The job market can be a cruel world, we all know that. You’ve gotten onto the career ladder and now you’re currently trying to climb it up slowly and steadily. Along the way you’re going to make quite a few mistakes and miss quite a few opportunities, but overall, you know where you want to go and how you’re going to manage it. 

However, the one thing that has never quite stopped being intimidating is the need to impress potential future employers. Before you get the interview, when you’re in the interview room, and afterwards when you’re waiting for the call – how can you continually come out on top over the other candidates? Here are a few tips. 

Showcase Your Knowledge

Before you step into the interview room, make sure you know everything you can possibly find out about the company. You’re going to want to impress with a bit of knowledge as it’ll prove you’re keen to work here, and it’ll help to set you out from the crowd. After all, you’ve taken a bit of initiative and gone out of your way. That’s always a winner in an employer’s book!

Be Clear and Concise in the Interview

Clear and concise answers, that are to the point and deliver an impact, will always work over long and rambling answers. And though you’re being clear and concise here, you don’t have to be upfront about your whole life. A lot of people have a misbelief that being totally honest in an interview will take them far, but it can end up turning you away at this early stage. 

So even if you’ve been accepted under clean slate law eligibility, your employer doesn’t need to know. If an employer asks about a gap in your employment history, talk about how you took time to focus on yourself, or had outside obligations that prevented you from working. It’s the way you explain things, not what you explain itself. 

Fake Your Confidence

If you don’t feel it, you’re going to need to fake it! Thankfully, confidence comes across in a variety of ways. It’s in the way you dress, how concrete your handshake is, and how much eye contact you hold. So sit up with your shoulders back, make sure you’ve pressed your suit, and try to maintain eye contact to show attentive listening. 

Send a Follow Up Email

And once you’re out of the interview room, be sure to shoot a follow up email when you get home again. This once again shows you’re able to take initiative, and you’ve already got a professional sense about you. It keeps you fresh in the interviewer’s mind, and it helps to secure feedback even if you don’t get the job in the end. So simply send a thank you message and note how keen you are to hear from them in the future. 

Impressing a potential employer isn’t as hard as you’ve been told. It’s all in the little details!

Have you done something to impress a potential employer? Let us know what it was in the comments below.