You got that interview! What do you do? What do you wear? How do you function when you arrive to their offices? When do you arrive to their offices? You probably have thousands of questions rushing through your nervous mind on what you should do. Don’t fret! Take a big deep breath, relax, and follow these Job interview techniques:
How to Dress for a Job Interview
It’s better to be over-dressed than under-dressed. Oh man, I can’t stress this one enough. If you applied to an office that has an unknown dress code (ex. small businesses, retail, marketing agencies, software companies, etc etc), assume they expect you to walk in at least in professional attire (no jeans and sneakers!). Think church clothes if you need to. You may walk in and see everyone in t-shirts, shorts, and sandals, and you feel strange in a dress or a suit and tie, but it’s OK! Recruiters understand the assumption of coming well dressed to an interview. Now imagine you walked in with jeans and sneakers and everyone else looked like they worked at a law firm. Awful first impression I might say…
Job Interview Practice makes things closer to perfect
Being on this site is already the first step in practicing for a job interview. Don’t just try to ‘wing it’. You can only ‘wing it’ if you’re a genius or very lucky. Read up on the industry you’re applying for, learn what the position actually is and most importantly, read all you can about the company! Don’t just read good job interview techniques, have a friend practice with you. Have mock interviews, go pick out clothes before hand, the more often you do it, and receive feedback, the better you’ll be come that fateful day.
Be Punctual to your job interview
Don’t arrive 30 minutes early. Not only will you look desperate, you send a message that you disrespect the recruiters schedule. If you’re supposed to have an interview at 2pm, get there at 1:50pm. That gives you enough time to make your presence known and give you a little buffer in case you forgot something in your car or need to make a quick phone call. Whatever you do, don’t get there late. Some businesses will not accept interviewees a few minutes after their schedule time. If you do have the success of arriving late yet still have the opportunity for a job interview, apologize for your tardiness but don’t linger on the subject.
Give yourself time to rest beforehand
Have a relaxing day before your interview. You’ll be stressed out, even if you say you’re not right now, once you arrive at the office, you’ll feel that sick feeling of dread. You need to be relaxed! Don’t smoke before you go in (the stench ain’t nice), and don’t drink a full bottle of scotch to ease your woes. Simple have a chill few hours beforehand. Remember, it’s just a job interview, if you’re right for the job, you’re right, if not, keep looking.
A job interview is not just about the employer
Now this may just be my personal opinion, but don’t think of a job interview as a process where it’s all in their court and the employer will be helping you out in giving you a job. A job is a business agreement between an employer and an employee. They pay for your skill, in return, you spend most of your day at their office making them money. There’s no reason to feel intimidated by job interviews. Think of it as a business meeting. If it doesn’t work, then something else will come up. You’re meeting their recruiters to let them know what services you can provide, not to convince them to please pay you money! Go in with confidence, you’re a person, not just a number!
Take these brief job interview techniques as a way to help you prepare for job interviews. Buy some books, read up on other techniques, specific interview questions, and other things you should know in order to do the best you can at your next job interview.