We’ve stressed it before and we’ll make the point again. Make sure that you have done your research and preparation for the interview, beforehand.

Make your first impression a good one. Offer a firm handshake, smile, make eye contact. Remember, they like you, that’s why you’ve been invited for interview. So relax, be confident and positive. Most importantly, be yourself.

Be positive. Talk positively of your previous experiences and work colleagues. Your interviewers will be assessing your ability to be able to integrate with their organisation and work as part of a team. Negative talk will not impress. Try to display positive body language during the interview. Try to portray an upright body posture, maintain good eye contact with the interviewer, lean forward and occasionally use your hands when making a point. Look friendly and approachable and above all be yourself. Practice perfecting your body language in a mirror or with a friend to achieve the desired effect. Try not to get too hung up over body language as it is a demonstration of your level of confidence, which hopefully due to thorough preparation will be high. All the same, it is a good idea to practice to ensure that outwardly you are projecting yourself in a positive manner.

At the Face to face interview stage you will need to sell yourself. A great way of selling yourself is to be the solution to the problems of your prospective company. The job that you are persuing has often arisen because a company has a problem that it wants to solve. Therefore through your research see if you can identify what these problems are, and what steps you would take in order to solve them, ideally using past examples from experiences drawn upon from your career. If you have dealt with problems in the past that your potential employer is now facing, then you will put yourself in a great position to get the job that you are interviewing for.

Developing a rapport with the interviewer on a professional level should be one of your key aims. Again, a good understanding of the organisation through your background research will help you to determine what you may need to do to enable you to find some common ground with the interviewer ie. through reading up online on current events happening within the company. A phrase often used is “Mirroring the interviewer’s behavior”, whereby you seek to emulate the body language of the interviewer. For example leaning forward or sitting back dependent upon the interviewer’s posture. Also, if the interviewer is talkative and extraverted then you should try to be likewise, exhibiting your energy and enthusiasm. Alternatively if the interviewer is more introverted then it may be advisable for you to contain your enthusiasm and appear calmer and quieter. Show through your responses that you have understood what the company is looking for in the role. Your aim should be to show to the employer that your outlook is similar to that of the company and you would be easily integrated within their team. You should be careful not to overdo this, but it is believed that people generally respond better to someone with whom they feel that they have a connection.

Keep your topics of conversation along professional lines. It is advisable not to talk poliitics or religion during an interview as your views may not be those shared by your interviewer, and may therefore cause offence.