It’s what you do before the interview that really matters. Preparation is the key. Start with the job ad and anything else you’ve learned about the role. That will give you a picture of what they are looking for. Then you need to find how to prove you’ve got those abilities and skills.

Get remembering because you need to be able to illustrate your ability through examples of past experience. If you say in the interview, “I can work in a team”, the response will be some form of “prove it”. The only way you can show the interviewer is by telling them about a specific time where you did it.

So, go back to the skills and begin to examine your career to date.  Students find this process tough because they’ve little work experience, but a little thinking might cough up a project done in school or college, where a group of different personalities had to be briefed, motivated and helped to deliver on an objective by a deadline without slapping the heads off each other. Remember, when you’re looking at your examples, it’s not just your experience, but how and why you did what you did.

Too often interviewers get a list of experiences, not any demonstration of what the interviewee did and how this fits with the job they’re seeking.
Show the interviewer what you learned from each experience, then link the experience back to the role that you’re applying for.

Plan, prepare and practice.

Eoghan McDermott is Director of Careers, The Communication Clinic . www.communicationsclinic.ie