The biggest mistakes that you can make in an interview are lying and not being yourself. Yes, your qualifications matter. But they don’t matter near as much as your authenticity. If you want to shine during an interview, you need to know and do these things.

We’ve said it before, and we will say it until the end of time. Do your research before you go into an interview. Research the company, its history, purpose, management, etc. Look up recent news articles about them and any press releases. Knowing your facts and being able to showcase that in the interview will give you so much confidence and help you put your best foot forward.

There are several common interview questions that you need to be prepared to answer. Those include things like “Tell me about yourself,” “What are your strengths and weaknesses?” and “Why do you want to work here?”

Practice your answers to these questions so that you aren’t spending the entire interview trying to think of answers. Just be careful not to over practice so that you sound like you’re reading from a script.

While an interview is meant for you and the recruiter to get to know each other better, the recruiter did their research on you just like you did on the company. They performed reference checks and reviewed your resume. If they haven’t done that before your interview, you can bet they will after, so don’t lie. Don’t embellish your work experience or qualifications. They will find out and it will not be good for you.

You were called to the interview because the recruiter wants to get to know YOU. Not the person you think they want to see. The most important thing you can do to shine during an interview is to be yourself.

Do you have any more tips on how to shine during an interview? Drop them in the comments!