It is natural for a fresher to experience nervousness before giving his first interview. Aspirants are usually conflicted between the emotion of excitement and the fear of rejection. In this state, it is essential to prepare yourself from before to do your best!
Here are 10 tips you can apply before giving your job interview to be confident and ace it!
1. Dress to Impress
‘The first impression is the last impression.’ This saying goes a long way as the way you dress and carry yourself will communicate a lot about you to the interviewer. For example, an ironed shirt, polished shoes and a pressed tie say a lot about your personality at the first glance.
2. Positive Non-Verbal Communication
We generally assume that only what we say matters; therefore, saying the right things will get us the right opportunities. However, this is not entirely true. According to the world’s leading body language expert, Joe Navarro, around 80% of your interaction is non-verbal, implying that your actions say a lot about you before you communicate verbally. Thus, actions such as maintaining eye contact, a confident handshake, and expressive hand actions during conversations will make you a strong candidate.
3. Be on time
To be disciplined is the primary requirement for any job or business. For example, being late to a job interview makes the candidate look unprofessional and can decline your chances of getting the job. Regardless of how amazing your interview goes, interviewers regard punctuality at the top of their list.
Preparing your resume/papers the night before, leaving early instead of finding the location at the last moment, forgetting to charge your phone from before, and many such problems must be dealt with hours before the interview.
4. Prepare and label all your documents
Every job interview requires you to carry documents such as your resume, CV and mark sheets.
Having several copies of your documents and labelling them in a particular folder is efficient to ensure that you always find them when required.
Apart from all the required documents, Letters of Recommendation from your professors, teachers or previous internships display your experience and Increase the chances of getting the job.
5. Practice some basic interview questions
Use YouTube, websites, and other channels to learn what your interviewer might ask you.
Once you rehearse and know what questions you might be asked, you will be more confident and clear rather than confused. ‘It is not only about what you say but also about how you say it’, Preparing before gives you the practice of answering fluently and avoids nervousness during the interview.
6. Know about the company
It is never ideal to go to an interview without knowing the company’s vision, work, and achievements. However well you speak and dress, if the basic knowledge about how the company works is not in your understanding, it can decide the fate of the rest of your interview. A candidate should know the company’s products, competition, and future goals. It shows the interviewer how strong he desires to join the company and how proficient and well researched he is.
7. Communicate effectively
Effective and crisp Communication is the secret sauce to building a great relationship. But unfortunately, the wide spoken myth is that ‘Communication is only about speaking.’
Not quite so, Communication is about listening to the person and pondering over what is being said to you.
Keeping your answers to the point rather than over-extensive and monotonous is an obvious plus point. However, candidates miss another major drawback when communicating: retaliating with a question. When a candidate poses a question, it tells the interviewer how much attention he is paying to him; this is one of the few tricks to impress the interviewer.
8. Have a healthy social media presence
Ever since technology has entered our lives, knowing about someone through the internet and social media applications has become easy. Several recruiters perform a background check on the candidate to view his life beyond work. Depending on what they see, they build a good or bad perception of the individual, so having a positive social media presence is vital.
9. Ask the right questions
Commonly at the end of the interview, the interviewer asks the candidate if they have a question to ask them. This is a golden opportunity for the candidate to display his interest and highlight his skills by asking intelligent questions. Questions such as:
- What does a typical day in your office/workspace look like?
- What are the changes that the company has been through over the past few years?
- How can the company help me grow and provide professional opportunities?
- Can the company aid me in upskilling myself?
10. Always follow up
After the interview, different companies have different timelines to declare the result to the candidate. The reason candidates should follow up is to ensure that their name is in minds of the company and its panel. One of the most impressive ways to follow up is by sending a letter of appreciation to the company after the interview.
Being a fresher, a candidate might not have vast working experience, and neither do interviewers look for that element. Instead, the interviewers look at the candidate’s potential and how well they would fit in with the company’s culture and vision.
These tips will make the candidate more aware of preparing for the interview and make a substantial impact on the interviewer.
