The day of an interview

Everything has been leading up to this point, the day of the actual interview. Butterflies flutter around in your stomach. You go over planned questions and answers, thinking about worst case scenarios, best case scenarios. You question whether you are actually the right person for the position and why you applied for the job in the first place. You try to figure out what went wrong in the past. Plan the travel and timetable meticulously.

That is if you are anything like me.
Today is my second evening interview. I think I prefer when they are in the morning, less time to fret and worry. Similar to exams in many ways, you know there is prep you should be doing but you just dont know exactly what it is, sometimes its better to go in fresh, rather than with a jumble of thoughts cascading through your mind. I think at least evening is better than afternoon, this way you can give it very little thought in the morning and its only the afternoon for the fretting and prep.

I certainly have not got interview days down to a tee yet. If I can I like to research the position and the company (not always that useful-see earlier entry) but as far as actual questions go they have been so varied at the various interviews I dont really know where to begin.

I can advise on what I do do, however as I am still unemployed and thus unsuccessful in my previous interviews I understand if you take them with a pinch of salt. In no particular order.

1. Decide on a weakness which will not greatly inhibit your application and may also help it - The question on your greatest weakness doesnt always come up but if it does and you say something which makes you seem like a bad applicant its game over. I made this mistake once and never since.
2. See if there is any information on the person interviewing you - its good to put a name to a face, can help you feel more at ease.
3. Research company and position- already covered but one thing you can definately do is reread who they want. Think about how you fit that criteria.
4. Similarly to point 1 decide on a strength - sometimes interviewers phrase the question in such a way that you can reel off a whole string of positives, other times they want one.. so decide which of the many strengths you possess best fits the position.
5. Think about course experiences, what do you want to talk about and what might you find yourself talking about - If you have no experience, they are going to base everything off the academic, think about positive moments, or how to at least put a spin on the inevitable negative ones.

5 potentially useful points there, although as I said maybe I am doing it all wrong.