Interviewing for your new job can be a nerve-wracking experience, you have a limited amount of time to get across what makes you the best person for the job.

Luckily, there are a number of ways that you can effectively prepare yourself to ensure that you land your dream job.

1. Focus on Strengths

The interviewer wants to know how you can impact their business and what qualities and traits will your bring to the business that you are interviewing for. Things like ‘dependable’, ‘assertive’, or ‘a self-starter’ are all things that could be classed as strengths but they are personal to you. Every answer that you give in an interview should be leading back to your strengths and how you exhibited them.

A good exercise would be to list your strengths prior to the interview so you are well prepared.

2. Do your Research on the Company

Research the company. What is the company’s mission or purpose of the organisation? What are its principal services or products? Besides the company website, do some internet research on major competitors, news, or revenue information. Research the position. What are the major responsibilities? Make note of the qualifications and required skills to help you match your skills to its requirements. Research the typical earnings, career advancement and employment outlook. Research your interviewer. Google them and use LinkedIn to look for ways to make personal connections to help you stand out. Look for awards and accomplishments that you can congratulate them on. 

3. Master the phone interview

Telephone interviews are always daunting as you are reliant on your voice to keep someone engaged, preparing for a telephone interview is crucial as is often the gate to a face to face interview. Practice with friends, family or peers in order to effectively get your points across in a concise manner. Ensure that you have enough pace in your delivery of answers without speaking too much. Listening is the other crucial element of the telephone interview, ensure that you do not interrupt an interviewers and wait until they have finished all of their points before answering.

4.  It’s all in the presentation How you present yourself is key to a successful interview. Have a strong hand shake. Keep great posture. Actively listen. Maintain eye contact. Avoid negative talk and non-words, like "um." Shy away from talking too much (remember to keep your responses to under three minutes). It is normal to have nerves and the interviewer will understand that, so don’t worry about coming across as nervous but ensure that you have an air of confidence.

5. Be prepared to ask  Interviewers are looking for your passion and interest in the company, ensure you come prepared with questions for the interviewer both about the company and about the person you are interviewing with. Avoid questions about pay, benefits, or background checks. End your list of questions with asking about the next step in the hiring process.
6. Think about the questions that the interviewer will ask A great way to prepare for an interview is to think about the questions that the interviewer will ask you and plan your answers accordingly. Think of every eventuality of an interview questions and research questions online
7. Use the STAR Technique

The STAR method can help you provide specific and detailed answers to behavioural-based questions. Keep your responses between 1 and 3 minutes. Situation - Open with a brief description of the situation and context of the story (who, what, where, when, and how). Task - Explain the task you had to complete highlighting any specific challenges or constraints (deadlines, costs, other issues). Action - Describe the specific actions you took to complete the task. These should highlight desirable traits without needing to state them (initiative, intelligence, dedication, leadership, understanding, etc.). Result - Close with the result of your efforts. Include figures to quantify the result if possible. 

8. Ask for the job You can take one of seven approaches to asking for the job: direct approach, feedback, next steps, objections, ranking, fit, or the 1-10 approach. 
9. Follow up and With Your Recruitd Profile Reviews Ask about the next steps before you leave the interview. Get your thank you note in lightning speed. Share your Recruitd profile reviews so that the employer/interviewer can see what others say about your experience.