5 Interview Tips to Help You Make the Right Impression

It’s a tough job market out there, and you need every edge you can get. If you get an interview, it’s important to make the best impression that you can.

Here are 5 interview tips that can help you make the right impression and boost your chances of getting the job:

1. Dress for the Part

If you can, find out ahead of time what the dress code is for the workplace. You want to dress for the job. Even if you can’t get an exact description of the dress code, learn about the company, and make an educated guess about what is most likely to be the dress code.

Also, make sure that you pay attention to your hygiene before you go to your interview. You want to appear clean and neat, as well as properly dressed.

2. Practice Answers to Common Interview Questions

This is one of the most important of the interview tips. Practice answers to common interview questions. It’s especially important to consider how you will respond to one of the most common interview openers: “Tell me about yourself.”

Think about how can boil down the essentials in about a minute to a minute and a half. Practice getting a good mix of important professional information and interesting personal information. The way you answer this question can indicate a lot about you.

3. Ask Your Own Questions

Part of the interview is finding out how knowledgeable you are, as well as evaluating the kinds of questions you ask. Research the company and the industry ahead of time. Think of intelligent questions you can ask during the interview so that when you are given the chance to ask your own questions, you have some good ones that show you have a solid understanding of the situation.

4. Be On Time and Prepared

Make sure that you are on time. Show up a few minutes early (but not too early). Also, be prepared with extra copies of your resume, as well as copies of your references. If you are asked for this information, you’ll be able to provide it immediately. Extra copies of this information can be handed out to multiple interviewers, or used as a refresher.

Also, be prepared with adequate change for a parking meter so that you don’t have to leave to feed the machine. Consider bringing water and a small (healthy) snack, too. Take a drink and have a nibble before you go in. It will help calm you, as well as help you avoid discomfort during the interview.

5. Follow Up with a Thank You Note

Make sure that you follow up your interview with a thank you note. One of the best interview tips is to remember to thank the interviewer for his or her time. Send the thank you three or four days after the interview. This can be a great way to remind the interviewer of who you are. After sitting through all these interviews, receiving your thank you note can be a way to draw your name back to the front of the interviewer’s mind.