Interviews

For those who aren't twitter followers, I had an interview on Wednesday (didn't get the job) and another on Friday (recruitment agency who passed on my details to a company called Henkel, where I have an interview on Wednesday for a job basically dealing with customer queries and complaints about pritt stick and locktite).

This is what I looked like (I took out my lip stud and will be taking out my nose stud/wearing an invisible bioplast one)

Fyrinnae's Kurisumasu! over lid with a little Natural Collection sable to blend it out. Simple black liner, foundation, eyebrows etc. Nothing but lipbalm on my lips.

As far as outfit goes I wore a knee length dress and smart blazer, sorry for the lack of photos but we don't have a full length mirror I could get a shot in. They were some quick things I threw together as I had no time to go shopping. However my workwear picks would be as follows:

WorkwearBlog with Matalan, Principles by Ben de Lisi , Marks and Specner

These are the "if I was rich" picks
Oasis Pinstripe Peplum Jacket - £65.00
Block Colour Shift Dress - M&S £45.00

Principles by Ben de Lisi Skirt - £35.00
Belted Shirt - £8.00
Matalan Wide Leg Trousers - £14.00
However Matalan and George at Asda both have some lovely workwear (I love this dress from Matalan), as does New Look. It's worth shopping around, but I would go for muted pieces. Plain colours, black, navy and grey are brilliant, with maybe a hint of colour like a pale blue shirt or subtle coloured details on dresses etc. Such as the panel of colour you can see on my dress there. Nothing too bright, wait until you're employed to start wearing the brighter colours. And for the love of god please DO NOT turn up to a proper interview in jeans and a hoodie. There's a 99.99999% chance you won't get the job. It's always better to be overdressed than underdressed.
As far as shoes, plain black is the safest bet. Choose a plain, formal shoe that goes with your outfit. I was told a story once at an interview coaching group about a guy who didn't get a job because he wore brown shoes with a navy suit. They were the only formal shoes he had. Extreme but it goes to show, they can afford to be picky, especially if you happen to be a recent graduate/college leaver. You don't have the experience to back everything else up on.

Other tips I've picked up have been:
1. Be confident. You got to the interview. You've done well. Show the interviewers how awesome you are! (this is one I really need to work on!)
2. Be enthusiastic about the job. They want people who want to work there. Try to be enthusastic, even if you have to fake it. Just don't go overboard.
3. Do your research. Learn about the company, their values, problems facing them, how the company works and learn about their products if there are any. Also do some research into good answers for questions they might ask you, thinks like "what are your weaknesses?" and "what are your greatest non-academic achievements" can be horrible questions to answer and sometimes a little research helps. Just don't lie whatever you do.
4. Take a copy of your CV. The employer might want one, though they usually have their own printed out. It just helps to have one on hand, to revise everything you've written on there beforehand and give you an idea of what they might ask you about that's CV related, and in case you need to fill in forms with referee's addresses and such that you might not know off the top of your head.
5. Be punctual and formal. Be early if you can, just not too early. Being far too early can be damaging, but getting there 10 or so minutes before your interview time is a very good idea. And remember to turn up looking smart and act like a professional. No matter what you see going on in the office, even if they're all dressed in binliners and calling each other bro, remember you need to look professional. Those guys have jobs, you don't yet. Dress and act to impress. Being a little overdressed doesn't hurt, being underdressed does.

I hope this was a little helpful!
Feel free to ignore all of this. I've not exactly managed to land myself a job yet. But I've had reasonable feedback from interviews and a few tips can't hurt (I know I need to work on some of them myself, confidence is not a strong point of mine and I'm going to have to find a way to be enthusiastic about glue by Wednesday!)