Perfecting The First Impression

Making great first impressions are key to building meaningful relationships. It is said that in an interview your interviewer will know within 90 seconds as to whether or not he or she will hire you. So a vital factor to acing your interview then is to master the art of greeting someone and introducing yourself properly. Here are 10 tips you should follow when first walking into your interview.

1.Wear your best, most professional clothes. Make sure they are clean. The day before your interview get a haircut. Shave/shower the morning of your interview. Use the bathroom beforehand because the last thing you want is for nature to call just as you sit down for your interview. Statistics show that 55% of the impact when meeting a new person comes from the way you act, dress and walk in the door.
2.Know the ins and outs of the company. You should be prepared to answer any question about the company tossed your way. Spend the week before the interview reading as much as you possibly can about the company you are interviewing at.
3.As soon as you walk in establish eye contact.
4.Have a firm handshake but do not give a death grip.
5.If they do not ask how you are doing ask them how they are doing. When they ask respond with something very positive such as “great”.
6.Thank them for taking time out of their day to interview you.
7.When you take your seat sit up straight with perfect posture. A slouch portrays laziness.
8.Smile. Don’t be grinning your whole interview but a smile portrays a sense of warmth and care.
9.Be prepared to go over your resume. Be able to explain what you did at all of your previous jobs in depth and be able to portray your worth at those companies.
10.Relax. It is natural to be nervous and I would be lying if I told you if I was not nervous before all of my interviews. However, embrace the moment. You were chosen to be interviewed for a reason. Remember that you never leave an interview with nothing as worst comes to worst you have more experience interviewing and you have just created a new connection.

I have found that the 10 things above have helped me have success with my interviews. The way I see it is if right off the bat your interviewer thinks highly of you it will be hard to reverse their train of thought. Psychologists also agree that people for the most part only remember the beginning and the end of something. I bet if I asked you what happened in the beginning and end of a movie you could tell me with ease but if I ask you what happened right in the middle you would have trouble recalling what happened. I’m not saying the middle of your interview isn’t important but you should really focus on the first/last 5 minutes of your interview. If you can think of anything else that should be added to this list comment below or tweet me @aghanomics212.