You spent a long time studying in your field and enrolling in courses, to be prepared and highly-skilled in your upcoming career, then you applied for the job you always wanted, and the recruitment specialist set you an interview date. Long journey, isn’t it? you are about to achieve your goal!

Now, it’s time to crown this inspiring journey, by passing the interview successfully and efficiently, are you ready?
Through this article, we are going to provide a list of tips on how to pass an interview, so make sure to set aside time to practise them in the days before the interview.

1- Prepare for the interview

This step is crucial, and you will suffer greatly if you ignore it. A good preparation for the interview is done through:

• • Re-reading the job description:

You certainly read the job description & requirements before, but you need to read and analyze them again at this stage, in order to tailor your answers to the interview questions according to these requirements.

• • Search for the expected interview questions for your career level:

Try to prepare answers for these questions, to be able to easily recall your answers in the interview. Try also to support your answers with examples and practical cases you have been through.

• • Do a background research

Look into the company’s website, read their history, mission and vision statements, and try to know as much info as you can.

2- Be on time

Arriving on time is a way to give a positive impression about yourself before saying a word. Consider the possibility of a traffic jam, or an unexpected circumstance that will delay you a bit, and make sure you arrive 15 minutes earlier. Your keenness to arrive on time, makes your interviewer feel that you are committed and disciplined.

Arriving early will also make you less stressed, and give you a chance to get used to the company atmosphere before the interview starts.

3- Stick to the dress code

In order to dress up in the most suitable way, you should get a sense of the corporate culture before heading into the interview, as the dress code varies depending on the company, the industry, and the country as well. In general, a candidate who wears a suit and a tie will make a better impression than someone who wears jeans and a shirt.

Whatever the style you find suitable, your outfit must be clean, well-groomed, and appropriate for the purpose to be achieved, which is to give a professional impression to your interviewer.

4- Listen carefully

Too often in our normal daily discussions, we lack the skill of active listening, and instead of focusing on the speaker’s speech, we focus on preparing the appropriate response to him instead.

If you’re in an interview and feel a little nervous, the chance of missing a point of what the interviewer said will definitely increase, so make sure that you listen actively and carefully to the interviewer’s questions, to avoid answering un-relatable answers.

The preparation step mentioned above, greatly helps to reduce the pressure of preparing responses while listening to the interviewer’s questions, which facilitates listening well to the questions.

5- Prepare smart questions to ask

Interviews are give and take discussion, so interviewers often expect that you will come up with some questions, as you are really thinking seriously about working with them and would like to know more details about their process.

While answering the interviewer’s questions, some questions will certainly come to your mind, do not hesitate to ask them, because the answers will certainly affect your decision to work in this company or not.

Here are some questions that you can ask, which are suitable for most of the cases:

• • • Can you explain some of the daily responsibilities of this position?
    • Can you explain what the process looks like?
    • How do the departments usually collaborate?
    • How would my performance be measured?

6- Don’t speak negatively about your previous work

Companies tend to hire employees who are good problem solvers, as they feel they are responsible and better able to meet the challenges of the work.

Therefore, talking about your previous work negatively may affect this impression, so you should avoid that, and focus on mentioning the experiences you gained in your previous work, rather than mentioning the problems and explaining them.

7- Show positive and professional attitude

Your behavior and the way you answer questions helps the manager to form a first impression about you, so try to apply the following tips:

• • • Show your confidence during the interview, and focus on presenting positive body language, indicating openness and interest in the job.
    • Before starting the interview, do breathing exercises, inhale and exhale regularly, this will help you reduce your sense of tension and pressure.
    • Answer the interviewer’s questions fully and honestly, as interviewers respect honesty and clarity. Also focus on highlighting your strengths on a professional and personal level.
    • Make sure that you are using professional language while talking to the interviewer, and be polite to everyone you will contact with through your hiring process, receptionists, employees, and the interviewer.

8- Remember to follow-up

Following up here doesn’t mean to ask if you are accepted or not, it means to send an email to thank the interviewers, it shows them that you are genuinely interested in the position and are grateful for their time and the meaningful conversation. Try to send a simple email for the interviewer on the same day or the next day.

Now after you have applied all these tips, if you are accepted into this job, just remember to maintain a positive behavior throughout your work life, as it is one of the most important behaviors that everyone loves to see in others. Keep Positive, Professional, and Courteous!