Preparing for interview

Tips to help you perform well at interview

1. Find out about the employer. Look at the company website. Study the About Us section or any mission statements. Make sure you know what products and services they offer. Read the company’s annual report if one is available.
    
2. Has the company been in the news?
    
3. Follow your chosen company on social media (Facebook, Google+ and Twitter). Like or follow the company to get updates.
    
4. You may want to avoid mentioning any negative news stories unless it is such a big story that to avoid it would suggest you haven’t done any research. You can turn this on its head by commenting positively on how they responded to the challenge of the bad news.

5. Read the job description and know your CV or job application inside out.

6. Prepare answers to sample interview questions. Prepare questions to ask the employer
    
7. What are you going to wear? Dress appropriately.

8. Check the location and time of your interview. Plan your route in advance and leave plenty of time to get there.

Useful links

Psychometric Tests Free aptitude guides and verbal and numeracy ability test questions.

Practice Reasoning Sitting a test as part of your job interview? Take a look at Practice Reasoning’s website to learn how to pass any reasoning test. The website provides tips, training and free practice tests covering numerical, verbal, SHL, inductive, diagrammatic, logical, psychometric and aptitude testing.

My World of Work Different types of interviews, interview preparation, a tutorial on researching your employer and more…

National Careers Service​  Interview do’s and don’ts, sample questions and a pre-interview checklist

Monster Interview preparation to post interview follow-up.

The Guardian  Articles and videos. Titles include “How to master body language in an interview” and “How to use the STAR technique (video)”.

The Guardian Dress to impress: what to wear for a job interview

Prospects  Website aimed at students and graduates. Interview tests and more…

Jobs.ac.uk Interview tips section includes “Top Tips for Answering Competency Questions” and “10 Top Tips for Interview Presentations”.

Glassdoor Includes articles on “How to Explain Your Flaws during a Job Interview” and “How to Avoid Interview Blunders”.

Digitital.com The 8 Most Difficult Interview Questions – And How To Answer Them

allaboutwork The ‘Interview Tips’ section covers everything you need to know to prepare – what to wear, dealing with nerves, different types of interview, interview questions etc.