If you are a recent college grad, there is a high probability that you are hitting the pavement looking for jobs. Not only are you sending out resumes, but you are probably scheduling a lot of interviews too. Indeed, the interview process can be a tricky one, especially if you are applying to a large corporate job where the divide between human resources and your boss is very wide. Smaller sized businesses can have their own quirks when it comes to the hiring process too. Whatever the case is, you want to have a little guidance when you are meeting with various people for post-graduate positions. Here are five job interview tips for recent college grads.
- Get Plenty of Sleep the Night Before
One of the most important tips is to make sure that you get a lot of sleep the night before your meeting. The last thing you want is to be tired and groggy when you are fielding questions from human resources. Also, you don’t want to come off as aloof and not aware, because this could start affecting your chances of landing a job.
- Show Up Showered and Dressed Professionally
On top of getting plenty of sleep, you also want to be sure that you show up to your interview showered and clean cut. This means that you should have fresh clothes that are tailored or fitted, and look professional. You certainly should not look like you are showing up on casual Friday, because this may affect your chances of getting hired.
- Make Sure that You Know Some of the Points You are Going to Talk About
After a few interviews, you will have a good idea as to what you will be asked when talking to the interviewer. Because of this, you want to start coming up with even better answers. The best way to create better answers is to practice and to show up to the interview with those answers ready to fire. It shouldn’t sound put on, but you do want to sound organically on point, and confident. Lack of confidence certainly won’t fly.
- Schedule Your Interviews so that You aren’t Frantically Running Around
A lot of recent grads make the mistake of packing all their interviews into one or two days, which can have dire consequences. There is no doubt that people will reschedule. What will happen is that interviews will get piled on top of interviews and you will wind up being late and flustered. By separating your interviews out over a couple of days, it will really allow you to spend time on each individual interview. Of course, if you are getting University of Maryland’s MBA degree online, it will be a little easier to master your schedule, but you still want to be on top of things.
- Don’t Drink a Lot of Coffee or Water Before the Interview
On top of everything, you want to refrain from drinking highly caffeinated beverages that also happen to be a diuretic. Moreover, you want to stay away from water. You certainly don’t want to be jittery when you are in your interview, and you don’t want make constant bathroom breaks. In the end, you’ll want to take a few sips of water before the interview – so you aren’t parched – but that’s about it.