"It boosts your confidence and keeps you focused. Employers are generally looking for two things: your skill set and ability to fit into their team, so plan ahead and think through these things before the interview.
"You need to understand your own CV and experience well enough that you can use examples to give the interviewer no doubts you can do that job.
"Think about what skills you have and how they could benefit the company and the role. Familiarise yourself once again with the advertisement and, if you have it, study the job description. These will include clues as to what is important for the company and what type of questions you will be asked during the interview.
"Ideally, role play with someone that you feel comfortable with. Get them to ask you questions and give you feedback on your answers and delivery. Be aware of your body language, did you make enough eye contact, how was your tone, were your arms crossed or were you animated? Body language helps express your personality in an interview and how you might fit in with the team."
Time should be taken to ensure dress is both appropriate and ready for interview day.
"You will never be looked upon negatively for overdressing. However, you must be dressed appropriately. First impressions count, so have a look what you will be wearing a few days prior to the interview and see if it needs any repairing or cleaning."
Mr Stockdale said questions should be prepared to ask the interviewer as well as researching topical news on the company.
"Find out what you can about the company, look for anything newsworthy that might be current so you can break the ice at the beginning of the interview. If it is a corporate position what can you find out about their business, look for information such as annual reports, mission statements, target markets, culture, competition, size, exports or imports, etc.
"Don't forget an interview is a two-way street. Think about what questions you can ask your interviewer. Many people attend interviews with no questions prepared. This shows a lack of interest or commitment to the role and a missed opportunity for the candidate to show a point of difference.
"Before the interview revisit your CV and accomplishments or skills that might be relevant to the particular company or role. Look at your CV's strengths but just as important look at it's weaknesses.
"Have some quick answers to why you have gaps in your CV or lasted only a few months in a job.
"Every bit of preparation you do makes you more comfortable in the interview. Make sure you have a copy of your CV and any written references or recommendations prepared for your interview. Bind them according to the type of job you are applying for."
Tauranga Chamber of Commerce CEO Max Mason recalled an occasion where driving past the employer's place of business the day before paid dividends - but in an unexpected way.
"You learn from your mistakes, and about 25 years ago I had an interview with a company in another town. My wife drove me across the day before to have a look at the area. She dropped me off at the company and I walked in with jeans on and asked for a couple of brochures, saying I was having an interview the following day. The woman behind the counter told me my interview was in an hour. I had got the wrong day.
"So I sprinted into town, bought a suit, shirt and tie and was back in an hour. And I got the job. I could not have been so calm about the process if we hadn't practised the questions beforehand, though."
Mr Mason advocated treating the preparation for interview as a job in itself.
"I would advise people invest two or three eight-hour days in preparation for the interview. Think of job seeking as a job in itself.
"Learn all you can about the company you are applying to. Talk to people in the industry, or if you know people at the company it is even better. Drop that person's name into the interview.
"Employers will often talk to other people as a way of validating their decision."
Mr Mason said the whole process should be treated as a sales pitch. "Look at it from the employer's point of view and what they are looking for.
"This rule applies for the whole interview process, essentially you are selling yourself and the company is the customer. You have to take a sales approach. Turn each question around and see what the company stands to gain.
"You shouldn't be talking about this move as being just good for your career. It should be that you can bring a lot to the company.
"Make sure you present yourself as positive and likeable, even practice smiling. The interview process can be nerve-racking but doing this helps ease tension. Make sure it's natural, though.
"I always tell people to say three times during the interview that you are 'a team player'.
"The company will be looking for someone who can get along with others. Mistakes made in recruitment can have long lasting effects on team dynamics."
Karolyn Timarkos
Karolyn's challenge is that because she has worked in so many different industries, she needs to work the hardest out of the three to prove herself as being capable. The good thing is that she realises this and she prepares excessively. In fact for most of us this would be way too much and it can have its pluses and minuses.
The downsides to this would be that you may be bitterly disappointed when you don't get the job or responses in the interview seem planned without spontaneity.
However, if you would feel more confident and prepared this way then Karolyn's method may be for you. She has certainly impressed interviewers by going the extra mile.
It is important for Karolyn to try and get a feel for the type of person the company is looking for and who she would be working with. A lot of her research is over the internet on the company's website and looking for topical news regarding the industry or company.
Karolyn wears business attire to the interview which is perfect. Just make sure that you feel comfortable in what you are wearing and, above all, confident.''
Christine Atkinson
Chrissie has less technical experience than Kunal, therefore she has a harder job sifting through her personal attributes and achievements to find examples that may or may not impress the interviewer.
She has more interview experience though and is quite confident with her interview style and preparation.
She also does quite a bit of networking as part of her preparation which is invaluable when you are looking for work, if you are comfortable enough to do it.
Chrissie is quite happy to get out there and talk to people and make calls.
``Chrissie says she spends about 30-60 minutes in preparation for the interview. I feel this is not enough and it should be more like three-to-four hours. Once you look through your skills, compare them to the job, go through the job description, research the company and do some networking you will need that much time.
``When you start looking up potential questions and preparing answers I'd add an extra hour on to that. However, Chrissie is more than capable in this area.
Kunal Narsey
It is great that Kunal evaluates his own body language and this confirms he is a calm person. A network administrator or desktop support person needs to take control and remain as focused as possible when dealing with clients.
Out of the three candidates, Kunal should have access to the most specific information regarding the roles he applies for. Most of the time IT companies have detailed job descriptions outlining all of the software and hardware that you will need to be familiar with.
It is pretty black and white _ you either have the skills or you don't. That is why for him the next important part of his preparation is to find out if he is the right company fit.
When I am looking for IT candidates for my clients, a lot of the applicants have similar IT skills. I have usually spent an hour or two talking to the direct report (the IT manager) or the other employees to get a feel for the team and the right fit to fill in that gap.
`Kunal needs to make sure that he gets as much technical information about the role as possible.
Pre-preparing questions is a good way of ensuring you have some control over the interview. Then you can relate your skills to the answers.''
