The First Interview

Now assuming that you are through to the next stage and you have an interview with your ideal recruitment consultancy, you will need to prepare no matter how informal they tell you the interview is. I am a great believer to be always “over prepared than under” because you will have more confidence when you go into the interview.

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.