Preparation, practice and personality are the three P's you'll need to remember in order to successfully perform during a job interview.

Preparation

Before you've even secured an interview you will be expected to have already done a substantial amount of preparation. Once you have an interview time set however, your preparation activities will need to step up a notch. There are a number of things you will need to do to ensure your preparedness including: becoming familiar with the interview location, interviewer's name and the interview format. You'll also need to revisit the position description and carefully consider the kinds of questions you will most likely be asked.

Practice

A professional interview coach can help run you through your paces by giving you the opportunity to practice typical questions that you may be asked at an interview. You will receive feedback on your responses and usually have the opportunity to practice your responses again taking on this feedback. Lisa of CareerWorx says: “Its amazing the profound impact professional interview coaching can have on jobseekers who have been repeatedly unsuccessful at interviews. The fine tuning of their interview skills is often the breakthrough that ultimately gets them hired”. If you don't have access to a professional interview coach, a partner, friend or relative may be willing to help you conduct an interview role play prior to your interview.

Personality

Once you have prepared and practiced for your interview its now time to turn your attention to your personality. Your aim at an interview is to let your personality shine and to convince the interviewer that you have the right personality for the job. If you're applying for a front line position such as a receptionist, merchandiser or customer service officer you'll obviously want to portray an outgoing, confident, helpful personality during the interview. It all follows through on the previous steps of preparation and practice. If you've prepared adequately you'll have a very good idea about the type of person the employer is seeking.

By Lisa LaRue, CareerWorx