How to prepare for an interview and deal with it

In this Luxe Talent Blog we are interviewing Jose de la Vega, Team Leader in Spain, Recruitment Manager and Business Development Manager in Luxe Talent. Today, you will learn how to prepare for an interview and get the best results. Let's start!

“By Failing to Prepare, you are Preparing to Fail”. This sentence by Benjamin Franklin really illustrates what our topic today is about.

Preparation + Confidence = High Chances of Success.

This formula, although it can be applied to most aspects in life, it really takes form when we go to interviews. It doesn’t matter if it’s the first, second or final interview! So, by taking some essential steps in how to prepare for an interview, it will help you arrive with much more confidence in your abilities, and your chances of success will increase considerably.

Get ready and prepare for your best interview 

A general and concise preparation is the first essential step towards a successful interview. It’s normal to feel nervous because you want to do your best, albeit if you prepare and practice, you can get better than your nerves and give yourself the best chance of getting the job.

Simple but regularly forgotten points when preparing for an interview

These are some points we will briefly discuss:

• Knowing the exact location and arriving on time.
• Investigate and Illustrate.
• Refresh your memory and illustrate according to the job too.
• Think about questions you want to ask.

Be precise

• Make sure you know the exact location, time and date of the interview. Moreover, if it's online, make sure you know how to use the video application beforehand. Trust us, we know it sounds obvious! But we often see candidates arriving late, not knowing where to go, or realizing last minute they don’t have the video app which will be used.

Be curious & show that you are

• Investigate: I would argue this is probably one of the main points here. Investigate the company, research and illustrate/prepare your experience accordingly. You will make you focus on the subject on hand (your experience!). Furthermore, you will come across very professional, well-versed and as a concise individual (which is always nice).

To investigate, make yourself questions as:

• What products do they offer?
• What is the company history?
• Growth potential?
• What background do the current employees have?
• Do they support any causes?
• What is their current yearly turnover and number of employees?

You can do this by easily going on Google, their social media accounts: IG, FB, LinkedIn, Twitter… Many companies even show their offices, how they regularly dress, and what kind of environment they have. Furthermore, of course, the company website.

This is key because it works both ways, first, to understand the current situation of the company. Second, potential insights for you to discuss with the interviewer (remember, a good interview is a two-way conversation).  And third, it makes you understand even better if this is the right company for you.

Think about interesting fresh information about your professional career

• Refresh your memory and illustrate according to the job. What I mean by that, is to tailor made your experience according to the job you are applying for. It is great that you worked once as a Barman in Barbados, but unless you are applying for a job in hospitality, it won't be relevant. As well as, it is great you managed a 50mill budget last year but if you don’t mention specific numbers and how you did it, otherwise it will become a blank statement easy to forget.

There are many ways, and stiles, to prepare for this. In my opinion, the easiest way is to grab the job description and prepare your experience and speech according to the requirements of the job. Thus, what I mean by preparing, is to discuss concretely the experience you acquired in that specific subject and put real examples. Illustrate the different situations: how you reacted to them, the impact these had in the business (mentioning numbers, percentages, anecdotes, etc.), is a great way.

Ask a lot of questions to the interviewer

• Think about questions you want to ask. This point links in a way to the first point we discussed, because asking key questions to the interviewer works both ways. It shows how interested you are in the role and the company, and by asking them you can also understand if the company, and job, is the right one for you too.

To prepare for an interview, I would suggest thinking about questions like:

• What exactly will the role involve?
• What does a typical day look like?
• Why is the position available?
• What is the broad culture of the company?
• Are there advanced training programmes available?
• What are the company’s key objectives for the next 3 years?
• What are your best-selling products or services?
• Is there room for progression within the company?
• What are the main challenges currently facing the company?

The process of a job interview

This is a general view on the subject, in which we could go for a long time, but you will need to consider adapting your speech depending on the person you are going to meet.

Regularly, the first interview will be with HR whom will focus more on your personal side, who you are, and what you can bring, and go through your experience. On the contrary, second interviews are performed by the line manager whom will usually focus more on your career, the specifics of the job and what you do know.

As a last small tip, while doing an interview, always accept a glass of water if offered. It's a simple trick, but trust me, it works. When you're feeling that your speech is speeding up, you are not being clear, or simply, you are feeling nervous, grabbing the glass and sipping a bit of water and ordering your thoughts will work magically!

How to prepare for an interview like a boss

Although there is not a magic trick to be 100% successful in a job interview, I can assure you that preparing accordingly, you will feel a bit more magical whilst speaking.

The more prepared you are, the more confident you are going to sound and look.

The more questions and concrete information you’ll give, the more fluent the conversation will become, which is one of the goals here!

Now use all these tips and apply for your dream job 😉

If you want more tips, follow us on our social media: LUXE TALENT on Instagram, LUXE TALENT on LinkedIn, or in our academy RETAIL ACADEMY on Instagram, RETAIL ACADEMY on LinkedIn.