Its that time of year again! Time for the stress that is job interviews! You’ve finally sent off a decent amount of applications and successfully gotten to the point where a company is interested in you.  Here are a few tips to nail that first impression!

Do Your Research

I can’t emphasize how important this is.  Make sure that you have done your research into the company by looking through their website and recent news articles on them.  Research not only the company itself but also your interviewers if you know who they are.  Knowing what their role at the company too shows you have done your work.  You can only control so much in an interview and knowing background information is something that you can be proactive about. 

Breathe

Try to schedule some time before the interview to decompress.  Interviews can be very stressful! Remember, it is a conversation not an interrogation.  You are trying to see if this place is a fit for you as well. 

Be Prepared to Talk about Yourself

Come into the interview with a goal of conveying a few things about yourself.  You know your experiences well.  If you think there is a skill from an old position that makes you perfect for some aspect of this new role, touch on that at some point!

Prepare Some Questions For Them

Don’t let it get to the end of the interview where they ask “Do you have any questions for us” and stare blankly.  Prepare some final questions about things that they may not touch on during the interview.  And they should not be things that can be easily googled! That is part of doing your research.  A standby of mine is asking about company culture or what they like about working there.  It can give valuable insight about what it is like to spend 5 days a week in one place.

I know interviews can be extremely intimidating but, armed with these tips, feel confident you can go forth and conquer!