As well as having the right attitude in doing the interviews you do, it’s also important to develop some useful skills before you go in. The following will help.

• Make sure that you are smiling a confident smile as if you are happy to meet the interviewers and that you are confident they have met the right person for the job.

• Use a firm, but not too firm, handshake.

• Look the interviewer in the eye when you say hello, when they are speaking to you and most of the time when you are speaking. If there are a few interviewers make sure you keep a consistent amount of eye contact with each of them.

• Look impeccable, appropriate and as well as you possibly can. Spare no expense to make sure you look like someone they want to hire.

• Prepare… Prepare… Prepare: Make sure that, before you go into any interview, you have prepared the following.
- Knowledge about yourself: Be aware of your strengths and weaknesses and how they relate to the job in question.
- Knowledge about them: Know as much as you can about the kind of job you are going for and the type of company that is hiring you. Ask specific questions to indicate that you have done your research.

• Rehearse… Rehearse… Rehearse: It’s good to rehearse different answers to questions you might be asked.

• If you are asked for your weak points, make them seem like weak points but actually mention one of your strengths. For example, ‘Well sometimes I have become too involved in the job but I have learned recently to take a step back when I need to.’ Try and nest every bad point inside of two good points.

• Be specific and give specific examples. Many interviewers are used to hearing formulaic answers so, when you give clear, specific examples from your experience, it will set you apart.

• Remember to answer the questions asked. Often people will drift off to some prepared script which can annoy interviewers. Make your answer fits the question neatly.

• Always have a question to ask that focuses on the opportunities and what the best parts of the job are rather than the pension scheme and money. You can ask those questions at a later stage.

• Get yourself into a confident and relaxed state. The trick is to build states of confidence and relaxation that you can anchor and trigger when you walk into the interview. NLP skills of of profound help here as they are with most of these skills.

• While avoiding arrogance or cockiness, act as though you expect the job. Answer the questions in a way that presupposes that you are the right person for the job. Take a little time before answering and think out each question. Speak at an even pace and remember to focus on why you know you would be great at the job.

• Be aware of your body language and act in as confident a way as possible.

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