement that you had at work, make sure it is one that was of benefit to the company.

It might be winning the really important sales contract, or it might be helping the company to really increase sales year on year. So think about a number of achievements that you can talk about during your interview, because these will help you to pass and also, more importantly, stand out from the competition job interview.

Tip #7: Ask Questions

We are at the end of your interview. Do you have any questions for us? What questions are you going to ask?

So we need to make sure that you have a number of smart questions to ask when we get to the end of your interview, because you don’t want to be saying it’s ok, I don’t have any questions or you’ve answered everything during the interview. That’s no good. Asking questions is your opportunity to really stand out and show them that you are this person that they should be hiring.

So, first of all, how many questions should you ask? Well, if you think about it, the interviewer or the hiring manager still has more people to interview. So we don’t want to ask them too many questions. Don’t be asking them five, six or seven questions because you are going to lose their attention.

My advice is to ask two or three questions. Go for three really smart questions, but don’t ask any questions about how much holiday do I get; Will there be an opportunity for a pay rise after a year? Don’t ask those questions.

What questions should you ask? Here are good questions.

• What advice would you give to the successful candidate who wants to do really well in this role? That’s nice question to ask during the interview. It shows that you really want to know how to get into the role and do a great job for their company.
• Another smart question that you could ask is what challenges are the business facing right now and how could I help you in this role to overcome them? That’s a really good question, because again you are thinking about their organization and you want to help them to overcome the challenges because all companies have challenges and they need their employees to help them to overcome them.
• Another really good question is, what would you need me to concentrate on in the first 30 days of starting? That’s a good question because it gets the interviewer to visualize you in the role and you are also planning of what you are going to do in the position.

So that’s really good three questions that you can ask at the end of your interview. Thanks for reading this brilliant post article and I wish you all the best for passing your job interview.