How to succeed at an interview

That is an excellent question. The one before it is: how do you get an interview in the first place?
In this article we go through a few tips for improving your personal brand. We will also look at several aids we use here at the agency that will improve your CV and covering letter.

Your personal brand online

Have you ever looked up information about former classmates or a new neighbour? Easy, is it not? A few details and the internet — social media above all — will offer us thorough information about a particular person, from marital status through hobbies to eating habits. And recruiters go about it the same way when hunting for the ideal candidate.

So that nothing similar happens to you: HAVE A LOOK

What traces have you left online

• Take a look at what photos and videos you share on social media (Facebook, TikTok, Instagram) and which ones you are tagged in. Your weekend parties may be legendary, but when applying for a position of responsibility they will do you more harm than good. So simply delete them or untag yourself.
• If you need to hide your profile on Facebook entirely and set your Instagram account to private, you will find plenty of guides on YouTube. One of them is bezpečne na facebooku. You can delete Facebook posts in bulk with the Manage Activity tool.
• Do you have itchy fingers and, in a weak moment, enjoy arguing with anyone about anything on Facebook? Do not. Looking like a combative person will not help you find work. Every comment and status is traceable.
• LinkedIn, the professional network. This is precisely where you should leave the strongest trace. So if you have no account, set one up. If it is not good, polish it.
• What format is your email address? Do not even try sending an application for a serious position from an address like sweetie.sugarplum@azet.sk. You can create a new mailbox in Gmail faster than it takes to finish reading this article.

Learning

Keep learning. The fact that you give your free time to things other than the PS4 and Netflix will earn you a few extra points. Many courses are available free online today. Just look at the field that interests you.

CV and covering letter

When writing your CV and covering letter, be creative in how you present things, not in inventing facts and inflating your skills. Try to imagine that, among a heap of applications, yours ought to catch the eye. And above all avoid using the templates from the best-known job portals. They are templates — typing your name over the top is not enough.

Grammar and style

"Tomu slovenčinovi dávame opčas zabrať všetcy." And to other languages too. That it does not happen to you alone you can read in an article by our colleague Natália. For those who have also been out of school for some time, various tools are available.

• A thesaurus — you will find one right in Word, and also online. Let them see you can express yourself richly.
• A proofreader — an online tool that will fix even the commas in your text and, mind you, correct the nominative plural too.
• If you are not on friendly terms with English grammar, Grammarly will be your favourite tool.

Not visually either

If they are to remember you, play with the design of your materials — it is far simpler than it might seem.

• A photo — compulsory these days. A presentable one, not the sort where your head is cropped out of a group photo from the school ball. Almost every phone has a camera built in, so use it. To edit the photo you can use free online tools. Fotor for beginners and PhotoPea for the more advanced (it is almost like Photoshop).
• The overall look is something Canva will help you carve out. It is a simple, enjoyable program that can be used for building projects and has preset templates for Facebook, Instagram and more. Importantly, it offers over 1,400 CV templates, so you will certainly be able to pick the right style for you.

3 closing tips

Save your CV as a PDF — you will avoid trouble opening it and the formatting will not break.

Always name your CV and covering letter with your first name and surname. That makes the HR specialist's job easier when downloading and filing your materials. They will not have 40 files all called "CV".

You can only make a first impression once, and we trust our article will help you improve yours. We wish you well in the search for the job of your dreams.