After sifting through piles of resumes and screening several candidates, your future employer has finally zeroed in on you as their probable candidate. And now it’s your big chance to bag the deal! While many will tell you that good grades and great confidence is the key to pocket any job, know that the intricacies of a job interview extend beyond your feats and deeds. Personal or face-to-face interviews are where your career decisions are made. So you better get your manners right if you wish to make an impression. After all, you never get a second chance to make a first impression! Personal interviews are a crucial step towards realizing big dreams. So it’s only good that you give it your best shot. While the very thought of facing a panel of experts and battling a battery of questions is good enough to get you perspiring, know that it isn’t a tough bet. Here are some tips on how to face personal interviews. Just read them on to get going.
Personal Job Interview Tips
- Your interview is your big ticket to what could be your perfect job! Don’t cut short your chances by interrupting your interviewer when he is talking to you. If you have anything to ask at all, wait for your turn to talk. The rudest thing you can do is to interrupt or, worse, finish a sentence for an interviewer. Doesn’t matter if your interviewer is the slowest talker on the earth or a bad stutterer, you got to wait!
- When attending an important interview, the last thing you can afford to do is get tongue-tied or chat up a storm! It’s normal to feel edgy and nervy inside when walking in for an interview but that shouldn’t mean that you act all lost or fill in the awkward pauses with a verbal rush. The cue is to listen and ask questions when required.
- Keeping your cell phone on is a big no-no when heading for an interview. Understand that you only have a brief time to impress your employer and cinch the deal. So make sure that your cell-phone is switched off before you walk inside the interview room.
- The worst way to goof up an interview is to pretend to be Mr or Miss Know-It-All! Understand that it’s no crime to be unaware of certain things in life. If you don’t know an answer to a question, be humble enough to convey it to your interviewer. Beating around the bush will only dump your chances and project you in a poor light.
- You may have topped your class, won accolades for your singing talents and even led your team in an interschool cricket championship, but you don’t really have to gloat over your accomplishments in front of your future employer! Doing so will only make you come across as a snob and cocky and that isn’t the impression you would want for yourself.
- The biggest blooper you can do is to land up for an important interview on your running shoes and denims. Remember that your interview isn’t the right place to reveal your tasteful sartorial sense. Tame down your bizarre fashion instincts and step into decent crisp formals to make a winning impression.
- Mind your body language! The right body language conveys volumes about your personality. So you better get your posture straight for the right impression. Also, don’t play with your tie, hair, shake legs or indulge in any theatrical gestures if you don’t wish to cut your chances short.