Interview Tips!
What do you guys do to prepare for the interview?
and how to act during an interview!
Next tuesday, im so nervous!
-Neoni
Interviews will be different for everyone but I have noticed a few things worth mentioning that may well help you!
I've had a fair number of interviews the past year (being an IT contractor) and I've just completed a round of 1st and 2nd interviews with 2 companies on full time roles with another today at 1:45PM (looking to stop contracting).
I've had god interviews and bad interviews but more good now as I've learnt from the bad ones.
It does not matter how experienced you are or what your academics are at the end of the day, it is you as a person and your potential that will matter to them more from my experience. If the interviewer(s) is(are) professional yet laid back and fun all at the same time then you'll have interview success - I pretty much guarantee it because they will create an atmosphere that you are completely comfortable in and can respond to questions as well as generally chat with them as if you've known them a while right away.
One interview I had a long while back (a bad one!) the guy was dressed smart, spoke smart and was generally 100% manager like in attitude and spoke in a semi robotic manner typical of a standard office/IT manager. This put me on edge and my responses to his questions came out delayed or too early which doesn't look good at all while sipping WATER from a soft plastic cup which put me even more on edge as he didn't offer a hot drink in a mug or anything.
My latest interview was a 2nd interview yesterday and I came out of that 100% positive feeling. The interviewers were a digital director and the MD herself.
I arrived early and sat in the reception speaking to the girl sitting behind the desk - do this whenever possible even if it's idle banter about the workplace and their job etc because they will no doubt give you good infos about the company and what working for them is like without realising which is always good. The reception and whole deck itself on that floor had big windows and nice neutral colours in shades of white and cream - a nice environment to feel calm and relaxed in with as little artificial light as possible.
I then met the MD for the first time (digi director did 1st interview), I expected her to look like someone out of Dragon's Den just like my previous MDs from other places but she was not, she was polite, as friendly as can be and didn't mind exchanging laughs in between talking about the kind of person she was looking for.
The rest will come naturally, you'll have stated your hobbies and interpersonal skills in your CV which the interviewer will ask you about even if it's not job related directly it will be indirectly (eg for me I do photography outside of work, I stated in my CV that this has helped my people management and organisation skills greatly and the MD asked me about this with great interest).
Fingers crossed! Getting the job itself will depend on how the employer has weighed up interviewees, it may well be that someone else had the same skills as you but had a slightly better personality or had a more appealing career goal that they liked more - doesn't mean your interview went badly, it just means someone else was playing the same game, just one level up
its just the thought of it!
don't worry aha! the brickin it bit..
