Job Interview Skills (Part I): Preparation before Attending Interview

Almost everyone has experienced /needs to experience job interview in order to get a job. What you have got is essential as it can determine your future career journey. In order to get a job that you really hope for, you should know the necessary job interview skills. Interview skills includes 2 parts, i.e. (Part I) preparation before attending interview and (Part II) skills you need during the interview.

Part II would be in the next post.

1. Ask yourself some questions from your resume

The only public information that the interviewers have about you is the information from your resume. Hence, they will most likely ask you some questions from your resume. For instance, they might ask you what was the fun experience you had while joining in a certain society? Such a questions should be a simple one as you should be able to answer it as if you are narrating your real stories/experience. However, do remember not to overly tell the stories as it might give an impression to the interviewers that you do not have a good time management skills as well as lack of good summarizing skills. Besides, get ready with some of the academic questions such as "Is there any reason why your result has been dropping ever since your second year?", "Is there any reason that you did not score well in this subject/unit?", "What is your secret of success in scoring well in your exams?" 

2. Prepare a short introduction about yourself

In most of the cases, the first question that the interviewers ask would be a short introduction about yourself. This would usually directly set your interviewers' impression on you. Hence, it would be great if you can first get ready with the introduction to avoid stuttering due to nervousness. Giving good impression to interviewers also mean that you should only remember the points rather than memorizing them rigidly during the interview.

3. Buy yourself a formal attire

Interview is an important one and you definitely do not want to miss it just because you do not wear properly/appropriately. You should always have one to two set of formal attire ready for your interview. Remember to iron the clothes before attending the interview so that interviewers know you are a neat person. If you are a guy, do not forget to have a tie too. A black/grey tie would be the safest one as it can often suit most of the formal shirts. 

4. Check the interview time, venue and transport

Interviewees might forget to check the interview time, venue and transport and end up they are late to the interview. This is certainly a big no to interviewees as time management is really an important criteria that interviewers would always look into it. Hence, before attending the interview, it would be the best that you write down the exact time and venue of the interview session. Try to be there at least 15 minutes prior to the interview so that you can still calm yourself down before entering the interview room. Besides, if you are not familiar with the interview venue, you should have some research from web to check the way to go there to avoid uncertainties on the day itself.

5. Sleep early

As you know, lack of sleep would affect the way you perform during the interview. You might not be able to answer the questions to your best. On the day before the interview, just calm yourself down and sleep early to relax your mind. Although this might look unnecessary or you might think it is insignificant, you should sleep early so that you can perform better the next day. 


With all these preparation, you are considered prepared and reduced those uncertainties to the minimum. Good luck!