Great you’ve been selected for interview - What's next?

Make sure you are prepared fo your interview by:

1 Reviewing the business you are interviewing with - do your research - see what community projects they get involved in or what their ESG focus is. Do your homework.

2 Review your CV and refresh your memory of your experience. Sounds obvious but it is amazing what you can suddenly forget and what you remember when you are interviewing, particularly if you have a long service record with a business, or have a long career history.

3. Spend some time preparing a number of questions and don’t repeat them at different stages, even if you are seeing different interviewers. Unless you are asking them for their opinion or viewpoint on what it is like to work for the business, or why they enjoy working there,

Show that you are interested in the role and by asking intelligent questions, you can come across enthusiastic and well prepared. Sometimes questions will pop up during the interview, but at other times the interviewer might cover any of the questions you had thought of. We recommend having a good three questions that you have thought of beforehand. Write yourself a note of the questions and run your eye over them before your interview, so they stay fresh in your memory.

LinkedIn etiquette

Don’t connect with the interviewer before you have met them and had an interview with them. Do spend some time reviewing their profile to understand a bit about their journey with the business you are interviewing for and their background.

Interviews can be nerve racking, but they shouldn’t be

Gone are the days of good cop bad cop, or at least it should be. Companies have woken up to the fact that interviews are now about them being interviewed and that it is as much the candidate’s opportunity to interview them and what the business and role is about than it was ever appreciated. Businesses are now focussed on getting the best out of their candidates in the interview process - if you want to put them under so much pressure and make the interview process a horrible experience, the chances are in a candidate driven market that you’ll get very few people that bother to turn up for the next stage interview or accept your role.

Remember that interviews are a two way process

Once you get your head around the fact that the interview is your opportunity to interview the prospective employer if you will, then interviews don’t seem to be as daunting. Interview skills are about coming across as calm and collected as you can, even if you really aren’t. The trick is to try and maintain a conversation style as you are being interviewed. Once you have had a couple of interviews which have been a conversation about your experience and what you bring to the role, as well as answered a few of their questions, then they should open up the floor up to you for questions. Wait until they ask and if they don’t, then politely ask if you can ask questions. However, take that as a bit of a warning sign if they don’t give you the opportunity to ask any questions.

If it helps, ask the recruiter if you may take notes

Interviews carried out face to face involve note taking by the interviewer. If you find it helps you to remember the key points of the interview, or more importantly if you find it helps with nerves (and you aren’t going to have your head buried in a notebook) ask permission to take notes during the interview. Some people find this helps them focus and gets them settled into the interview easier. With online interviews being part of the first few stages, you might find interviews a less nerve racking experience.

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