Prepare for a Successful Job Interview

Prepare for a Successful Job Interview

A job interview "can be a 60 percent fool-proof tool for making the hiring decision," says Yury Mikhailov, managing partner of city HR agency Consort Petersburg.

So, how do you prepare for such an important occasion?

Being positive, alert and lucid must start even before you enter the office. "The first thing that we notice about a candidate is ... the tone of the voice and the general oral impression over the phone," notes Mikhailov. "Sluggish responses, unclear speech, depressed tones are not the mark of proactive and dynamic individuals."

Before dialling the potential employer or arriving for the interview, try to put yourself in a good mood. A friend of mine, for example, always swore by pulling faces at yourself in the mirror. "It felt so ridiculous, but it guaranteed me a laugh, which totally calmed me down," he would explain. On the other hand, a more ordinary prep might be to listen to your favourite song, have your favourite breakfast, or take longer to prepare in the morning.

"Those to whom smiling comes more naturally you instinctively bracket as people with well-balanced lives, both professional and personal, good achievers and easy communicators," says Mikhailov.

Nearly all employers like to see initiative and problem-solving skills. It may seem trivial, but finding the interview from the address given over the phone, without asking at length for directions, shows you have at least the basic ability to seek information actively.

Furthermore, research the company. Nothing is more insulting to an employer than to see that they have paid an interest in you and your resume, yet you have little idea of who they are. In addition, when it comes to the legendary question, "Where do you see yourself in 2-5 years time?", good research will help you name a part of the business that you may like to enter. There is a huge difference between "I want to be a manager" and "I want to be a manager of sales and promotions".

Two questions you most likely will hear are: "Why should we hire you?" and "What are your weaknesses?" In short, the first asks for your positive sides, the second - negative. Without memorizing answers word for word, have a list of points of achievement, especially detailing how you managed to achieve what you did. When it comes to the negatives, however, be frank but constructive. "I am a weak speller but I always check my work with a dictionary" will sound much better than a veiled positive, such as, "Oh, you know, I work to much". So - working a lot is a weakness and you'd rather not work much at all?

Naturally, you cannot prepare for so-called 'unexpected' questions or tasks. The trick is to train your reactions. For example, something Mikhailov does during interviews at Consort is to ask candidates straight away to talk in English. "Once [candidates] recover from the shock of the request, they settle back naturally and I can be sure they would easily deal with any other stresses that abound in our working lives," he says.

Furthermore, thinking logically or creatively through a tough, unexpected question can be more important than giving the right answer: facts can be learned, thinking cannot.

Lastly, one thing about interviews that nearly all HRMs and employers stress: arrive early. The metro may have broken down, the traffic awful, the streets without a sign or number, yet these are excuses. The interviewer may well ask: "Why didn't you leave yourself with more time to get here?"