4.1.1. Have a clear idea of your career goal.

This is a necessary condition not only for going to a job interview but also for the entire job-seeking process. If you don’t know what you want to achieve, it is unlikely that you will take the necessary steps to get there.

4.1.2. Have carefully considered the degree of fit between your personal profile and the profile of the job being offered

The best way to generate confidence and trust in the interview is to convey a clear, credible overview of the advantages and disadvantages of one’s profile with respect to the requirements of the job being offered. This requires performing beforehand a searching, sincere reflection on your main virtues and faults.

4.1.3. Gather information about the company.

When faced with two candidates who are equally qualified for a job, the company will prefer the candidate who shows a particular interest in the organisation. One of the most obvious ways to show this interest is to be sufficiently informed, i.e., know its products and/or services, its customers, competitors, industry, etc.

4.1.4. Obtain information about the details of the interview.

The more information you have about the interview, the easier it will be to control your anxiety and nerves. Therefore, it is a good idea to gain as much information as you can before the interview so you can prepare for it: where it will take place, who will be the interviewer, information about the vacancy, the time of the interview, etc. These details, among others, must enable you to make sure that you arrive punctually for the interview.

4.1.5. Prepare answers for the most common and most difficult or uncomfortable questions.

Before going to an interview, it is advisable to prepare answers for the questions that are asked most commonly, and also to prepare answers for the most difficult questions that could be asked on the basis of the information given in the CV and also to possible uncomfortable questions of a more personal nature. However, make sure that preparing answers does not detract from your naturalness or sincerity. You must avoid talking as if you had memorised what you are saying or giving false information.

4.1.6. Prepare questions to ask.

It is very common at the end of the interview for the interviewer to ask the candidate whether he/she has any questions in order to clarify any matter. At such times, it is important to find out what the next step is in the recruitment process and who should take this step. Being a first interview, it is also advisable to avoid asking about the salary or terms of employment. It is better to leave these questions for a later stage in the recruitment process.

4.2.1. Highlight the positive aspects of the companies where you have worked.

If you talk in positive terms about previous companies, you may be seen as offering potencial for establishing a positive relationship. In any case, it is particularly important to remember this recommendation to avoid doing the opposite, that is, criticise of highlight negative aspects of the companies where you have worked.

4.2.2. Talk about the strengths that could be contributed by working in the company.

This shows that you have acquired information about the company and have gained a positive overall impression. Both indicate that you are interested in the company and not just in the job it is offering.

4.2.3. State clearly the reason why you want to change jobs.

If you are taking part in a recruitment process while still employed in another company, it is very important to explain why you want to change. In such cases, it would be easy to fall into the trap of criticising the company where you are currently working and, as has already been said, you are strongly advised not to do this. It is better to put the reason in a positive light. Therefore, while you must be truthful in the reason you give, it is not necessary to say the whole truth.

4.2.4. Know how to listen.

It is easy in an interview to make the mistake of using every possible moment to talk with the sole purpose of selling yourself. It is very important to say no more than what is necessary and to pay particular attention to listening to the person who is conducting the interview.

4.3.1. Say negative things about the companies where you have worked in the past.

This is one of the worst mistakes that can be made in an interview. If you put yourself in the interviewer’s place, to hear a person criticise a company where he/she has worked may lead him/her to think that, if he/she chooses this candidate, he/she will behave in a similar manner with the company that is now offering the job. A person who is capable of saying negative things about other companies is a threat for the recruiting company.

4.3.2. Start by focusing on the salary.

At a first interview in which the possibilities of getting the job are uncertain, it is best not to focus on talking about the salary or the terms of employment. Anyone doing this shows a very mercenary interest in the job, to the detriment of other benefits that the organisation may offer.

4.3.3. Say that your intention is to work in this company until you find something better.

To say that your intention is to work in this company until you find something better shows disrespect for the company and the job it is offering. It also shows straight away a clear mismatch between the candidate’s profile and the requirements of the job, because it is not aligned with the interviewee’s professional expectations.

4.3.4. Say that you can do any type of job.

To say this shows ignorance of the requirements of the job being offered by the organisation, a lack of self-assessment or disrespect for the recruitment process. It is assumed that everyone has a profile that fits a job’s requirements to a greater or less degree and that the purpose of a recruitment process is to find the person with the closest fit with the job.

4.4.1. Overcoming fear.

One of the main obstacles that must be overcome in a job interview is the fear of being evaluated and the anxiety and nervousness that this causes. If you can control these emotions, you have made a big step in the right direction because they are the main cause of the sensation of failure in an interview.

4.4.2. Considering the option of starting from the bottom.

A person who knows his/her professional expectations and goals - and states them clearly - should also be capable of considering the option of starting from a level below that for which he/she is qualified, provided that the company states that there is a possibility of progressing, that this is just the starting point in the contractual relationship.

4.4.3. Remember that, in a recruitment process, the company has just as much a need to fill the vacancy as the candidates have to find a job.

The best answer to these needs - both those of the company and of the candidates - is, in the case of the company, to find the profile that best fits the requirements of the job and, in the case of the person who is looking for work, to find the job that best fits his/her professional profile and expectations.