Preparing for an interview can be a bit uneasy. During a 15 minute time frame you have to prove to your potential employer that you are a perfect fit for the job and that you are better than the 100 other people waiting in the hallway (metaphorically speaking, of course). You have to summarize your technical skills, past employment history and life lessons… and you are on a serious time constraint to do so. Do you memorize everything you should say? Should you ask the employer questions about the company? How do you bring up the salary question during your interview questions? All of these are regular job interview concerns that people have on a regular basis. Thankfully, Interview Questions HQ was created to aid people like you in gracefully tackling your interview fears and landing that big job!

Preparing for a Job Interview

If you want to get a job in today’s economy, you have to do everything you can to make sure your job interviews go as well as possible. Here are some things you can do to prepare for a job interview:

General Tips

1. Do your homework. When you walk into a job interview, you should know a little bit about the company you’re applying to and the position you’re applying for. Look the company up on the internet and read whatever you find. An interviewer who sees that you are really interested in the company will be more likely to hire you.

2. Study some of the most common job interview questions and plan your responses. View our full list of interview questions, or check out our Interview Questions Blog for more commonly asked interview questions.

3. Make sure you know how to get to your job interview location. You don’t want to be late for the interview because you got lost or couldn’t find the building. If you’re not sure of the area, go on a practice drive the night before.

4. If you’ve been told who you’re interviewer will be, make a note of their name and use it often. This will make things a little less formal between the two of you and will make a good impression on the interviewer as you add this personal touch.

5. When answering interview questions, be sure to answer using the 1st person plural tense (we/us/our) when explaining how you can benefit the company. For example: “My five years of experience in Computer Software Sales have given me the ability to understand our customers’ needs, which will effectively increase our Return on Investment.