Preparing For An Interview – 1 Physical And 3 Mental Interview Preparation Techniques

Preparing Your Looks When your interview date has been confirmed, one of the first things you should check is your appearance. Do you need to get a hair cut? Do you need to dry clean your suit? Are your shoes in good working order and polished? Yes, these things all matter. You want to look your very best, remember first impressions ALWAYS matter. Book your hair cut a few days before to avoid a “hair disaster”, make sure you get your best suit back from the dry cleaners early and make sure you’ve arranged the required time off work if you have an existing job. Preparing Your Mind The best way to prepare for an interview is to rehearse as if you are preparing for a presentation or auditioning for a play. Ask yourself mock questions and try to answer them without thinking first. Write down your answers so you can review them. If you’re struggling to think of questions to ask yourself, pretend you’re interviewing yourself for your own job. When you review your questions and answers, did you find anything difficult to answer? If you did, focus on developing answers for these questions. Learn answers to questions, so if you asked them in an interview you are fully prepared. Know the common factor Most interviewers will use a few common interview questions such as: Tell me about yourselfr Why do you want to work here? What do you know about the job? Why should we hire you? There might be slight variations however most professional interviews will cover these questions as a matter of course. If you practice answering these questions you’ll have a huge advantage over those who have to make it up on the spot. Write down your answers and again, rehearse your answers. In the interview be careful not jump on the answer straight away, here’s a bit pro tip, pause for a while and fake a deep in thought expression before you deliver your killer answer. Know The Behaviour Behavioural interviewing is quickly becoming the “new” interviewing standard. This method of interviewing requires the interviewer to ask you to detail how a particular situation was handled by reflecting on you previous work experiences. The whole point of this technique is designed to determine how you will perform in the future based on how you performed in the past. Some typical questions might be: Give an example of when you had to solve a difficult problem. Give an example of a goal you reached and describe how you achieved it. Describe a decision you made that was unpopular and how you handled it. The best way to prepare for an interview using this technique is to think of some situational questions you “might” be asked. Think about various situations in your last roles and how you would respond about them. Can you recall quickly, was there something that went wrong in your career you learnt from? If you physically and mentally prepare for an interview you’ll feel more confident, be less rushed and be ready to give it your all.