Interview preparation: How to stand out from the crowd

As we all know, the job market is extremely competitive at the moment and as a candidate searching for a new role you need to do as much as you can in order to stand out and secure a role with a company that you are passionate about working for.

One of the ways that you can do this is to differentiate yourself at the very first hurdle and set the bar high for expectations of other candidates going forward for the interview.

The internet makes research easy giving you an enormous amount of searchable information at your fingertips, this goes further than just ‘Googling’ the company and having a quick look at their website.

If you really want that role have a look at downloading the companies accounts, research the ethos and values and think about how they match your own, find other employees and the structure of the organisation as well as gaining a detailed understanding of the products and services of that company. All of this will enable you to answer the question ‘why do you want to work for this company’ or ‘what do you know about us’ and demonstrate your genuine interest in working for the company.

This being said everyone has access to this information if they chose to look. If you really want to be noticed why not do some primary research; engage with current employees, liaise with current or potential customers to obtain their views on the company, their views on competitors and establish where the company you are interviewing for sit in comparison to their key competitors.

If you are able to do these things you will demonstrate that you are a proactive candidate who goes that bit further and make yourself stand out from the crowd.