What research should I do before the interview?
When you have recieved notification that you've got a job interview, it is easy to panic - but don't. There are certain tasks that you need to carry out prior to attending a job interview. Firstly, do your research; make sure you know exactly where it is that you're going for your job interview, how long it's going to to take you to get there, and what the parking or transport arrangements are. If you're coming in by train or tube, you need to arrange leave plenty of time. Find out how long the journey is likely to take you before leaving for the interview. If it's by car, do they have their own parking? Do you need to register a parking space? Do you need to make sure you are feeding a meter? Have you got plenty of change? Those sort of obvious things are essential to consider before an interview. Moving on, you need to look at their website; you need to find out who is interviewing you, what their position is, what offers there are on the website in terms of other jobs that they are advertising, and also look at the press releases that are linked the home page of most company websites. The website can tell you an awful lot about what is going on in their industry at the moment before you attend the interview. New awards they may have got, new contracts they may have won, people that they may have taken on, who is moving up, who is moving down. You need to find out as much about this industry as possible before you enter it, in order to be prepared for your interview. You should have all your research together prior to arriving for an interview. Other things to consider before your interview include how long it is going to take you to get through building security to reach your actual interview. You need to have a window of a minimum of ten minutes to get from the signing in process to the interview itself. Before you arrive think about how many questions you need to ask in the interview, how long the interview is going to last, what questions you need to ask and what questions the interview is going to ask you. Think about what the interviewer is expecting from you before you arrive, and, very importantly, consider the dress code before leaving for the interview. All of these questions can be answered prior to going in. The whole idea of a successful interview is being so well prepared before it that you really don't have to worry that much about the interview process. Often we go into panic or frustration in an interview because we have not prepared before it, or we're rushed or hassled. By having perfect preparation before you arrive for the interview you get rid of most of that emotion.
