I also believe that if you even prepare a presentation, which is often required at a second I find that psychological you are more tuned up for the interview and more importantly other candidates will not have done the same, thereby giving you an edge.

Preparing for an interview these days is so simple because virtually all companies have a web presence, so there are no excuses for not knowing about the company you have the interview with.

It still surprises me that people still do not check the company website before they arrive. In fact companies will mark this against you.

When you prepare for the interview I believe it is worth putting together a small presentation folder specific for the role and the company, it always looks better than just turning up. Generally I buy a A folder with clear plastics sheets inside, where I can drop the cv in etc.

Below I have outlined the things that I would generally put in the folder:

* A Front page (Name, Location, Time of interview and Name of interviewer)
* The CV (only 3 pages here please!)
* Show proof of success such as pay slips, awards, letters of commendation etc (Proves your ability)
* Information on the company you have the interview with (Print out from web etc) NB this shows you have done your research. Also it is often worth printing out details of the company you worked for, I am sure you have heard “a picture paints a thousand words.”
* List of 5 questions for the company (Saves that embarrassment when they ask have you any questions)
* List of 5 reasons why you can do a job for them (This they do not need to see but will help you sell yourself)
* Print 3 copies so that when you can leave you can leave them one, which will go down well.

Spend some time on getting this and right and ensure you have some one read over it and don’t forget to check the Grammar and Spelling is up to scratch.

Although this may seem a lot of work putting a presentation together for the company, even-though it may not be necessary, it is worth the effort. It is also worth noting that once done it will only take short time to prepare for another and as in my case I have kept it throughout my career and added to as I gained more experience.

During the first interview you will need to watch out for the testing questions, such as what sports do you do? really they just want to know if you are a team player and if you are competitive.

The same goes for what you do in you spare time as they want to see how gregarious you are.

In all they want to see certain key attributes personality, hard working, tenacious happy to use the phone and sales ability. So each time they ask a question they are looking for confirmation of the above points.

Finally be confident from the first greeting with a firm dry hand shake with asking for the job at the end of the interview.

The reason probably is due to lack of experience, although some recruitment companies prefer that so they can mould you the way that the want but generally even if you are a graduate straight from university they will prefer you to have had some commercial experience.

So if you haven’t any experience then I suggest you start something straight away. The ideal background is sales as recruitment is fundamentally a sales job, but again it is even more difficult to get a typical sales job. So my advice is sell advertising or double glazing, it may not be the most prestigious sales job , but in the time it takes to find you ideal role you would have gained some valuable sales experience. It may seem hash and generally at this point the graduate runs away, but the most successful people have done some thing like this to kick start their career, because if you can do commission only you can do anything. In addition the training and experience you will gain will be put to good use later. If it still worries you just think of it as free sales training!

Hopefully by now you have some experience on your cv and enough to get that interview, but if not then the next option can sometimes work. Follow up the cv with a call to the manager and then sell yourself to him and don’t get of the phone until you have an interview. It is incredible how few people actually do this these days. I can guarantee they will try to put you of but do not take no for an answer i.e. “you do not have enough experience” is typical but over come it “I understand this but what I do have is a desire to work within your industry because….” etc

In the end you may get to the point were they will give you an interview just to get you of the phone, then the rest is up to you.

It is also worth noting that if you have experiene or you have a trade or studied certain subjects like Accountancy, then this can be a lever for some recruitment companies such as Accountancy recruitment companies, welding recruitment, nursing recruitment retail recruitment. the list goes on but I hope you get my drift.