Job Interview Skills (Part II): Skills You Neeed during the Interview

If you have missed the Part I interview skills, you can go Job Interview Skills (Part I). After you have done preparation before attending the interview, it is time to brush up your interview skills that you would need during the interview. 

1. Dress for success

In order to look confident and neat, you should dress yourself formally with a tie (males) or a blazer (females). That's the reason why you should always try to arrive the interview location at least 15 minutes earlier. You can tidy up yourself in washroom beforehand and ensure your appearance is clean and pressed. One thing to remember is to have minimum jewelries and accessories as possible. Do not overdress yourself and always ensure the clothing fits you well.

2. Make your first good impression

Be polite and greet/smile to everyone you met to start your good impression before entering the interview room. This includes the receptionist too. Employers are keen to know how you treat their staff members and your success would be correlated to your courtesy to everyone. During the interview, always remember that the first few seconds of greeting the interviewers, smiling and making eye contact to them as well as offering them an handshake could all give them a great impression on you.

3. Show your confidence and stay focus

When the interview starts, the key thing you should always remember is the quality and the way you communicate/reply to their questions. Avoid those negative words such as "I don't like", "I hate". If you were to say, word them in a better way like "I prefer not to". Besides, whenever they asked a question, try to stay focus to understand the question and respond to them in a confident way. In the case where you get stuck by a question, do not just be silent for that. Instead, you can for instance request the interviewers to repeat the question or you yourself rephrase the question to double confirm with them the question. By that time, you might be able to think of how to respond to the question already. If possible, you can give some examples/accomplishments. However, avoid to talk too much until you derail from what the interviewers actually want. 

4. Minimise your body language or bad habit

It is understandable that body language is inevitable when you are getting nervous during the interview session. However, poor body language can be a main contributor for employers not hiring you at the end. Poor body languages include not making eye contact with the interviewers when talking, bad sitting posture, shaking legs, playing with pens and mumbling. While you might not be able to eliminate them at once, try to minimise them during the interview is essential.

5. Ask Questions

It is a big mistake if you think asking questions during the interview shows you are so not well prepared. In fact, asking questions are actually a good indication to the employers that you are keen to the applied position. Furthermore, some of the information would not be available in the company website and you can't do research on that. Hence, you can ask during the interview with insightful questions. This includes "How is the working environment in the offcie?"and "When would I know the interview result?". 

With the two parts of job interview skills, you should have well preparation for the job interview. Last but not least, be confident to yourself and wish you get a great job that fits you the most!