Golden Tips for Interview Preparation

Getting ready for a job interview is something that everybody needs to do. Even if you’re a solopreneur, you’ll have some interviews with potential clients. So, learning how to behave in a job interview is part of the modern business culture.
You needs to focus on two main things when preparing for a job interview: presenting yourself in the best possible light and gathering data about the company in advance. In the next few paragraphs, you can read some essential tips that cover all these bases.

Ask Google About the Company

People sometimes apply for positions in companies that they don’t know too much about. We’ve all sent some job applications without any special research or planning. When we get an interview invitation from such a company, it’s necessary to ask Google some questions about this entity. We suggest that you cover the following points:

• Location and accessibility. If it’s too far away from you, you might not be able to commute there.
• Company website. You can learn a lot about a company from their website, such as the number of employees, teams, and owners. Also, you can check out the worth of their website. This figure will help you make some conclusions about that business.
•  Search social media. Find the company profiles on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram. Go through the posts to get the whole picture.
• Inquire about the interviewers. Many companies send their interviewees the interview details in advance. They usually provide the names of the interviewers in such emails. Find out more about those people on the company website and social networks.

Connect With the Interviewer(s)

Once you enter the room where the interview is going to take place, it’s advisable to take control of the situation. It’s not an easy task, given the tension that every interview provokes. Also, most people are familiar neither with the space in advance nor with their interviewers. As a result, they experience an even higher level of stress during the interview.

That’s why it would be great to get familiar with at least one aspect of this situation. What we have in mind here is connecting with your interviewers before the interview. The best way to do this is to connect via LinkedIn. Every relevant businessperson is on LinkedIn today. So, check your interview email, search for the interviewers, and connect with them on this network. For instance, you can leave comments on some of their posts, just to let them memorize your name. Also, you might find some information that will come in handy in the interview.

In addition to that, you can start following the company on both Facebook and LinkedIn. This will give you an insight into their previous posts, their company culture, and the general image they work on. All this input will help you prepare your persona for the interview.

While we should be sincere when it comes to our skills and education, we can adapt our personality to the company in advance. You can read more about getting into the right character in the informative guide prepared by the Harvard Business Review.

Improve Your Online Profiles

Job candidates need to know that their interviewers are preparing for every interview. Sometimes they spend even more time collecting valuable information about every candidate. The more responsible the position is, the more they need to inquire about every interviewee.

The first place where they will look for information about you is the Internet. To be more precise, they’ll check your online profiles, both private and professional ones. Every new employee is an investment for a company. That’s why they need to weigh all the pros and cons before hiring every new worker.

Therefore, update your LinkedIn, Upwork or any other profile with your latest projects. If necessary, replace the old photo with a new, more recent one. Also, add some new skills to your professional online profiles in case you’ve acquired any lately.

Some business professionals decide to launch their own blog where they share their experiences and talk about their professional projects. Others decide to create a website portfolio, where they place all their achievements and samples of their work. If you opt for any of these options, make sure that they’re well-organized and visually appealing units. As explained by the designers behind the web application development team from Houston, every business website needs to look both professional and attractive.

So, don’t leave your online places rough around the edges but make them neat because interviewers check these things.

Plan the Entire Interview Day

Every job interview brings a certain level of stress and anxiety. Even if you’re a true expert in your niche, the sole fact that several people are going to test your skills generates tension. The good news is that we can do some preparatory actions that will alleviate those potentially negative emotions.

For starters, choose your clothes for the interview two days in advance to have enough time to wash and iron every single item. Moreover, use Google Maps to calculate how much time you need to get to the company premises. Decide whether you’ll go there by car or some other means of transport. If you go by car, check out the parking lots in the vicinity of the company. You don’t want to be late for the interview because you weren’t able to find a parking space.

Also, prepare what you’re going to eat before the interview and have a cup of coffee or tea.
Finally, write down a list of questions you’re going to ask in the interview. On the one hand, you’ll look more serious in the eyes of the interviewers. On the other, you can actually get answers to these questions on the spot. Perhaps something you find out this way will make you turn down their offer.

Conclusion

The job interview is one of those experiences common for people across different cultures. In each of these contexts, the basic rules are the same. From the candidate’s point of view, it’s crucial to showcase his or her skills, qualifications, and special expertise. From the employer’s point of view, it’s important not to choose the applicant who won’t do their job properly.

Candidates need to be honest about their knowledge but they should also adapt their personal PR to the company in advance. What’s more, they should use their online profiles, websites, and blogs to impress the interviewers. They need to gather information about the company to be able to justify their application in the first place, as well.
Finally, it’s imperative to come to every job interview on time, properly dressed.

All these elements will increase your chances of getting the job.

BizEducator