Insider Tips - 30

This is our final Insider Tips (of four) where we offer helpful hints aimed at the entry-level in the communications business. Last time we listed a few ways to grab a potential employer's attention to secure that all-important summer job or intern position. This time we'll assume you've aced it and got yourself an interview. What do you wear and how do you conduct yourself?

1. Let's make the assumption you did your homework and checked out the company, either via their Web site or through some other type of information piece. If it's a large public company, you called and asked to pick up an annual report or some brochures. While you were there, you took a quick, discreet but thorough look at how the staff was dressed, the "feel" of the place, the look of the office and furnishings. One point: If you haven't yet done this, try not to show up on the ubiquitous "Casual Friday" and then assume black designer jeans are the standard dress for every day of the week. That may be the case in fact, but you'll feel more than slightly awkward if you're the only one in jeans on the day of the interview … which happens to be a Tuesday.

2. You've got the outfit. Now what? Well, how's this for starters: Positively, absolutely no perfume or aftershave. Save it for clubbing. Wear the minimum of jewelry, including reducing the number of multiple earrings, nose or tongue studs unless, of course, you know the company culture supports the look. No logos please. We've actually seen people arrive for interviews or, just as dumb, get the job and arrive for work, wearing the competition's logo. And, for Gawd's sake, polish those shoes!

3. Bring in an extra copy of your CV, and have it handy although don't yank it out the moment you sit down. Bring a sample of your work, even if it's a class assignment. Bring along the annual report, brochures or print-outs from the company's Web site. Have a couple of questions to ask with reference to them. Be prepared for fairly standard questions (remember, fewer than half of all interviewers have had any training at all on how to conduct an interview) such as, "Where do you want to be in five years?" and "What is your worst fault?" Don't say you're a perfectionist or a workaholic, whatever you do. Besides being just too cute for words, no one would believe either answer anyway.

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