All I want for New Year... are some well prepared interviewees

By Flora Haslam

An estimated 48,000 people work in the UK PR industry today, and PR consistently ranks in the top three career choices of graduates.  But what continues to surprise - in what is clearly a competitive field - is how many candidates arrive at interviews completely unprepared.

We hire for entry-level PR positions all year around, and admittedly have a fairly rigorous recruitment process - but it never ceases to amaze me how many candidates fail to get through the initial round because they simply haven't thought about the interview before they turn up.

Just typing 'interview preparation' into Google brings up a host of resources including likely interview questions and ways of answering them.  But of course, it's also a good idea to ask yourself if this is a job you actually want to do.  For instance, 9/10 candidates say they want to do PR because they're a "people person" – unfortunately, this doesn't necessarily mean you'll be very good at it, or indeed that you'll enjoy it!

The key point that comes up again and again is research.  Anyone currently working in PR would hopefully appreciate the importance of research, but many more hopefuls could be more successful if they spent just 30 minutes on preparation.  At the very least, it'd be a good idea to have a look at the company website, find out what they do and the things they talk about. 

So, for those candidates who are doing some research and checking out our blog before coming for interview, I'll let you into a secret - here's some of the questions you're likely to be asked:

·          Why do you want to work with us? ("Because my recruitment company set up the interview" is not an appropriate response!)

·          Why do you want to work in PR? ("Because advertising is a really hot area" is not going to go down too well either!)

·          Give us some examples of good or bad PR in action.

Oh, and a couple of don'ts...

·          Getting the interviewer's name wrong (it might make you memorable, but for all the wrong reasons...)

·          Consistently saying "no, I can't think of an answer, normally I could, but my mind is blank" (Just say something, anything!  The answer itself isn’t as important as your ability to think on your feet)

And finally, show a bit of enthusiasm – please!  It'll go a long way to endear you to the jaded interviewer who has spent six hours listening to the same old thing.