1. Do not go out the night before your interview. Relax in the evening, set alarm clock, go to bed early and take a shower in the morning.

2. Appearance / Wardrobe:
No piercing! Yes, no piercing and that goes for nose, eyebrows, lips and tongue. The only place piercing is acceptable in business environment is ears and that only goes for female workforce. No jeans, no tennis shoes, no shorts, no flip flops and no chewing gum!

Women: Avoid aggressive make up, red lipstick or colorful and bright clothes. No need to wear a suit if you do not like it or do not have one, but conservative type business attire is more than welcome. Do not overdress and do not wear strong perfumes.

Men: Put on a clean shirt (ideally white) but iron it before you decide to wear it. Choose conservative colors for a tie. If possible go for a navy color suit. If you do not have a navy suit choose a dark suit if no dark suit go and buy navy suit. No brown shoes.

3. Visit the website of the company in question. Check what they specialize in, where they have their offices, etc. Try to gather as much information as possible. Search for the most recent news regarding the organization. Understanding their line of business or the details regarding the services they offer will help you strike conversation or answer questions when asked what you know about the company you are visiting.

4. Try to find out as much as possible about the people you are to meet during your interview. Check LinkedIn or XING for more information and learn about their professional background and education. You are “in trouble” if you do not know what LinkedIn or XING is. If they are not on any of the professional social media, improvise. Can’t improvise?, stay home.

5. Do not be late! No one cares that you missed a bus, that there was traffic, that you could not find parking, that your kid got sick, your house got on fire or that your gold fish ate a pebble and you had to rescue it. If you think it will take you an hour to get to the interview reserve extra half an hour to avoid unnecessary stress. Unless absolutely necessary avoid calling the company asking for directions. You should know where you are going and if you do not trust your sense of direction, do not have navigation (GPS) in your car or never heard of Google Maps, go by the office where the interview is going to take place the day before to know exactly where it is. Do not arrive too early either. Being 20 minutes early will be more annoying to those you are about to meet han being 10 minutes late. You should be in front of the building 10 minutes before the time of the interview. Ring the bell 5 minutes till.

6. When taken to the interview room and left alone try to choose a sit that faces the door. When the interviewers enter the room should see your face not your back. Do not sit down. Wait standing. If there is a window in the room stand by the window. When interviewers enter the room greet them and walk calmly towards them with a welcoming smile. After that you will jointly sit down.

7. Sometimes those you are to meet may not always have business cards with them. Always pay attention when they introduce themselves. Remember their names and positions in the organization.

8. It is likely you will be nervous before and during the interview but make sure you do not have sweaty hands when you are to shake hands with someone.

9. It is important to prepare a few questions to ask during the interview. Write them down in your notebook and bring it with you. If you go for a single sheet of paper make sure that the paper is folded nicely and looks professional. If there are two interviewers make sure you have at least one question for each. You can take notes during the interview.

10. Do no talk too much and talk over the interviewer. Most importantly concentrate and listen to the questions. When answering them do not talk around the subject. In other words, get straight to the point but do not be too affirmative. Avoid corny and cliché statements. Do not talk politics.

11. Try not to pretend to be someone else during the interview. If you do not get the job you will know you were not right for the role but if you are hired you will feel great.

12. Smile.

Falkerin™ Recruitment – wwww.falkerin.lu