Get the edge over the other applicants with these 5 simple tips. These tips are:



1. Turn up on time

Nothing says ‘I don’t care’ as much as turning up to an interview late. Don’t do it. Plan to get to your interview well before it begins.

Head over to the nearest cafe or sit in your car if you’re extra early. Drop into the bathroom to check your hair, makeup, and outfit after your trip. And get to reception 5-10 minutes early in case you need to sign in.

A little known secret: It always pays to be super charming to the receptionist. Ask one to find out why ;)

2. Dress to impress

You may be a tradie, a CEO, or a personal trainer. Whatever your role, it’s safest to dress up for an interview. Wear a suit.

You usually won’t know the interviewer. Research by Princeton University has found that people judge another person in the first 10th of a second when meeting them (https://psych.princeton.edu/psychology/research/todorov/pdf/Willis&Todorov-PsychScience.pdf).

Make every second count.

3. Have your examples ready

Many interviews are based on behavioural skills and technical skills. This means you will be asked to describe what you did in a real-life situation. For instance, ‘tell us an example of a time you provided exceptional customer service’. Or ‘a time you solved a difficult problem’. ‘Disagreed with a team member’.

Look at the skills mentioned in the job description. Create a list of examples that show how you gained those skills. Write your answers down and practice them. The STAR method is a simple way to structure your answers to explain the Situation, Task, Action, and Result.

Preparing your examples is like preparing for a presentation. You’ll still be nervous. But you’ll know your stuff. And are more likely to give a better interview.

4. Do your research

There’s nothing worse than interviewing someone who doesn’t know anything about the organisation they’re applying for. How can you genuinely want to work there if you don’t know anything about them? It will show pretty quickly.

But if you landed the interview, chances are you did your research. A few ways to prep for your big day:

• Look over your application
• Dig a little more on their website’s About page
• Look at their social media channels
• Check out their customer reviews
• Learn about their competition
• Make a few calls to people you know who work there – or ask for a referral.

Find out what systems they use, their work culture, or problems in the organisation. Tell them in the interview how you can help. Help them see how you could fit in. Make it easy for them to see you working with them.

5. Follow up

So you’ve spent all that time with your job application, and landed an interview. Why don’t they have the common decency to call back to let you know whether you got the job. Or not.

Recruiters see hundreds of resumes, tens of interviews, and don’t call everyone back all the time. You may wonder why... But there’s no reason why you can’t follow up after your interview. Send the recruiter an email. Make a phone call. Snail mail a thank you card – check out these 20 job interview thank you note tips by Business News Daily.

If you’re in the running for the job, it’s the little things that can make all the difference.

People naturally do things for people they like.

And that includes giving them jobs.