Job interviews can be so completely nerve wrecking and it’s so difficult to not allow your nerves and worries to overcome you. I personally hate job interviews, I find them so uncomfortable and awkward and as though I’m being put on the spot and even though I know what I want to say, my mouth and my brain are on completely different wavelengths.
Over the past few weeks, I’ve been on a fair few job interviews and the majority of them where very succsessful, I was invited back for 3 out of 4 second interviews and then later accepted a job for a company that I’m SO excited to be apart of, so clearly, I must have been doing something right?
I very often receive messages from people on Instagram, asking me about what working in Marketing & Social Media is like as well as people asking me for tips during their interviews. Although I’m no expert and I can’t garuntee that these tips might work for you, however, I think if I can spread just a little bit of knowledge to have you feeling more confident and collected when you walk into your interview, then that’s all that matters to me
Before You Apply…
Before you go ahead and apply for the job you want, you want to make sure that your application stands out from the rest and ensure that you really make a lasting impression. Your CV & Cover letter should represent what you’re about and be concise and straight to the point so your potential employer can learn everything possible in small snippets. You want to give them all the information they need so that all that’s left is to meet you!
Be Creative With Your CV
Most of the job roles I apply for have a creative element to them, therefore, I like to make my CV design creative to represent that creativity is something that I have no problem with. Rather than using the usual Microsoft Word for your CV, consider creating it on a website called Canva, this website is basically an online, easy to use photoshop, they have a ton of pre-existing resume designs so that all you need to do is add your creative flare and you’re done. It’s also just so much easier to use than a word document, no fiddling around with sections to try and make everything fit in, you can also upload your own fonts and make your CV stand out even more.
Make Sure Everything is Up-to-date
This one sounds obvious, however, there’s been so many times that I’ve went to upload my CV and realised that it’s an old CV and my updated work history is not on there, so, let this be your reminder to double check that everything is up-to-date. Especially phone numbers and email address, as the last thing you want is an employer attempting to get in contact with you but having an old email address or phone number.
Bullet Points
So many times I see CV’s that are literally novels. Everything is really over-explained and everything is sort of like an essay where you’re attempting to fill up the word count. A CV is not an essay or a cover letter. As long as you’ve got the sections and information that is relevant to your job role on there, you don’t need to go into too much detail, that’s where your cover letter comes in.
Always Include a Cover Letter
Cover letters are a God-sent. This is your chance to showcase everything you’ve done that can be related to your potential job role and also your opportunity to go into detail regarding your previous work experience and your skills and achievements which could impress your employer. If a job your applying for doesn’t have an option to submit a cover letter, then simply pop a few key features into the email that you send, just to further any of your chances.
5 Tips To Boss Your Job Interview.
1. Do Your Research
9 times out of 10, your interviewer will ask you what you know about the company you’ve applied for. There’s honestly nothing more embarrassing than only knowing really basic stuff. Look further than their ‘About’ page on their website, look at any recent news articles, or even their LinkedIn page, so that you can see what the company has been up to recently, what they’re working on and even how far they’ve come from when the business started. This information will obviously impress in your interview, however, it’s also really nice to know for your own sake.
2. The Introduction
Making a good first impression is so important. For interviews, I at least try and be 15 minutes early. This gives you time to know where you need to go and also shows that you’re a punctual person. When you’re full of nerves and worry, it can be really difficult to shake them off and make a good instant impression, however, I personally go for the Swan approach. I look cool, calm and collected to anyone who’s looking at me, however, below water I’m frantically panicking. Being nervous is normal, it’s okay to be nervous! The best thing to do when you introduce yourself is to smile, tell them your name (even if they know it) shake their hand and ask for their name and if you’re feeling confident ask how they are and make some general small talk, even if it’s about the weather!
3. Eye Contact
When you’re nervous, eye contact can be hard, all you want to do is look at your feet or anywhere else in the room that is an actual human being – We’ve all been there. However, eye contact is so important during an interview, you want to be interested and engaged in the conversation. Plus, eye contact can help you to gather whether or not the person likes you and what they think about your answers. Occasionally, you’ll be interviewed by more than one person, this happened to me recently and I had no clue who to look at, so I just tried to make my eye contact with each person as even and natural as possible. After a while, it will come naturally, as your confidence builds as you move further into the interview.
4. Don’t Rehearse Anything Too Much
Rehearsing certain things that you want to say could be handy to some people, however, for me I tend to stutter, trip over my words and sound a little robotic. Therefore, I prefer to bullet point anything I want to say in particular or write down any questions I may have, just so I don’t forget anything, but I’ve also not rehearsed anything word by word. At the end of the day, you don’t even know what kind of questions they’re going to ask, so just bring your A-game and be yourself and answer the questions as honestly and as confidently as you can.
5. Speak With Passion
The most important thing is to just speak from the heart. The jobs I apply for are usually jobs that I know I’d be proud of having. If you’re not at an interview for somewhere that you don’t feel passionate about, it’s likely you’re not going to come across that way either. If you speak with passion for your potential job, that can only come across in a positive way, right? Be yourself and just take it all in really. Even if you don’t get the job, then just know that you’ve put everything you could into it, and everything happens for a reason, so don’t beat yourself too much or let your passion be dimmed.
I hope 2019 brings you your dream job and happiness in your career, just like it has done for me so far! Good luck!
Until next time x
