How To Feel Truly Ready For An Interview
When it comes to changing your career, sometimes this involves doing something a little frightening or out of your comfort zone. Very often, it will mean having to do some kind of interview, as that is a normal part of the process of getting hired for a job. Interviews strike fear into most people’s hearts, and they are not exactly the kind of thing that anyone relishes having to do. But if you approach them in the right way, they can become manageable and even a little more enjoyable.
A big part of that comes down to preparation. If you feel truly ready for an interview, it’s always going to be a much better experience and one that is going to be so much better for you and which has better results. But how can you make sure you are truly ready for an interview? Here are some tips that might help you out a little here.
Research the company
It’s helpful to go into an interview knowing as much as possible about the company and the role you have applied for. Researching the company is a really important part of the process of getting ready for an interview, and it’s something you should consider absolutely essential in fact. So this is important for you to think about if you want to make sure you are doing all you can to really get into the right frame of mind for an interview of any kind.
To research the company, you can go online and look at their website, their social feeds, and other such places. You might go into their place of business if it has visitors, or you might speak to one or two people who work there. Knowing a little about what they do is good, but so is understanding some of their history, so make sure you get that as well.
The more you know going in, the more you will be able to achieve in the interview, and the better a candidate you will appear to be in their eyes.
Get some sleep
You must get as much sleep as you can the night before. This is not to say that it will be easy, of course, and you may find that you struggle to make this a reality. However, if you can get as much sleep as possible, that is always going to help you feel more prepared for the day and for the interview itself. Of course, there is often an experience of not being able to sleep well because of the nerves of the interview, and that can certainly be an issue. But as far as possible, try to make sure that you are doing all you can to get as much sleep as you can.
That could mean that the day before, you limit your caffeine intake and try to do some light exercise in the afternoon. You might also find it helpful to make sure you have done all your prep the night before, so you have less on your mind and you can be more likely to sleep the night through. And make sure you avoid alcohol and other toxins which can disrupt your sleep. If you get enough rest, you are going to be much more alive and with it when it comes to the interview itself.
Wash your hair!
There is something about having your hair just washed that helps you to feel a lot more ready for whatever the day is going to throw at you. Washing it means that you are going to be looking your best, but also that you are going to feel so much better, and it is amazing how much it can help your confidence levels on the whole. So with this, you should make sure that you are doing all you can to get your hair nice and clean early, before the interview itself.
You should also make sure that you are happy with how it looks and the style you have chosen for it. Whether that means you need to look up how to do hair twists or you are trying something else altogether, it’s all about making sure that you are happy with your hair and how it looks. If you are, you’ll be much more naturally confident in the moment.
Lay out your outfit
Getting your outfit ready is another part of this that is going to help, and it’s something that you should make sure you are thinking about if you want to ensure you are genuinely feeling as ready as possible for the interview itself. Whatever you have decided you are going to wear, just the fact of deciding it is the kind of thing that will help you to feel a lot more ready, so it’s something that you should make sure you are thinking about. And of course, once you have this ready, you are then going to be that much closer to having everything in place for the big moment.
When you are choosing your outfit, consider the job type, the level of formality of the role, and the occasion and setting in which the interview takes place. If you can do all you can to get all that right, you’ll find that it makes a huge difference, and this is the kind of thing that is going to really help you a lot.
Eat a hearty breakfast
What you do on the morning of the interview matters too, and in particular, you need to make sure that you are eating a full, hearty breakfast. If you do that, you’ll find that you are much more likely to end up with a feeling of being ready to take whatever comes - exactly the kind of feeling you need to succeed with a job interview of any kind. So this is the kind of simple thing that can help you out a lot, and which you should make sure you are thinking about for sure.
A good example of a breakfast that will sustain you would be oats and yoghurt - something light enough, but which is going to give you enough energy for the morning. That’s just an example, but you should consider doing something that is going to appeal to you and which you think will help you feel as ready as possible.
Practice
There is a certain limitation to practising for interviews, as you never fully know what will be asked. But you can prepare for certain questions or types of questions, and doing that will always be one of the best ways to keep yourself feeling ready. If you can practice for those before the day, you’ll feel so much more prepared on the day. It can help in particular if you have a friend to practice these with, so that’s something that you might want to consider here.
Those are just some of the things that you might want to think about in order to make sure you feel truly ready for an interview. As long as you have got that right, you should find that you are going to be in a much better place all in all.
