Here are 3 tips on how to ace your next job interview

You did it. The endless checking over of your resume and the fine-tuning of your cover letter paid off, and you secured the interview. After completing your Commsgrad internship, you feel you’ve got the experience, but now you have to ace the next step. It can be very daunting, especially with the information overload that comes with looking up ‘how to ace my job interview’. That’s why Commsgrad has put together our top 3 tips on how to prepare for your next interview, to ensure you land that job!

Put yourself in the shoes of the interviewer

Whether it's via Zoom, over the phone, or in person, the interviewer is most likely going to be doing a few interviews alongside yours. This means that while you might be a nervous wreck, the interviewer is probably thinking about what they’re going to have for dinner that night. You need to make the arduous recruitment process a little easier for them by standing out from the crowd.

They’ve already reviewed your resume and cover letter, they have an idea of your work experience and your skills, so focus on what you can do for their company.

Why should they hire you? Ask about what sort of challenges the role will bring, and then explain how you’ll be able to approach the situation by referring to past examples. Outline what you want to achieve in your first few months in the role.

Prepare for those age-old interview questions

“What are your strengths/weaknesses?”

“Describe a difficult situation you encountered in a previous job, and how you resolved it.”

“Why are you interested in working for [insert company name here]?”

Giving your interviewer clear, confident, and concise answers will be the best way to ensure you ace the interview. It’s crucial to have positive, credibly supported responses that outline your experience and skills while keeping relevant to the role you’re interviewing for. Remember, the hiring team wants to know what you can bring to the team now, they don’t always care about what you did for your last company two years ago. You can prepare by checking out Muse’s useful guide to answering the top 50 most common interview questions.

If they ask, “Why did you leave your last job?“, keep your answer professional and positive. You can say something along the lines of “I’m looking for an opportunity to advance my career”, or “I felt that I needed the opportunity to grow or further my career in the role, so I decided to look for a change”.

Bring a solid set of questions to ask

Hiring managers like to see that you’re inquisitive about the role. The questions you choose to ask during an interview can help make or break an interview.

Ask questions about their ideal candidate and the kinds of key personality attributes they’re looking for in the role. You can ask questions about the types of changes they’d want to see the candidate make, or alternatively, you can ask personal questions like “What's your favourite part about working here?” to build a good rapport with the interviewer.

You want to stand out from the sea of applicants and leave your interviewer with a great lasting impression by engaging in a confident and authentic chat about yourself and the position. Go get em!

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Do you have a great interview tip that you’d like to share? Let us know on Twitter @commsgrad 🚀