So you’ve been invited for interview? Well done – you’ve got over that first hurdle – the application! If you’ve reached this stage the employer is already impressed and on paper alone feel that you’re a pretty good match for their vacancy. From this point on, it’s all about keeping the momentum going and making sure that you impress at that next stage – the interview. Here are 5 ways to ace a job interview that should certainly help!

Know the company

This point can’t really be stressed enough. Every employer will expect a credible candidate to have done their research and know a little more than just the basics about them. It’s pretty much a given that you’ll be asked at interview what you know about their company or organisation. To really impress you’ll need to appear knowledgeable, interested and enthused about what they are all about. Reply with a “not very much” response or a marginally better “just a little” response and you’re impressing nobody. Doing your research first will really pay off.

Mind your manners

Interviews are on the whole, fairly formal environments. Therefore it pretty much goes without saying that you’ll need to mind your p’s and q’s. From the moment you enter the interview room, you should be conscious of being polite and displaying exemplary manners. From shaking hands with the interviewer to ensuring that you’re upright and attentive in your seat and never interrupting them when they speak – it all counts. A well mannered candidate will stay in the mind of an interviewer for all the right reasons.

Sell yourself

The interview in essence is the opportunity for you to pitch your wares – you’re basically selling yourself – and highlighting to an employer all your potential skills and experience. It’s essential then to perfect your pitch before you attend the interview. Rehearse your answers, try and determine what elements the employer will be trying to assess when they are interviewing you. That can usually be done pretty easily by looking at all the essential criteria in the job ad or job description. Remember though, at an interview it’s all about the “Sell! Sell! Sell!”.

Be confident not arrogant

To really ace an interview, you’ll need to come across in every way as a confident, competent and truly credible candidate. There’s a fine line though between confidence and arrogance. Even if you are  in many ways the best candidate for the job, if you display arrogant traits or an air of cockiness when being interviewed, that will all go against you. An employer is not only vetting you for this job; they’re vetting you to see how you would fit in with the rest of their team. No employer would knowingly wish to hire a arrogant employee who could potentially cause conflict within their established workforce. Err on the side of caution at all times – confidence not arrogance!

Ask them some questions

Again this comes down to doing some prep work first. Do you research on the company. Check out news articles, blog posts, press releases and the like. Then prepare a few questions for them. You could ask about the role itself but of course many candidates may do this. Your aim is to stand out, therefore asking questions about a company’s future plans, its corporate strategy or even particular products and services is more likely to impress an interviewer. Whatever you do, don’t make the mistake of never having some questions that you could ask them!

We hope that by highlighting 5 ways to ace a job interview, we’ve helped some of you. Got any other tips you’d like to share? Why not let us know via the comments section below.