“Sophia, do you have any tips to be successful during an interview?”

Since I started my career as a Recruiter, this is probably the question I have been asked the most.

Actually, yes, I do. So…. get ready for SOPHIA’S 5 TIPS TO A SUCCESSFUL INTERVIEW *drum rolls*

Sophia Khettab, Global Talent Aquisition Specialist at Adaptive Financial Consulting

1- Read about the company you are applying for:

This one seems obvious, but I can tell you that actually, it is not evident for everyone.

Reading about the company shows that you are genuinely interested in joining.

Research the founders, who works there (LinkedIn is super-mega-helpful for this.... #stalkingtime haha), read the Glassdoor reviews of the company to have a sense of how people feel about working there.

When I see that a candidate knows a little bit about us, that makes me happy and I instantly think “Oh la la! The candidate knows stuff about us. This person is genuinely interested! How cool is that?!”

I am not asking for much, but when a candidate does not even know our industry I am a little bit concerned, like “Why did you even apply?”

2- Ask questions:

Asking questions is so important!

First of all, once again, it shows that you are genuinely interested and that you are keen to learn more about the company. Most importantly, this is an opportunity for you to know if you actually really want to work there or not.

If you don’t ask, you might not get the answers you are looking for. Never make assumptions either. ASK.

There are no silly questions, always remember that. If someone makes you feel like you asked something stupid, you can take it as a red flag. “Is this company going to give me the chance to share my ideas freely?” Probably not.

3- Don’t ignore red flags

Sometimes after a job you can feel like something isn’t quite right.

You don’t know why you feel this way, you can’t put your finger on it but you know deep down that something is wrong and that you are not confident to accept an offer from this company.

Why? This is your gut warning you. Your subconscious warning you about red flags that you ignored unconsciously. Ask questions to get data to support/eliminate these feelings. A good employer will not hesitate to happily answer your questions.

Please, please, please! Always listen to your guts!

One of the biggest red flags I have in mind is:

The hiring manager being late to the interview and not even apologizing.

Yes, we are all busy and sometimes can end up in a last-minute meeting or being in a meeting that lasts longer than expected. This is understandable. What is not is your interviewer not apologizing or doing it but in a you can feel it is not genuine.

What does this attitude mean? It means that this hiring manager does not value your time. Which is rude and disrespectful. If this person doesn’t value your time now, they will definitely not value your time if you work with them.

So run away before it is too late.

4- Be honest:

If you do not know something, just say it. Admitting that you do not know something and that you are willing to learn shows that you want to grow and move out of your comfort zone.

To be completely transparent with you, if you lie we can tell. As talent acquisition specialists, we are interviewing a lot of people daily, so we do have a great sense to detect this kind of thing.

If we feel that you are lying during the interview, and are not honest, how can we be sure that you will be trustworthy if we hire you? We cannot. And in our industry, better be safe than sorry.

We need trustworthy people, someone who is not afraid tell the truth and admit when they do not know something - at the end of the day, this is how you build trust. Honesty and transparency are key!

5- Be Yourself:

In my opinion, this is the most important tip out of all the tips I can give you. If you have to remember just one tip, this is the one!

BE YOURSELF and if the interviewer is not happy with who you are, ask yourself if you really want to work with people like this. Remember that we spend a lot of time working, and pretending to be someone you are not is extremely exhausting. So be yourself, always.

Small true story for you:

When I was interviewing before joining Adaptive, in one of the companies I was in a process with, I ended up being interviewed only by people who were not really what I would qualify as “full of joy”. One of the feedback they gave me while offering me the role was “You seem to laugh a lot . Are you always like this?”

Guess what I did? I laughed at this question (I naively thought it was a joke, it was not #embarrassing haha). And then it was when I knew that I would not be a good fit there and nicely declined the offer.

Nothing is more important than being true to oneself.

Thanks to Adaptive’s team - who accept me just the way I am and can handle my weird laugh all day long. (if you are reading this: thank you, my lovely bunch of colleagues!)

BONUS TIPS: (Just because I feel generous :p)

Before the interview: Just breath and say to yourself “HEY, I GOT THIS, I CAN DO IT!”.

A little bit of cheering yourself up / does not hurt, I promise ;)

Do not forget, if your interviewers are anything like ours, we WANT you to do well. We WANT you to get the job and so the positive mindset and will for you to do well is already there!

And guess what? Even if it appears that you don't get the job, it does not mean that it was not successful - you can make any experience successful when you have a positive mindset.

Try this: “Oh, I didn’t get the job, but guess what? I have learned a lot during the process.”

YEEES, this is the kind of attitude that shows determination and that will take you a long way - trust me!

Now I am curious, do you have any funny (or not) interview stories you would like to share?