Job interview tips
How to be successful in a job interview

These job interview tips will will boost your confidence and transform your approach to your next job interview so that you land that job!

What's the secret to success? It's the little things you do to when preparing for that job interview to hone your job interview skills.

So.....on this, and accompanying pages are a lot of little things you can work on so that you zap your next interview.

Do you fit the profile?

If you've done tons of interviews you're probably thinking I already know all this stuff! Perhaps you do, but are you fine tuning the right "little things" in your interview techniques?

These job interview tips will be especially helpful to you if:

• You haven't had a job interview in a long time, and you need to brush up on what's required.
• You've been having job interviews, but you haven't been successful so far in landing a job.
• Or, your first ever important job interview is coming up, you don't how to prepare, what job interview skills you might need, or even how to answer questions.

What job interview tips will you get here?

You'll find an extensive array of tips to assist you with your job interview preparation. We also want to help you to develop your job interview skills, so that you can perform professionally and confidently in the interview. For example, our tips cover things like:

Preparing for the interview

• Job interview preparation - what and how to prepare for that important job interview
• Job interview skills - what are the skills you need to develop?
• An overview of the job interview process - for example, first and second interviews and what to expect in them.
• Preparing answers to common job interview questions that you'll be asked - here's the first 5 of the top 10 common job interview questions and answers
• Here are questions 6-10, and answers of the top 10 interview questions
• Interview questions to ask - what questions should you ask the interviewer?

During the interview

• You may be having a behavioral interview - don't know what this is? Then check out these behavioral interview tips
• Behavioral interview questions - what are they, and how to answer them?
• Management interview questions - if you're going for a management position
• Illegal interview questions - what questions can't employers ask, and how to deal with them
• Answering interview questions - practical tips that will improve your communication skills in an interview

Preparing for other types of interview

• Phone interview tips - how perform successfully in a phone interview
• Panel interview tips - what special things do you need to do during this type of interview?

After the interview - following up

• An interview thank you letter - is this a good idea?

Job interview tips
Where to begin your preparation

In many recruitment situations the employment or job interview is a highly structured process.

This means that the employer, or recruiter doing the interview also spends time preparing for an interview.

In a well planned interview nothing happens by accident!

For example, employers and recruiters preparing for a job interview will consider questions like:

• Who will do the interviewing
• How many people will be interviewed
• How many rounds of interview will be conducted - an initial interview, a second interview for short listed candidates and so on
• What questions will be asked
• What system will be used to rank, or score, each person who is interviewed so candidates can be compared
• What criteria will be used to develop a candidates short list
• Etc

Now the good news is - you don't really need to know about this sort of stuff.

But what you DO need to know about how a well structured and planned interview is....... what lines of questioning can you expect to occur during the interview.

If you know this, it can at least guide the way you carry out your job interview preparation.

Interview structure

A well constructed interview will typically explore 3 areas:

1. Your skills, knowledge, and qualifications - it helps answer the question "Does this person have the right skills and knowledge for the job?"
2. Your overall motivation and attitude - this line of enquiry explores things like.....why has this person applied for the job, why are they working in this profession or occupation, what are they looking for in a job?
3. Are you a good "fit" with us - basically it's about - are you a likely to fit in with the way we work, and can we work with you?

Job interview tips
Developing your job interview skills

If you aren't particularly confident about your ability to perform well in a job interview, take heart.

Yes, there are definite skills associated with being a successful interview candidate. But the good news for you is that skills can be learned, practiced and honed.

Don't believe me? Well think back to when you first started working. Can you recall all the things that you didn't know, or couldn't do because you hadn't been shown how?

Jump forward to today. How many things are you able to do extremely well today, that you couldn't do back then?

How do you improve your job interview skills? Easy:

• Take the time to discover what skills you need to learn - for example.....what to do when answering interview questions.
• Do some assessment about how well, and confidently you are able to perform these skills - which ones are you already good at doing? Which ones need some work?
• Practice what you do well, and practice to improve the skills where improvement is needed.

Go to this page which covers job interview skills in detail

Job interview tips - Summary

There are many, many things you can do to improve your performance in a job interview.

The job interview tips on this page have been included to get you thinking about what you might need to do to enhance your skill in being interviewed so that you actually get the job!

Preparing for a job interview is obviously the key to your success.

As a first step in helping you to prepare, we've given you an overview of how employers typically will structure a job interview

Know this already, and confident in how to prepare? Well.....maybe you can spend your time developing your skills in other areas that relate to being successful in job interviews.

Follow the various links on this page to go to in-depth job interview tips in those areas where you think you most need to develop.

Here's something else I highly recommend that you take a look at......it's the Ultimate Guide to Job Interview Answers. This terrific guide will help you to position yourself as the best candidate for the role.