How to Survive Your First job Interview confidently

When you are giving an interview there are 3 factors that really matter in your interview. These are your first impression, how well you are prepared to answer questions in an interview? and how confident you are? Here we will discuss these factors very deeply to make your interview better. So let's start. 

First Impression

There are many things that ruin the first impression immediately. Scientists have verified that we tend to form our 1st impression about someone within the first seven seconds of meeting them, and there are undoubtedly certain factors which will instantly make or break it. So let's take a look upon those factors

A weak handshake

This point couldn't be more important for anyone with an upcoming job interview. A flimsy handshake can be a real first impression killer. A weak handshake indicates that you are being shy, anxious, uninterested, or, even completely incompetent! That's definitely not how you want others to see you, is it? Another common mistake people make is holding someone's hand for too long. Awkward! If you're gonna give the right impression of confidence and capability, remember to grip the other person's hand firmly, and for no longer than two seconds. That'll put you on the road to success! 

Keeping your hands in the wrong position

If you are ever sitting before of a bunch of people, whether it's at a business meeting, or at some conference, you've to be aware of where you keep your hands... you can place them on your lap, however never keep them in your pockets, because this gives the impression that you are hiding something. If you place your hands on the table, do not squeeze them too tightly, or leave them flat with your palms down. This makes people feel like you want to control them! also, do not forget about the role that culture plays here. whereas gently folding your hands on the table is completely okay within the Western world, this position is considered rude in Japan and Asian country. Do your research on the customs and culture before you visit another country. This may assist you to avoid any uncomfortable situations.

Chewing gum 

You have to admit that when you're talking to someone, it's incredibly annoying and distracting if they're chomping on a piece of gum. Put this irritating behavior into something like a formal situation, or meeting someone for the first time, and it becomes even more inappropriate. Chewing on gum makes you look immature, self-centered, and somewhat low-brow! So don't even think about it for a job interview. You want to demonstrate your best qualities, not your indifference to your potential employer. On the other hand, a new study found that people with chewing gums are normally seen as more friendly and approachable in casual situations. So be careful, it can help you, or it can harm you.

Avoiding eye contact. 

Eye contact has an incredibly powerful impact on how we see somebody. A study in 2007 showed that people who keep an eye during the conversation often seen as more confident, careful, intelligent, and reliable. On the other hand, people who avoid eye contact are considered less sincere, anxious and even less attractive. It doesn't mean that you have to look people like a stalker, just don't be afraid to turn your eyes on others every once in a while rather than looking around all the time! Particularly when you first meet them. 

Playing with your hair 

Statistics show that up to 18 times a day women touch their hair! Well, if it's fixed in the mirror. This is fine. But if you're playing with your hair while talking to someone, you might be sending them the wrong message. They might think you're flirting with them! But more importantly, during a conversation, a person who plays with his hair looks unconfident, anxious, and uncomfortable. Traits which in official situations are particularly unwanted. But when playing with your hair becomes overly repetitive, it may even be a sign of Obsessive-compulsive disorder! If you tend to do this when you're nervous, try to change that habit. It'll do a lot of good for you and your hair.  

Invading someone's personal space 

There are certain lines you should not cross in personal space. Simply put by experts: the space between you and someone else depends on your relationship and the situation. For close friends and family, there is a certain distance, one for informal talks and another for formal interactions. When meeting someone for the first time, keep between you two a minimum of four feet. You can be perceived as aggressive if you are too close to them. But you seem uninterested if you stand too far away. Try finding and sticking to a pleasant medium. 

Making distracting noises

We've all been in a stay with somebody who always taps their foot, or fingers or drums their pen on the work area! Furthermore, in the event that you do any of these things, you're not just irritating everybody, no offense, you're likewise giving them the wrong impression about you! Tapping can show anxiety, aggravation, or eagerness. Individuals may even imagine that you're deliberately attempting to irritate others or draw attention to yourself. And keep in mind that cracking your knuckles can help relieve pressure, It's a standout among the most irritating sounds, as per a review, by the New York Times. It tends to be about difficult to control anxious tapping, however, you need to attempt, particularly during your interview 

Not putting your phone on silent

Mostly people forget to put their mobile on silent before going to the interview. If your luck is not with you most probably your phone will ring during the interview. This will definitely put you in a very awkward situation or can give a very wrong impression to the Employer. So, to avoid such an awkward situation always check your phone is on silent or not before going into the room of Employer.

Being late 

Running late to an interview will shed a guaranteed negative light on you. You'll seem like an unreliable and unorganized person, that doesn't respect people enough to value their time. Nothing good about any of that. So, if you don't want that mass to be the way people view you, don't be late! It's that easy. Leave your house in enough time so that you don't have to run to your interview. You'll be all disheveled and unfocused, and that looks bad, too. There are tons of online resources to learn better time management skills, so make use of them.

The wrong attire 

Whether we like it or not, people will judge a book by its cover. And remember, within seven seconds of looking at us, they'll do it! Within this time, there is not much you can say that proves that many assumptions people make are purely based on looks. Statistics, in fact, claim 55% of the first impression is based on appearance. Moreover, studies show that your height, weight, hair color, and makeup may even affect your paycheck size. So if you're going for an interview, try being formal in your clothing choice, be polished, and don't use heavy perfume or tons of makeup.

Commonly asked Questions

When you apply for a job and you're called for an interview, there are some common questions that are asked and the better prepared you are, the more successful your interview would be. Here we gonna explain that what exactly the interviewer wants to know when he's asking certain questions. What exact answers he's looking at and what are the most common mistakes that people usually do. 

So tell me something about yourself? 

Now, the interviewer doesn't really care about your reply. What they are looking for is your confidence, your passion, and your enthusiasm. This is the best time to demonstrate your skills in communication. I have usually seen a lot of people say, Ahh I love film watching, I think I like to party. I love the party. I've got so many friends, so I love to party. This is not the right way to answer this question. You need to talk about your education, where you grew up, or if you have any personal interest, you can talk about your past work experience. You might say, Ahh well I was raised in Iceland and I studied Computer Science, for example. I've also been working for a Software house for about eight months and I really enjoy programming. Programming is so fun. I like experimenting new programs in my spare time. So that's how you'd answer this question.  

What are your strengths? 

Now the interviewer is looking at how positive you are. It's a very general question, it's not correct or incorrect, but if you give out a liner like, Oh, I am really a friendly person, I love to be with people and people love being with me. For an interview, this just doesn't sound great. Isn't that? So what you can say is, attention to detail is my strongest feature. I believe completely in planning and execution. In fact, even when I was in college, due to my very outgoing nature, I used to really organize my week. Many people said that I am very accessible, so I think that is my strength. 

So what are your weaknesses? 

You don't need to be really negative about yourself here for this question. I have heard people saying I'm very impatient, or people say I'm very furious, I'm very angry. Well, this isn't the correct reply. Maybe that's your weakness, but you don't need to bring it out. What the interviewer is looking at is whether you can identify your weakness and how you can cover it up. So I think one of the examples you can use to answer this question is that I am way too detail-oriented. I try to do everything, and I want all to be perfect, but I realize that I lose time, so maybe that makes me submit these projects quite late. So, I think that's one of the weaknesses. So here basically what you're doing is, you're showing that maybe you're running out of time, but you're also giving it a very positive aspect that you're a perfectionist. That is one of the best ways to answer this question. 

Where do you see yourself in five years from now on? 

I have seen people struggling really to answer this question. Well, maybe, because you yourself have no idea, where you would like to be, so usually people end up saying, Oh I would like to be the CEO of this company or I would like to own a company that doesn't seem right, so what a good response would be to that question, as the interviewer sees how committed you are to this company? A very clear and committed path because you know nowadays what the attrition rate is. So how long would you remain with the company, he wants to know. So one of the best answers you could give would be, well, five years from now, I think I'd like to be in a position of management. I want to gain a practical experience until then and eventually become a manager. I'd like to share and learn from my team members a lot of new things.

So what do you know about our company? 

Now, of course, the interviewer knows his own company, right? That he's working for, but what he's looking at is whether or not you're serious about this job? Whether you just came to a random interview? So many people are generally dropped because there is no research about the company, so research is what you have to do. Go online to learn about the company's positive attributes. Learn about their products, their history and etc. One of the best ways to answer this question is, Oh well, your company is known for its customer service and you have also been recognized for being the country's best service provider. So that is one of the best ways of answering this question. 

How well do you handle a change? 

Well, behind this question is a philosophy that is to know if you can cope with any change? Since companies usually come up with different strategies, employees are coming and going so you can deal with this? People usually say, Oh, I'm great at dealing with a change. Well, trust me that this answer would not impress the interviewer. How you can answer this question with an example, would be. Well, of course, I can manage a change, because one of our bosses, one of our immediate bosses, in my previous company, had to leave and that new boss had entered, and our strategy for a project was changed completely. So I'm also very flexible and hardworking, so we managed it with our team efforts and definitely the results were pretty good. So you can answer this question in this way.

How well do you work under pressure? 

Now the reason behind this question is the employer or the interviewer wants to know that do you get really stressed out? Do you get panicked under pressure? Because companies these days expect you to take on more and more responsibility and a greater burden of work. The best way to answer this question is, for me to work under or without pressure definitely the same thing. Tell them about your previous projects you have done under pressure in the past. Tell about that project how you done that project under pressure and achieved your goal on time without panicking. So this is one of the best ways that you can answer this question.  

How do you handle important decisions? 

Now the reason for this question is generally if someone or interviewer hires you for a position of management or a leader. He would like to know that one day when a very important decision, a very critical one, is required. How are you going to do that? So many people end up saying, "You know what I haven't really come across, I haven't really addressed such difficult situations. That's not the right answer you'd say, One of the best answers I can help you with is, you can say, it's definitely a little difficult to handle decisions, but I'm sure I can do that because of my experience. I'd rely on my experience, weigh the advantages and the disadvantages. I'd also take some advice from my team members, of course, and I'm sure that would help me make a decision. We'll also look at the decision's consequences. So I can definitely go ahead and decide.

How to be Confident in Interview?

One of the most common things most interviewees go through is when they go into an interview room, they feel extremely nervous. They're super intimidated. They feel as if there are multiple sets of eyes on you even if it's just one person. When questions are asked of you because you're nervous you either start rambling or, you completely draw a blank your mind shuts down and you just don't know what to say. So here are 5 things you should keep in mind before going into an interview in order to maximize your confidence.

Remember your value

All that is part of a strong personal brand is to understand your value. So just question yourself and remember, "Why did they invite me to this interview in the first place?" This is because I have the right technical know-how and experience. Or the capacity to help this organization in this specific position. It really helps you to increase your confidence if you can remember your value. If it doesn't help, ask yourself more questions. For example, what have I previously contributed to other organizations? Or what have I done in the past to improve a situation I could contribute and repeat on this occasion? Think about all the good things you've done. And that helps you to develop a concept for your value and what you can do for them.

Power of persuasion

To really be an ideal candidate for a new job, or to get a promotion to get a salary bump in corporate life, you have to know what you want first of all. More importantly, however, you have to convince others to help you get it. It now has nothing to do with being manipulative. Or bribing people in order to get what you want. It is about the ability to persuade and influence. And you can influence the person across the table that you are exactly what they have to employ. Context and Timing are the basic building blocks of persuasion. You'd never approach the same hiring manager in the middle of the grocery store and ask them to hire you on the spot. In that situation, you would not try to persuade them because it's the wrong place and time. Hiring managers want you to convince them in an interview. They're very persuadable. I'd, therefore, say it's the perfect place to influence and demonstrate your abilities to persuade them that you're the right choice.

Answer appropriately

You don't want to dive into the meat of the answer immediately when answering a question from the interview. You would rather take a step back and set it up.  It's almost as if you're developing the skeleton before you add it to the meat. And this applies especially to behavioral questions. Where the interviewer expects an entire story from you. About a situation or conflict that you had to overcome and how you handled it. If you don't deliver the story "the right" way by framing and configuring the story correctly from the beginning, then your point won't get as convincing as you would like.

Be a story maker 

The worse situation is that an interview is unprepared and that questions and answers to the questions you would be asked have not been predicted. There are therefore several examples and stories and accomplishments that are important for you to leverage and to remove from your back pocket whenever a new question is asked of you. So you don't want to use the same story, because in the interview you won't get very far. Then maybe I'd say bucket your responses by category. You could also have an example of your technical expertise. You have one that shows your leadership and another that shows your strong communication skills. However you wish to do so, make sure that at least three or four examples or stories are available which, whenever a new question is asked of you, you simply can pull from your bag.

Visualize and energize

Visualizing means you want to take some time out of your day even for just 5 minutes for the days and nights leading up to the actual interview date. Close your eyes and see your interview going well. See how you can answer the interviewer's questions in a seamless manner and develop a very strong relationship with them. You see them nodding, you see them wanting to know you more and get involved. And you can see that you go over the time provided for the interview (which is always a good sign). Athletes always do this before a big game. They do this so that they can see themselves winning and this creates a sense of belief that it will happen. And what it does is that it creates this energy and momentum that you will do well. So when you really have that spirit and energy and momentum, nothing should hold you back. Sometimes it's just as straight as giving direct eye contact, leaning in when they're leaning in, imitating their body language, and just giving that sense that you're really listening to what they're saying. And you're really involved in the conversation and you really want to know them.