You may be the smartest candidate short-listed by the company but if you think that the job is already yours for the taking without you having to prepare for the interview, please think again. The silliest thing for any job seeker to do is to walk into any interview unprepared.
When you go to an interview, you must be prepared to face the persons on the other side of the table. After all, they are going to be the ones that are going to decide whether you have a future with their company. So shouldn’t they be the ones that you try to impress?
Making impressions come in many ways. Take, for example, the very first impression you can possibly make: the way you dress to the interview. Now, you can easily put them on their guard by turning up with unkempt hair and wrinkled clothes or you can warm the interviewers by looking spick and span like a professional. Which one would you prefer? The choice is yours to make.
In cast you think that it doesn’t matter much, we’ve had companies passing remarks to us about candidates showing up for interviews in jeans and other inappropriate attire. These are for professional positions. To them, the impression was that if this was how a candidate already looked when he was supposed to be at his best, they wouldn’t want him to represent their business.
The other types of impression are internal. For example, impressing the interviewers with your knowledge of the company. Before any interview, do a research on the company. With the Internet at our fingertips, there is no excuse not to do this. Go to the company’s website and read the “About us” section.
You should walk into an interview knowing things such as the company’s size, products or services and their target markets. Google the company to see if it has been in the news recently. It’s also a good way to uncover the company’s reputation. If possible, google the hiring manager and try to find out more about him.
All these boils down to smart preparation. If you can prepare and demonstrate during the interview that you did your homework, you will surely have broken down some of the barriers between you and the interviewers.