Top tips for a successful interview

Don't just rely on your winning smile and irresistible personality when it comes to interview. Make sure you've done your homework too

It might seem an obvious thing to say, but if you are having an interview at a company you would like to work for it might help to find out a bit about them before the interview.

You’d be surprised how many people don’t bother doing this and then wonder why they aren’t invited back for a second interview. Prospective employers perceive this as a lack of interest in their organisation and assume you’ll show a similar lack of interest in your work.

At Fill Recruitment we will help you as much as we can with this research by sending you links to the company website and also the sites of clients that you could be working on.

We may also give you some basic information about the members of the panel you will meet at the interview so you can do a little background on them using LinkedIn. You never know – they may be good friend of someone you know…

As a starting point we suggest taking a look at the ‘About Us’ page (or similarly named) to determine the company’s mission statement or philosophy. You may well be asked to explain how you could help them fulfil that.

Do you know which clients you would be working on? Then it’s wise to check if any of their previous creative output is on the agency’s site. Firstly you might be asked to comment on it, and secondly it gives you something to refer to in the interview to show that you are on the ball and are aware of their history.

Check out any company news or blog posts on the site and look at their LinkedIn page and Twitter feed for recent snippets of information that you could bring up during your interview. Mention of a recent award win or nomination is always a good way to flatter them.

If you are signed up to any industry websites such as Campaign or The Drum do a search for the company you are meeting and articles by employees that could be worth mentioning. Of course a simple Google search could bring up some interesting pieces – it's best not to mention anything too contentious though.

And one last thing to consider researching before the interview is – yourself.

Your prospective employer will certainly have viewed your LinkedIn profile to see your projects and posts, who you are connected to and what groups you have joined, so it is a good idea to keep this up to date and relevant (see our previous Blog article The importance of a LinkedIn profile for advice).

In fact not having a profile can sometimes count against you, particularly if you are going for a role involving digital media.

Consider the possibility that you too might be the subject of a Google search and if there are any less-than-flattering results you should be prepared to explain these.

So prospective employers like to know that you are interested in them and what they have done, and that you like what you see. Just spend time learning as much as you can about them before your interview. Forewarned is forearmed.

Wednesday 26th April 2017