Top Tips For Interviewing in 2023

Top Ten Tips For Interviewing

Top Ten Tips for Interviewing

Congratulations! You’ve been given an interview! This may seem a little scary but it’s your chance to interview your prospective employers as much as they are interviewing you. To help, we have ten top tips to help calm your nerves and make sure that you smash your interview, no matter the role!

1. Eat well and get a good night of sleep.

It might sound like an obvious place to start, but a good night of sleep and eating well before are the building blocks on which to build everything else. There is a scientific basis for this point! The neural networks that stimulate stress and hunger responses are shared, so by avoiding low blood sugars you are automatically striking one cause of pre-interview nerves off the list.

In other words, our top tip before an interview is to take care of your basic needs!

2. Do the basics – Times and Locations

Make sure that you know where you need to be, at what time and what you need to bring with you. If you are completing a trial shift, make sure you have suitable clothing with you. If you are taking public transport, check for delays and, if possible, make a contingency plan for getting there.

Don’t be afraid to ask if you need to bring anything and double check times before the interview – that’s just good planning.

3. Dress to impress

Whilst suits are increasingly falling out of fashion in the office, you won’t win any favours by rocking up to an interview in a pair of dirty trousers or a t-shirt stained with last night’s dinner. Even if you don’t think it’s necessary, a great interview tip is to always go smart.

4. Research the company

Knowing about the organisation that you’re interviewing for will pay dividends. Showing even basic knowledge of the company will show to the interviewer that you have considered the bigger picture. Spending time reviewing the company website/social media/news items will always put you in a good place.

5. Practice interview questions

Read the job description before your interview and place it side by side your CV and Cover Letter. This will give you a great chance to think about what kind of questions your interviewer might ask and prepare some brilliant answers.

6. Sell Yourself

It is quite likely that an interviewer will ask you to introduce yourself. A great interview tip is to consider how you would sell yourself in 30 seconds and think about the relevant, interesting bits of yourself that you couldn’t squeeze onto your CV. Have a chat to friends and family members to get another perspective on yourself, always stick to the positive points!

7. Interview Technique

Interviews can be delivered in a range of formats. If your interview is online via video chat, try to familiarise yourself with the software being used, you will be sent a link in advance so practice and make sure your microphone and speakers are working properly.

If you are doing a face-to-face interview, make sure you shake hands with the interviewers at the start and again at the end. Also, don’t forget to smile and introduce yourself – first impressions count!

8. Answering Questions

Interview tip number eight – when responding to interview questions, try to show that you understand how your actions can contribute to the success of their organisation.

Relate questions back to your skills so that you, rather than anything else, are the centre of the conversation. Remember to remain friendly and don’t be afraid to ask the interviewer to repeat the question is you don’t understand it or just need more time to think.

9. Ask questions

Asking intelligent questions during an interview is a quick way to show that you have done your research and are aware of the bigger picture. You may want to ask about plans for the company, chance to get promoted or receive training and anything that you don’t feel have been covered in the rest of the interview.

Don’t forget, interviews work both ways, you are interviewing representatives of the company to see if you would like to work with them as much as they are interviewing you.

10. End the interview on a positive note

Make sure you thank the interviewer for their time and tell them it was a pleasure to meet them and learn more about the organisation. This is also a great time to check about what the next stages are and how and when you will be contacted.

Interviewers should have a strong grasp of the recruitment process and the timeframes involved and so will be able to say when they will be making decisions and when they will let you know.