7 Interview Tips to Help Ease Your Stress

Even though the economy is still struggling, companies across the country are still using recruitment agencies to help fill job openings.  At the least, that means there are jobs available and people are applying to and interviewing for these open jobs.  That’s the good news.  The bad news is that job interviews are still stressful. 

The job interview tips below should help alleviate some of that stress. These are tips that we have used for years to help our candidates prepare for a job interview and ultimately get the job.  It is perfectly natural to be stressed about an upcoming job interview but if you arm yourself with information you should be able to get through it fine.  With that said, you have to dig down and remain confident that you are the right person for the job.  Trust me, confidence shows, and is welcomed, as long as it doesn’t creep into arrogance.   Now that we got that out of the way, let’s get started… 

• Do some research on the potential employer. Once you are scheduled for a job interview the first thing you should do, when you have time, is learn about the organization if you haven’t already. Go to their website and do the research needed to understand who they are, what they do, what they sell and everything else you can find out about them.  This is also the time you can come up with 2-3 questions to ask the interviewer when given the chance.  Think of big picture questions though, don’t ask about benefits or vacation time. 
• Make sure you study. Refresh your memory on your own work history.  Study your resume, think of examples of your job experience that you can call on during your job interview.  Feel comfortable with reciting where you worked, when you worked there, what you did and why you left.  If you have any significant gaps between jobs make sure you know why that is as well.
• Don’t forget to groom yourself. Go get a fresh haircut within a couple of days of your interview.   Get your suit/business attire pressed at the dry cleaner if possible.  Clean your shoes and make sure they look nice or buy a new pair.  If you have facial hair make sure you have that trimmed up nicely.  First impressions are extremely important so you should look your very best.
• Get to the job interview early. You are freshly groomed with a world of knowledge about your own background and the company that you are interviewing with.  Now make sure you get to the interview no less than 15 minutes early.  As I said before, first impressions are extremely important but that doesn’t mean only looking good.  That means being punctual as well.  If possible, take a ride to the job interview location, a couple of days prior to the job interview, around the same time that the job interview would take place.  This will give you an idea of how long it should take you to get there when including traffic and construction.
• Smile and be engaging with the interviewer. Look them in the eye when you are talking.  Do the same when they are talking and affirm you are listening by nodding when it is appropriate.  When asked about relevant experience to the position, tell them which company, position and specific duties you were responsible for and how it relates to the question you are asked.  Talk about what you did and not so much about what your team did.  At some point you will be given an opportunity to ask them questions so make sure you have a couple questions prepared from your research on the company.
• Ask for the job. If you feel everything went well and you want the job, go ahead and ask for it.  Ask them what the next steps are or how you rank compared to other applicants.  Companies like people who want to work for them so if you want the job, make sure they know it.  Just don’t sound desperate.  As you are leaving the job interview, make sure you get some sort of contact information if you don’t already have it, preferably an email address. 
• Write a thank you letter after your job interview. When you get home take some time to think about your job interview and what happened during it.  Were there a few skills they honed in on that would seem important to the success of a person in this role?  Write a thank you letter thanking them for their time, reaffirming your skills that are necessary to be successful and leaving any contact information for them to call or email you for the next step.  Make sure you spell check it and email it if you have the email address.  If not, you can either drop it off or send it via regular mail but the preference these days is email. 

Hopefully that will be all you need to land the job.  Of course, there may be multiple job interviews or job interviews with multiple people.  But the core information you need to be successful is listed above, regardless of the interview process.  Like I said, a job interview is stressful but a lot of times that comes from the unknown.  Maybe after you have prepared yourself you will feel there is less unknowns, therefore less stress.  Good luck and happy interviewing…

About ARC Group© 

ARC Group©, the parent company of Recruitment Intelligence™, has been an industry front runner over the past 30 years in the fulltime, contract and temp-to-hire staffing and consulting markets.  Acknowledged to the South Florida, Jacksonville and Minnesota’s Business Journal’s collection of “Top 25 Executive Search & Consulting Firms” we have a national presence, and service sites throughout the US, including Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Palm Beach, Jacksonville, Minnesota, Chicago and Washington. Get more information at www.ARCGonline.com