With Sara Adam, Major Players recruiter for Sales & Marketing jobs In this comprehensive guide to interview preparation, we take you through everything you need to consider before your interview, including how to best match your skills and experience to the role so you won't be caught out by any tough interview questions that come your way! Not got time to watch a video? Check out the main points below! Go back to the main page. Top Tip #1: Know your interviewer! - Check out the company’s website - look at their latest campaigns, read their press activity - and your interviewers, too. Check out social media sites like LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter – see if you can find out anything interesting to raise at the job interview. - Have a look at competitor websites and try to identify opportunities / insights you can bring up at interview ("I see your competition does email campaigns, I have experience with that from my last Marketing job. Is that something you've ever considered?") Top Tip #2: Matching the job spec - Grab the job spec and pull it apart, matching your skills and experience against the role (“The skills gained in my last job in events, will help me to plan successful PR campaigns in this role.”). It’ll help you prepare for any tough questions that come your way, too. Top Tip #3: Portfolios are not just for creatives! - And they're a great way to visually demonstrate what you've achieved. If you've worked on a website, add screen shots before and after. Add press cuttings from PR jobs, mailouts from marketing jobs, event photos...anything that brings your work to life. - Make sure your portfolio is neat, in order and that you're ready to talk it through. Your interviewer might not even want to see it, but at least it'll be there on hand to jog your memory. Top Tip #4: Blitzing tough questions - You're going to be asked tough questions, so be prepared by checking out our other tough job interview question video guides at left. Top Tip #5: Know where you're going - It may seem trivial, but make sure you know where you're going and plan your journey ahead of time. Try to arrive 15 minutes early, give yourself 5 to compose yourself before you go in, and use the remaining time to survey your surroundings and see what you can find out about the place and how you might fit in. Is it fast paced? Is it laid back? Is it corporate? - When deciding what to wear, think about the organisation you’re interviewing at. Suited and booted might be good for a job in HR, but not if you’re interviewing for a creative job. If in doubt, keep it smart. More tips... - Be sure to prepare a couple of questions to ask your interviewer at the end. This is also a good time to let them know how keen you are and to perhaps quickly elaborate on any areas you felt you didn’t quite do justice to the first time around (“Earlier you asked me how my experience in research jobs will help with this communications role. Would you mind if I just quickly added a few important points to my answer?”) - Contact your recruitment agent and let them know how it went. Also not a bad idea to email your interviewer – again, a good chance to elaborate on points you didn’t get a chance to cover or flesh out any answers you felt you didn’t quite nail. - For more advice on finding a job in the creative industry, drop us a line here. Search for the latest jobs in creative and design, or an advertising, marketing or PR job now.