Be prepared!

“Many interviewers are looking for reasons why they should not employ you, rather than for reasons why they should.”

- Colleen McLintock-Rudnick

One of the common mistakes that internship- and job-seekers make, is to show up for interviews with little or no knowledge of the companies for which they hope to work. This, ill-preparedness, according to Sipho Dayel and Janet Pringle of ECIAfrica is a definite “no – no!”

As Steven Gruzd of SAIIA reminded us, "You don't get a second chance to make a first impression!"

These sentiments were echoed by Raj Naran and Eileen Maleka of Wits’ Counselling and Careers Development Unit (CCDU). They said that once a candidate had secured an interview, he must prepare for it by doing an in-depth research on the company, having mock-interviews and familiarizing himself with common interview questions.

In addition, they gave us tips on how to write a winning CV, which, according to Naran, must be given a lot of thought because its content is “used for the elimination rather than the selection of candidates”.

So far, all the speakers seem to be singing from the same hymn sheet. The tune? … “You are a product and you need to market yourself!”