Turn
off your mobile phone!
If you really didn’t think of this, well…
Keep
your head
When interviewing, one of the worst mistakes you can
make is to lose your composure – some interview questions can be difficult and
even at times uncomfortable, so the best thing you can do is to keep your wits
about you.
Preparing for your interview in advance is a good
way to avoid losing control of the situation on the day – but even if you are
caught off guard, don’t worry! Most interviewers will be happy for you to take
a minute to compose yourself if you lose track of your thoughts. Don’t take too
long though!
Be
patient!
You may be on your lunch break and need to get back
to your current job or you might have an appointment to go to. Either way, an
interviewer doesn’t want to see a candidate who looks like they want to just
get out of there.
If you have time constraints, then let your
interviewer know beforehand – if the interview does run over time they should
respect that. If not, then politely bring up your aforementioned arrangement
and perhaps offer to schedule a second interview to discuss things in more
detail.
This can actually work to your benefit – it shows
you are assertive and considerate of possibly competing interviews and it opens
the door to further communication at a later date.
Don’t
argue – discuss!
The worst mistake an interviewee can make is to get
into an argument with the interviewers. Even if you don’t full agree with a
point being put across, you should debate it – put forward a logical argument
to the contrary – certainly don’t argue. Don’t tell the interviewer they are wrong
or just end the discussion in a stubborn outrage!
Many interviewers will choose to put forward
illogical arguments just to test how you react to them – your test is how you
convey your answer, not the answer itself.
