How to prepare for your first job interview
Motivation, commitment and preparation are the 3 most important criteria, when you need to make a good impression at the first job interview. Get the best tips from our career advisors right here.
Find out how you fit into the company
Sanne Mattebjerg from IDA Career counselling recommends that you read the job ad, your cover letter and your CV thoroughly before going to the job interview.
“Prepare yourself for talking about your professional, social and personal competences, and how they match the company’s needs. The only way to find out about the needs is to call the company before you send your application, and then you need to convince the company that you can meet their needs during the interview,” she says.
So, your research for the interview starts even before you apply for the job.
How to prepare for the job interview
4 advice for your upcoming job interview
- Make a good first impression: smile, laugh, small talk before the job interview starts, and be curious. Say yes to coffee/water
- Prepare a presentation of yourself. Not in chronological order, but in order of priority. What is most important for them to know in terms of the job you are interviewing for?
- Try to angle your answers to make it clear what value you can add to the company.
- End on a strong note. Show a clear interest in the company with a concluding question – e.g. what will the first couple of weeks be like and what is the feedback culture of the company?
Research the company
As an applicant, you can be certain that you’ll be asked the following at the interview: “Tell us a little bit about yourself”.
“Many people tend to tell the same story as they tell in a social context “Well, my name is Sanne and I’m from a small town outside Slagelse”. This is definitely not the way to go at a job interview. A job interview is a conversation about how your professional, social and personal competences fit into the job and the company culture,” says Sanne Mattebjerg.
IDAs recruitment analysis shows, that there is a clear pattern in the job market for what types of character traits are sought after in candidates for future hires.
When asked: “What three characteristics did the candidates who performed best in the most recent job interview posess?”, companies replied with these 3 characteristics:
41% chose motivated
41% chose committed
34% chose well prepared
Source: Exerpts from IDAS “Rekrutteringsanalysen 2020”
Prepare a presentation
Prepare a 3-4 minute presentation. Start by telling about your professional strengths for this exact job and then about your social and personal strengths. Identify 3-5 success stories that confirm these strengths. These may be examples from study projects, student jobs and voluntary work where you’ve achieved good results and received positive feedback. Explain why these experiences made you interested in this job and that you can see yourself contributing to the execution of tasks as a result of your experiences.
Finish with 1-2 sentences on what you do in your spare time. This shows them some another side of you and the atmosphere becomes less formal.
Give concrete examples of your competences and skills
Giving concrete examples of your skills helps emphasize your practical experience and your ability to handle work tasks effectively. The examples you use show that you not only have theoretical knowledge, but also practical experience, and these can be an asset for your future workplace. It could be examples of how you have improved teamwork with your communication skills; trained your analytical skills by implementing precise data models for a project; used advanced Excel for data analysis; re-designed a product or service and thus trained your problem-solving skills; or had responsibility for mentoring someone in a managerial capacity. The examples show that you are aware of what you bring to the table and how you might use these in the future for problem solving.
How to introduce and present yourself
Make a good first impression
It may not come as a surprise that you need to make a good first impression at the job interview. In short, it’s about being positive, committed and not least motivated to get the job. It’s also a good idea to look at how the company presents itself on their website. Are they casual or formal? And then dress accordingly.
Be ready for a test
Most companies – both private and public – use some sort of test when hiring people. So, you might as well prepare yourself for taking a test when you’re looking for a job. Companies typically use three types of tests: personality tests, proficiency tests and cases or assignments.
Be ready for the second interview
More than half of all companies have two rounds of interviews, often with a test before the second interview. After the first round, the company often selects 2-3 qualified applicants for the next round. The second round of interviews enables you to talk more about the professional aspects of the job, and allows you to get to know each other better.
Let them see your motivation
The most important thing to remember is that the people who meet you at the interview can feel your motivation. This is why you have to practice talking about it.
“They can feel your motivation, if you can tell them exactly why you want this job. They must be able to feel that you really want this job. You must be able to tell them why the tasks and the job make sense to you, and that you like their vision – whether this is because of your previous experiences or a particular interest in the company, or both. Then you must be able to put into words how your competences can be brought into play and contribute positively to the company’s product or goals,” says Sanne Mattebjerg.
Consider possible questions from the employer
Remember that a job interview is a conversation and not an exam.
They’ll control the interview and ask you a number of questions, all in an effort to find out whether you match both professionally and personally. If you’re well prepared, you’ll already have thought about why you want this job and how you will go about it, and the answers will come easier to you.
They’ll also ask you difficult questions that you’ll have to think about before you answer, and the answers might not all be spot on. If there are any questions you’re afraid they’ll ask, prepare a short, precise and emotionally neutral answer. This will take away the fear, because you’re prepared.
Remember that they’re hoping that YOU are the candidate they’re looking for. They’ll do everything they can to help you do well, but they also need to find the right candidate and therefore they will ask some difficult questions.
Prepare for questions about salary
You cannot avoid the issue of salary. Your first salary negotiation is crucial, as it forms the basis for your future salary. It is therefore important that you have done the preparatory work before the interview and set the bar correctly. Your salary level is determined by the market and what you can negotiate for. Use IDA’s salary compass to get a projection of what you can expect in salary. You can also use the salary statistics and compare these with other examples you find – this will give you an indication of what the market is like and set a realistic and educated target. Be brave and make it clear to yourself why you deserve the salary you are proposing. Then you will also be able to answer questions about why you propose the figure you do. See more about salary in our topic First salary.
Close with a strong ending
When they don’t have any more questions to ask you and the interview is about to finish, they’ll give you the floor and ask if you’ve something to say before the interview is over.
If there’s anything you need to say, now is the time. This is also your opportunity to ask the questions you didn’t get answered during the interview.
End the conversation by saying that it’s been exciting to hear about the job and the company, that you now have a better idea of the job and that you can see yourself doing x, y, z. In this way, you get to repeat your best sales arguments before you leave, so they remember them when you walk out the door.
Rounding off and follow up
Prepare questions
Before the second interview, think about what questions you had after the first interview. Do even more research, so you can ask informed questions and say what you can contribute more specifically.
Cases
Many companies use cases in their recruitment. This will be a case similar to what you’ll be doing at the company. This enables you to show them what you can do. Sometimes you’ll be told in advance that there is a case – you may even have to solve the case before the interview.
They may also surprise you with it when you turn up for the interview. They do this to see how you react to unexpected events. Therefore, prepare yourself mentally that it might happen, so you seem cool and up for the task.
