Don’t Gamble With Your Future! Increase Your Interview Odds with Preparation and Practice

People spend huge amounts of time preparing for upcoming events, finals in college, big presentations at work, or planning for a wedding. But when it comes to preparing for an interview for a position they will be spending at least a third of their lives every week at, most people take    little time to prepare for their interview and end up with whatever job is offered or available.

Although looks do matter and non-verbal first impressions play a strong role when interviewing, proper preparation for an interview dramatically increases your chances of impressing an employer and landing the job.

When employers and potential employees are asked the same question, “Are the applicants effective or good at interviewing?” Most applicants would say “yes” while the employers say “no”. Imagine the advantage you will have being prepared for your interview, that alone will get you noticed and keep the attention focused on you as a position candidate.

How do you prepare for Interviews and increase the odds in your favour? Preparation – Practice – More Practice!!!

It can’t be stressed enough. Like a test, ball game, or any activity the more you prepare the better you will perform. How one practices is how they will play the game so give your practice efforts 110% . Become familiar with the company.

Do research on the company; discover where they are now and where they are headed. What are they looking for? What the work atmosphere is?

Once you are familiar with the corporate goals, you can use your experiences and skills to  relate them specifically to the needs of the company.

Make a list of questions that will be asked of you at the interview. When I am preparing my clients for an interview we work on both the easy and tough questions. Remember to answer honestly, ease

negative responses by explaining how you turned a situation around or learned something valuable from the experience.

Try not to talk negatively about current or past employers, focus on positive experiences, relationships, achievements and share that.

And again, as I tell my interview clients, you must Practice – Practice – Practice!