How To Prepare For An Interview: An interview is usually a formal pre-arranged meeting between an employer and a prospective employee. An interview is usually organised to ascertain the qualification and credibility as well as capability of the prospective employee. This ultimately creates an impression that somebody is in need of a gainful employment and another party is in need of a service provider in this case an employee.
Interviews are quite crucial in the process of hiring the best hands for a particular task. Some relevant questions one might ask are; what is the need for interview? Why is interview one of the most preferred mode of hiring employees? Who conducts an interview? How long does an interview last? Who should be interviewed? And lastly, how do one adequately prepare for interviews?
These questions will be answered one after the other.
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The first, what is or are the needs for interviews? Interviews are very necessary as they are formal and age long method of ascertaining qualified candidates who are suitable for a particular employment position. The need and scarcity of employment brought about the need for a reliable and efficient way of getting qualified candidates to fit into certain vacant positions. Considering the increasing population of the world with some Countries contributing more to the rise, the need to provide human basic necessities like food, shelter and clothing seem to become even more challenging than it used to be. Economic crisis and political instability has equally contributed to the depreciating and debilitating nature of economies around the world.
It haven’t been better or any improvement recorded in recent time. Because people need to survive, no matter what, they set out to engage in meaningful employment opportunities and because the economic situation is a global phenomenon, the number of people seeking for employment seem to be on the increase. Graduates are been chunked out of the universities in mass every year and the labor market keep getting saturated.
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With less employment opportunities for the overwhelming number of job seekers, a means to sieve out the best had to be created and so came interview. So, interview helps to give every prospective applicant an opportunity to prove his or her worth by presenting a credible image of themselves. Interview also subjects the applicants to both oral and practical tests to determine their capabilities and prove right or wrong their ascertion of being qualified. It is always advised that an interview session be organized for prospective applicants before employment.
The next question would be; why interview is usually the most preferred system used by employers in hiring new employees. The fact is that, the aim or intention of every employer is to be able to explore necessary and viable means in ascertaining the most qualified candidates to hire. In doing so, certain factors may be considered. Time factor, efficiency, convenience and affordability tend to influence the choice of the employer on the modality to be adopted. Over the years, such screening exercise as interviews has been able to prove productive, fast, efficient and economic in getting the best candidates to employ. As a result of these, it has remained one of the most adopted means of screening applicants for gainful employment.
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On who conducts an interview, it is usually a designated staff in the firm that wants to hire that set up and conduct interview for all interested applicants. Trying to know how long an interview last? Well, in most cases, only the time of the interview that is usually disclosed to the applicants in which case they are expected to show up. It is believed that, there is always need to prepare for unforseen circumstances and that includes not specifying the exact duration an interview will last.
However, an interview should not be made to last for a long period of time since it is only a preliminary meeting and assessment process. It should be made to last for a reasonable time that provides enough opportunity for both parties to exchange the necessary information needed. Who should be interviewed? An interview should and is usually conducted for prospective applicants for a particular employment position and not the general public.
And lastly, how do one adequately prepare for interviews? Preparing for an interview is very necessary and important if one must stand a chance of getting employed. Necessary steps should be taken before hand in other to equip yourself with the right information and skill needed for such position and so, we will consider some of the very helpful ways to prepare for an interview.
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Top 13 Tips On How To Prepare For A Job Interview
1. Carry out a proper research on the company: As a prospective employee of a company, it is important that you carry out a proper research and background check of the company. You should be able to know basic things about the company. Things like the date of formation, management and guides in the company. Officers of the company should also be known to you.
This shows that you have enough interest in the company and you will love to be part of the team if you are eventually employed. Again, your interviewer may likely ask you questions about the company to ascertain your readiness to work with her. Where one displays zero knowledge on the workings or basic facts of the company, it goes a long way to prove that one is not ready to be part of the company. This may affect your chances of being selected.
2. Be well prepared on your expected job description: When applying for a job, you applied for a specific role. You should get yourself acquainted with the job description which you have applied for. Applying for a particular role means that you know what is expected of you. You therefore need to go the extra mile to ensure that you understand the nitty-gritty of your expected role so as to be able to answer questions on them.
Without mincing words, the job you applied for is the true test of your qualifications. If you cannot answer questions that are thrown to you on your job description, it goes to prove that you do not have the needed skill or expertise as portrayed in your Curriculum vitae or resume. Before going for any interview, do a proper research on your expected job role so as to be able to defend your qualifications.
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3. Find out the easiest routes to the venue: Interviews are usually scheduled to hold at a venue which sometimes are not the venue of the company conducting the interview. Again, even where the venue of the interview is that of the company, it is possible that you may not know the venue of the company as the application process for the job was done online.
It therefore behooves on you to carry out a proper research on the venue of the interview. Before the interview date, take out time to know the location of the venue, the easiest routes to the venue as well as the route which takes lesser time to reach putting into consideration extraneous factors that may cause delays.
This will enable you to be punctual on the date of the interview. Of course, you would not like to go through the stress of asking questions about the venue of a proposed job interview on the very day the interview is to take place. No employer will tolerate lateness from a prospective employee. Lateness is a turn off to any potential employer.
So, why not save yourself the stress of looking for a location on a day that is so important to you by undertaking such stress at an earlier date? The answer is left for you to determine.
4. Be Properly Dressed and Appear neat: “You are addressed the way you are dressed” is a popular statement often used when encouraging people to appear responsible. In attending an interview, your choice of clothes should be modest and moderate too. Your clothes should be clean, neat and well ironed. You should not dress to impress your interviewer rather you should dress to be presentable.
You should be smart in your appearance. Your appearance should be appealing. Do not look disheveled or hagard before your interviewer. Your clothing might be simple, yet sophisticated to get the attention of anyone. You may apply make up but not too heavy. Again, remember that you are not dressing to impress your interviewer.
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5. Conduct a mock interview: Before going for an interview, draw out a set of questions that may likely be asked and attempt answering them. Set up an imaginary panel and practice standing before them. Answer the questions which you have sent and evaluate yourself on your performance.
This will aid you in answering questions that are put forward. Again, you may go through past interviews of the company or organization to know the sort of questions that are usually asked during the process of their interviews.
6. Be confident: Interview candidates usually experience self doubt when going for an interview. Questions like, “am I qualified for the job?“, “will I be taken?“, and many others will go through the mind of such interviewee. This strikes fear into the mind of the interviewee and at the end of the interview process, he might come crashing like a pack of cards due to unfounded fears.
This notwithstanding, prospective employees should build on their self confidence by making proper research on things that are related to the interview he is attending. There is no gainsaying the fact that knowledge inspires confidence. When one has adequate knowledge of what he is going for, he will be bold enough to withstand any question arising therefrom.
The qualifications are yours. The Curriculum vitae was prepared by you. You wrote the application and you also know what you applied for. This alone should give you the confidence to defend whatever you have written. If at any point in time, there is a deviation from what is embedded in your Curriculum vitae, you should be confident enough to tell the interviewer that such deviation is not included in your description. Sometimes, a bold and confident employee might just be what they are looking for and not one who accepts a responsibilities out of fear only to get it flopped at the tail end of it.
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7. Be ready a day before the interview: While preparing for an interview, do well to get all your needed documents intact a day before the interview. This is to avoid a rush in arranging them on the day of the interview before leaving.
Get yourself prepared, keep your proposed outfit in good shape, well arranged and packed at a convenient spot. This shows that you are well prepared for the interview. It also aids in keeping your mind relaxed and at peace.
8. Eat and stay healthy: Your health is very important. Try as much as possible to eat good food and try to be in health on the day of your interview. Know your system and how your system reacts to certain kinds of foods. Do not eat meals that will make you frequent the restroom.
Check your state of health and ensure that you are okay. It will actually not be a nice sight that an employer gets to interview a prospective employee that is sick. Although, we do not have control over our health, we can at least try to be in good health.
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9. Be Courteous: When attending an interview, be courteous to any and every one you come across. Be respectful and approach everyone politely. The man you disrespected on your way to the venue might eventually turn out to be your interviewer. Your manners should be at its utmost best. You are most likely to be judged by your attitude the first day you meet your employer via the interview process. To this end, first impression matters a lot. Do well to be at your best behavior.
10. Do a follow-up after the interview: It is necessary that after an interview, you should do a little bit of follow up on the employer. This really shows that you are really interested in the work and did not attend the interview simply because you were invited for it. This shows that you are really serious about getting the job and your prospective employer might give you the chance to prove your zeal.
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11. Don’t entertain fear: Fear is one of the greatest challenge people face when they are about to take a very important step in their lives. The fear of failure can be very depressing and overwhelming. Fear can cause you to lose focus and derail from your set out goals so, always shun fear and be courageous.
12. Take Enough Rest: Rest is underrated. Most people do not know how much good a good rest could do for them. Taking a good rest before an interview will not be a waste if time at all, as a matter of fact, it will help your retention and keep you prepared for your interview.
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13. Pray: Prayer (for religious people) can be a booster to the morale of an applicant because, it gives you the spiritual energy and physical confidence to ace your interview.
Before we conclude, I would like you to quickly watch the YouTube video below for more interesting information on How To Ace an Interview. Trust me, you won’t regret watching.
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Conclusively, the interview process is not as difficult as it seems. People feel jittery and agitated when attending interviews. This should not be so. Interviewees should also be calm, calculated and collected during an interview process as this will enable them overcome the hurdles which come with the entire process of an interview.
Edeh Samuel Chukwuemeka, ACMC, is a lawyer and a certified mediator/conciliator in Nigeria. He is also a developer with knowledge in various programming languages. Samuel is determined to leverage his skills in technology, SEO, and legal practice to revolutionize the legal profession worldwide by creating web and mobile applications that simplify legal research. Sam is also passionate about educating and providing valuable information to people.