Interview Technique - How To Be Successful At Interview

Remember most interviewers will have made their minds up in the first 2 minutes. Be on time, look the part and look as if you really want the job.

Think about job and the image you present. It is your opportunity to impress not shock. Be comfortable but dress the part. Nails, hair should be clean and well presented, your shoes shiny, the interviewers should notice you rather than your jewellery or perfume/aftershave.

Smile, you need to show that you are enthusiastic

Think about how you sit, sit back in the seat but don't sprawl. Think about what you are going to do with your hands.

Make eye contact, it is usual to make the person who asked the question the person of main focus. Remember to scan the panel so everyone feels included. Looking at your hands, the floor or out of the window is a real turn off when you interview someone.

Most interviews start with a question about you…"So tell us a little about yourself." Prepare the answer so you can feel relaxed. Think about the high lights rather than give a 10-minute ramble.

Watch the interviewers body language. If they are falling asleep it is a bad sign. You can always ask if they would like more information.

Prepare thoroughly, research what the job entails. Consider the skills and knowledge base needed and do a self-audit comparing it with what you have to offer. Enthusiasm and energy can often make up for lack of enthusiasm particularly if you make it obvious that you have done your research and have the potential to learn.

Most interviews are lost because the candidate doesn't actually listen to the question. Listen carefully; if you don't understand what they want ask them to repeat the question.

Think about exactly what they are asking – what do they need to know? Is it referring to particular skills, knowledge, principles, understanding, your experience etc.


Use the question as a platform to sell yourself, but be honest. If it is appropriate use the question to give concrete examples of what you have done/can do. Be careful not to become anecdotal you must make a clear connection between the question and your answer.

If you don't know something it isn't the end of the world. Interviewers would rather hear, "I don't know but I'd be really keen to learn," than discover too late that you have been dishonest.


Finally remember that most people who interview are also anxious, as the success of their business is dependent on appointing the right people. Do your best, be yourself and if you don't get the job ask for feedback on your interview. In this way the interview becomes part of your professional development and not a failure. Good Luck!

Paddle Fabrication On The Brown And Stinky Creek!

We've all been there. Nothing in our sights but nasty threats, impatiently waiting challenges, bad smelling dooms, and impossibly ugly situations. I am referring to the feeling of helplessly sailing into a paralyzing cacophony of menacing boogie-men and purple meanies just ready to pounce. There is a colloquial phrase for this-- colorfully expressed as being up a certain particularly smelly creek without a paddle. I think you know what I mean.

While the threats may be more imaginary than real, the paralysis can be very real. Unfortunately the state of being frozen by fear is not a particularly useful one from which to handle impending challenges. In the Darwinian world survival of the fittest, being unable to move is commonly considered an express ticket to extinction. Somewhere in between flight and fight, fetal positioned stock-still panic only works in the presence of grizzly bears.

So lets, shake off the gross paralysis long enough to fashion a paddle and give ourselves a chance to steer clear of the worst of what may or may not come. At very least, you'll have something in your hands to fend away the closest claws.

First, take a deep slow breath. Even if you don't feel like you can (and that does sometimes happen) force yourself to breath deeply and slowly. If you are feeling the paralysis physically, make the breath high in your chest. If you are more caught in the panic of images and unpleasant anticipatory thoughts, try breathing lower in your belly. That should buy you a few seconds of rational thought: the first step in paddle construction.

Now, remember the last time you were in a similar situation. If you are blazing new ground in terror here, then recall the last most similar situation. Remind yourself, as you recall this situation, that you did survive it. Otherwise, you wouldn't be here to fear again. In fact, no matter how bad it gets, you have no evidence that you won't survive-nothing prior to now has been able to do you in. You have always survived before. Congratulate yourself for your skill in creating such situations, not everyone is so talented in adrenalin production. Then, congratulate yourself on your skill of surviving all previous such situations. You are now a little closer to having a full fledge paddle in your hand.

Now, as you have recalled surviving challenges before (remember learning to ride a bike? That certainly started out as an overwhelming task,) you must realize that there is possibly a future after this particular one that you are currently enjoying. Use that same imagination that is so good at imagining the worst, to briefly imagine looking back from a future vantage having somehow successfully navigated these current threatening and smelly rapids. You don't have to imagine how you got through, just that you did. You might even imagine smiling as you look back, having survived once again, and, in the process, having collected some great stories. For example, when I am experiencing very troubling times, I always try to gain enough mental flex room to remind myself how interesting this is all going to seem to me while I'm watching next season's NBA playoffs. That thought, for me, always works to gain a little perspective.

You should by now, feel a bit of the panic and paralysis lifting at least slightly. In all but the most unusual situations, most of our threats are not the 'gun to the head' variety, but rather, the 'imagining the worst' variety. Once you allow yourself a few moments of imagining something a little less dramatic than the worst, that cycle of cataclysmic thinking is weakened. You have, in effect, fashioned your paddle. The less panic we experience, the more blood flows to our brain's thinking centers, and the better able we are to handle whatever, if anything, is really threatening us. Now paddle to the shore, wipe your feet, and figure out what you want to do next. Whether it's flight, fight, or laugh out loud, you'll be better equipped.