How to Prepare for a Job Interview?

        It's always an exciting moment to receive a Job Interview invitation for the candidates who are looking for a Job. But after the interview, what happens with your excitement when you receive a rejection email or don’t hear back from the recruiter? Who already came across this situation, understands it. But I decided to write this article to help the candidates to avoid or at least minimize rejections in their careers and to guide them, how to prepare for job interviews. 

Remember, A thirty to sixty minutes interview decides your career, your aim, your dream job, and about your future.

        Do you think in a Job interview only the technical skills are being noticed and measured? The Answer is No. Even in the highly technical fields, like I am a Software Engineer and in this field interviewers mostly measure the technical skills and experience of the candidate by asking technical questions, but only technical skills are not enough, soft skills also share the same weight as the technical knowledge.

Regardless of technical skills, The most important factors of a Job interview are 

• How likely you are fit in their office environment? 
• Will they be comfortable while having you as a colleague working with them? 
• How are you as a person? 
• How fit are you in their culture? 
• How passionate are you about the position? 
• Do your aims align with the company goals?

        These soft skills are also as important as technical skills. While appearing in an interview everyone must keep into mind these factors.  

        Along with the technical knowledge of your field and by keeping the above factors into account, candidates must be prepared for the following elements before appearing in a Job interview:

1. First Appearance

        According to research, it takes a maximum of 60 seconds to judge and make an impression about a person you meet the first time. Even the first impression about the character of a person can be made within a second. The factors involved in it are Appearance, Smile & Confidence on the face, Eye Contact and Response Time. A decent dressing is also part of the first impression, though in most of the fields we don’t need to wear a suit and a tie that sometimes make even a negative effect, but there must be a difference between a Gym/Swimming dressing and an interview dressing. Having a smile on the face, making eye contact and a decent way of greeting makes a very positive impression.

2. Tell me About Yourself?

        I have seen on Glassdoor many times that candidates are complaining about the interviewers in the reviews that, even everything was mentioned in my Resume, but they were still asking about me. This kind of approach makes a very negative impact, although everything is mentioned in CV, the interviewer asks this question to know how confident you are about your expertise. As it's a very common question and always being asked in all fields, the candidates must be prepared for this question. First of all, you can start with your qualifications, skills and experience. But the most important part of the answer is that you need to try to convince the interviewer in a sentence or in two, that how useful you are for their company. Or how you can use your past experience to work effectively at the position. It will make you different from the other candidates. It's always better to do some rehearsal for the answer to this question before appearing in the interview.

3. What Do you know about the company, Why do you want to work with us?

        The interviewer always wants to see how interested and passionate you are about the position and you can face such kind of questions in the interview. For that always do your homework to know what they actually do? What are the company’s vision & mission statements? You can also read the job description again before appearing in the interview to be aware of what they are actually looking for. Always be prepared for such questions in the interview.

4. Ask appropriate Questions

        At the end of the interview, almost all interviewers give an opportunity to ask your questions. Simply “No, Thanks” is not enough. It's always necessary to prepare your questions before appearing in the interview. You can ask, many kinds of questions. But try to ask the most relevant questions according to your position and the previous discussion you had with the interviewer in the past hour. If it’s the first interview, you can ask about the job position, responsibilities and company’s vision, but if it's the second and third interview, never ask such kind of questions, because till the time you are supposed to know everything about the position. The nutshell is always be prepared and ask relevant and logical questions from the interviewer which should show your interest and passion about the job.

Conclusion

        One hour interview decides our dream job, so we must be prepared well before appearing in the interview. Technical knowledge about the field is the main component of success, but it's not enough. Soft skills also share the same worth as technical skills. Interest & passion about the company and the position always play a positive role in the recruitment and candidates must be prepared for that before appearing in the interview.