Ace your Interview with these simple tips

Getting called up for interview is the goal of every job seeker who submits CV for a job in any company or organization. However, so many job seekers have lost their chances of getting jobs in Nigeria from the numerous interviews they have attended because they keep making the same mistakes over and over again.

In fact, young people no longer consider interviews as a serious business especially when they are applying to an organization seeking IT jobs in Nigeria and this has proven to be a wrong notion as they consistently lose these opportunities to negligence.

These simple tips if followed will help you to avoid common mistakes in your interview process and also project you as the best candidate for the job or role. How you appear, comport yourself and make your presentations or speeches will go a long way in having a good lasting impression on your interviewer and these tips will help you achieve just that.

1. Research about the company
2. Practice likely interview questions
3. Rehearse question that you will ask
4. Dress Well
5. Make use of non-verbal communication to drive home your points
6. Go with an extra copy of your CV
7. Have evidences of what you have stated in your CV
8. Politely request for the email address of your interviewer(s) as it will come handy after the interview
9. Ask when you are to get a response
10. Send a thank you note
11. Do follow up

RESEARCH ABOUT THE COMPANY

As a job seeker, sending your CV for a job opening in an organization shows that you are interested in the organization, even if it’s not a big role you will want to attend your interview to weigh your chances if you are just testing the waters, how much more if you want to get the job, you have to go all out in knowing what the organization is about; What do they do? What are their goals? What is their vision? What is their mission? What are their values? How do they resonate with you? How would your skills and competence help them achieve their goals? What are their policies and ideologies?

All these you need to know about the organization you’ve been called for an interview. These will also help you align your responses to suit them.

PRACTICE LIKELY INTERVIEW QUESTION

The internet has made things easy for job seekers; you can now simply go online and read up on a thousand and one interview questions and how to answer them. So, you should be equipped with all of these before heading on for an interview. As a job seeker you must know how to answer the interview question tell me about yourself, this is one of the common likely interview question. Another likely interview question is, why do you want to work here? So, you should practice how to answer these questions amongst others.

PRACTICE QUESTIONS THAT YOU WILL ASK

Interviewers now give job seekers a chance to ask their own questions and have them answered; one of the ways in which interviews have become a two-way communication, but you can blow your chances away if you do not maximize this chance efficiently and the only way you can is by practicing the right questions you should ask in an interview.

One of the top five best interview questions to ask as a job seeker is what are the challenges a person is likely to face in this role? This question portrays you as someone who is interested in the job and is willing to prepare and face head on any challenge he is likely to come across in the course of carrying out his duties.

DRESS WELL

The saying “the way you dress is the way you will be addressed” is not an over statement, dressing well and looking good for an interview is one of the strategies that have helped job seekers hugely impress their recruiters.

Meanwhile, you have to be cautious of the colours, style and mode of your dressing, of course dressing corporately is the ideal dressing style for an interview, mix your colours properly, do not wear loud and flashy colours, avoid branded shirts.

As a lady be moderate in your make up and shoes. For the guys, a well polished shoe and neatly ironed shirt; all these influences the recruiter’s judgement of you.

Although, we are in the era when interviews now hold online especially for online jobs, this still doesn’t override the importance of dressing officially, it shows that you take the process seriously and also puts you in the aura of readiness.

MAKE USE OF NON-VERBAL COMMUNICATION TO DRIVE HOME YOUR POINT

During Interview, do not sound like a robot or like you have rehearsed your responses and reeling it out, communicate with your interviewer like a human that you are and one of the ways in which you can do this is non-verbal communication. Use your hands to make gestures for emphasis sake, it also helps your interviewer relate better with you and understand the point you’re making.

However, you have to be careful not to overdo it, do not become too comfortable that you lose the professionalism of the setting and be constantly mindful of what you are there for while speaking.

GO WITH AN EXTRA COPY OF YOUR CV

It is a hilarious act for a job seeker not to go along with copies of his CV to an interview, indeed, the world has gone digital and you even submitted a copy of your professionally written CV via email; however, this doesn’t stop the fact that you have to go to the interview venue with copies of your CV.

This is because there are chances that one if not more of your interviewer do not have a copy or have not gone through your CV at all and would require a look at your CV before going ahead with the interview, simply providing them with one shows how prepared and interested you are in the job.

HAVE EVIDENCES OF CLAIMS IN YOUR CV

Go along with copies of your certificates, awards, and other documents that will serve as evidence of what you have stated out to have or possess on your CV. This will further strengthen the trust and reliability in you by the interviewers.

POLITELY REQUEST FOR EMAIL ADDRESS OF YOUR INTERVIEWER

Having the email address of your interviewer will afford you the chance to send a thank you note after the interview and also let you connect with the interviewer much better. Be mindful of how you make this request so you do not appear as wanting to get too personal.

REQUEST TO KNOW WHEN YOU SHOULD EXPECT A RESPONSE

Gone are the days when all an interviewee takes home after an interview is “we will get back to you”, job seekers are now urged to ask when a response should be expected to avoid unnecessary wait and anxiety.

Knowing the timeline for response; positive or negative will also help you to do your follow-up at the right time.

After the interview, you do not go home and wait for a response, even if the response you get from the interviewer is the usual “we will get back to you”, you should rather:

1. Send a thank you note stating how grateful you are for the opportunity and further reiterate the skills you are bringing to the table and why you’re the best person for the role.
2. Do follow up: Follow up politely with the major contact you got from the interview or the contact you’ve been communicating with all the while to know where you stand. Follow up should be done within 5 to 7 days post Interview.

By Deborah Yusuf