he day before any interview can be a nerve-wracking experience, so it can be difficult to do anything constructive. You may think that just because your interview is tomorrow that there is nothing you can do today. Wrong!
Preparation is the key to any interview and lots of people don’t realise this. You wouldn’t go to pitch a new client without any preparation would you? Interviewing for a job is just the same.
Here are a few ideas for things you can do to not only prepare for the next day, but also to calm your nerves and allow yourself to be satisfied that you have done everything you can to be ready.
Do your homework!
Do you really want to ace the interview only to stumble when tested on your knowledge about the company? When there are several candidates for any given position, all equally qualified, which do you think will be hired? The one that shows a little company knowledge or the one that doesn’t?
Here are some great tips on what to look at before you go;
Check the company website. Long gone are the days that company information is held in a dusty archive somewhere – get on the Internet and check out their website. Get familiar with their products and services – their mission statement – their other vacancies even. These can all be great talking points at the interview and will get you some brownie points!
Check out company news. Try something like Google News to search for recent news items about the company – another good talking point for you.
Does the company have a Twitter account? Check it out, follow them if you have one of your own and have a read through their latest tweets. What have they been chatting about? Anything that you could discuss during your interview?
Who are their customers? It seems like such a simple thing, but if you take the time to break down their business into managable chunks you will usually find yourself with some great discussion points. And, it’s much better to turn up knowing this than have to spend the first 10 minutes having it explained to you.
Mentally prepare yourself
Now you are armed with a host of interesting facts and a wealth of background knowledge about your future employer, it’s time to motivate yourself for the interview. We all get nervous at times, so being prepared is a great way to calm your nerves – it takes your mind off things and the sense of accomplishment from researching your role and planning your interview tactics can be have a really great effect on your state of mind.
Here are a few tips to mentally prepare yourself;
Write down everything you have learned about the company. This will help you turn random facts into structured knowledge.
Use this to form a roadmap for the interview. This will cover the key points you want to discuss. Can you relate anything you’ve learned to your own experience? Remember, each interview question is your chance to shine and if you can do that AND display knowledge about your industry and company then all the better!
Prepare a list of questions to ask. Here’s some to start you off!
Now what?
Well, you’ve done your homework and you’ve prepared yourself for the interview – what next? Time to pay some attention to the mundane details – you don’t want to be super-prepared, only to miss the train to your interview, do you?
Get your clothes ready! Seems simple, but you don’t want to be panicking an hour before the interview because that shirt you were going to were has an unknown stain on it.
Get directions. Either take a wander to the place of your interview or check out something like Google Maps to plan your route.
Check bus and train times. There’s nothing worse than planning a 30 minute journey just for it to take an hour. And you don’t want to be late!
Have an early night! You can’t beat a good night’s sleep!
Good luck![b]
Lol Everytime I make an oral presentation to a class or something, although I am thorough with my research, I always seem to become uncontrollably nervous, so I use a podium (if there is one) to hide my shaking legs. :3 