On your mark! The time has come! All of your hard work has paid off. You took time out to 'Get with the Plan', look in to why 'It's all about me' and overcame 'Feeling Vacant'. You made sure that in order to 'Get yourself noticed' you needed to 'Apply Yourself'. Here you are, reading a letter that says you HAVE AN INTERVIEW! After the initial screaming and excitement you sit yourself down and probably start to feel a creeping panic! Where do I go, who will be interviewing me, what should I wear and is this likely to be a very scary experience?

Writing the script!

• Like any good production you need lots of preparation. This will reduce the chances of you walking in to the room, standing silent with your mouth open like a goldfish in shock! You need to think about the following:-
  
  
• Read the interview invitation letter again after you've calmed down; make sure you clearly understand the instructions. Where is the interview being held, on which date and at what time? Do they ask you to bring anything with you, such as certificates or identification?
  
  
• Check out the organisation (and I don't mean stake out the building 24 hours a day with a tub of doughnuts!). Try and get hold of their leaflets, or ask someone who knows about the company. You may get asked what you know about the company your have applied to.
  
  
• Think about your journey to the interview, plan your time and think about transport, directions and stress levels. In other words, don't risk being delayed on a train, don't ask for directions when you're 10 minutes late for the interview and do everything you can to avoid being seen running through town pulling your hair out! Preparation will leave you feeling calmer when you are sat waiting to go in to the interview!
  
  
• Think about what you are going to wear. Be smart but comfortable, you might have to wait around if they are running late. At the very least, make sure you have a clean, ironed, neat and tidy appearance.
  
  
• Write a list of questions that you think they might ask you, or look for sample questions in books from your careers library. Try and have a practice interview. Perhaps your tutor or Connexions Adviser can help you?
  

3-2-1 Action

When you arrive for your interview remember that you could already have people watching you. So it is advisable to avoid chatting up the receptionist, singing along to your personal stereo at the top of your voice or telling rude jokes on your mobile whilst walking through the office to your interview. It doesn't mean you have to be dull! Be polite, cheerful and professional!

During the interview, try and remember to sit up straight and stay focused on the questions coming your way. Keep positive. If you are asked something like 'What are your strengths and weaknesses?' don't answer with a huge list of everything you've failed since the age of 2! Say something like 'Well, I try not to see weaknesses, but more opportunities to develop myself'. This way you've stayed positive without sounding like you're unrealistically perfect….or arrogant!

Don't get stressed about a difficult question. If you don't understand, ask them to repeat the question or to explain. The best advice is to LISTEN carefully!

That's a wrap!

After the interview, take a deep breath and leave the building in the same professional way you came in. Try and make some notes about how you felt about the interview as you can often forget a couple of hours later. Particularly try and think about areas where you feel you could improve. Once you've done all of this, go and treat yourself; you have worked hard and you deserve it!

Don't forget to check out this website for other articles about job seeking and ask your Connexions Adviser for help. It's like everything else, the better prepared you are, the better the results will be!

At school or college? Look out for Jennie's future articles which we'll have here for the first Monday of each month, and which we'll link to the best sites we can find on the Web. Why not bookmark us now?

To get back to this page to use the links on it - enter http://www.careers-gateway.co.uk/mainpage.htm and click on Magazine then You're under the spotlight

Copyright © Careersoft 2003 - First published June 2003.