Tips for smashing an interview!

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You perfected your CV, wrote the killer covering letter, and secured an interview, hooray! Applying for a job is time consuming and full of uncertainty, so the interview itself is often an afterthought. Here are our top tips for smashing that all-important first interaction.

Research, research, research

Make sure you know the company inside out. Scope out their website, their social media channels and look them up on sites like Glassdoor. Interviewers will want to see that you have a genuine interest in the company, so make sure you know their ethos, their history, the name of the CEO, any awards they’ve recently been awarded. It’ll all put you in good stead.

Know your CV

This is particularly important if you’ve amended your CV for different jobs, but make sure that you know what you said in your CV! Try reading it out loud as this could help fix your achievements in the forefront of your mind, as well as providing an audible reminder of how great you are!

Be Zoom-ready

A lot of interviews are taking place online now, so even though you no longer need to worry about planning a journey and checking train times, you still need to be well prepared. If possible, make sure your home, or wherever you’re going to be, is empty – any unwanted noise or interruptions could throw you off course. Close the windows so no noise travels in, make sure the washing machine isn’t on and making a distant rumbling sound, and put a note on your front door saying not to knock! Have a snack beforehand and make sure you have a glass of water within reach during the interview. Make sure your screen is set up well ahead of the interview, ideally in good light (this may mean having to move from your usual working from home set-up) and check what can be seen behind you!

Have examples ready

You will no doubt have to give examples of ‘times when…’. Think of good, solid examples of situations when you have overcome a problem, had to think on your feet, made a huge impact, and any examples of work you’re proud of. Write these down in bullet points so you have them to refer to during the interview. It’s totally fine to take in notes, and having real examples, rather than fluffy adjectives will show why you’re the best person for the job.

It’s about you wanting them as much as them wanting you

An interview isn’t an opportunity for you to beg for the job. You deserve to be there, so use the conversation to ask questions you have about the role and the company. Pretty much every interview will end with “Do you have any questions for us”, so always, always, always have a couple of questions ready.

Get in the right frame of mind

You’ll want to be relaxed, prepared and ready to go, so do whatever you need to do beforehand to be in the right frame of mind for yourself. It might be that you need to go for a short walk, or jump around to some loud music - whatever is right for you! Give yourself a boost, tell yourself you can do this, and smash it!

What’s it like to be… a Marketing and Communications Manager

This post is in our series What’s it like to be…, giving a glimpse into the realities of certain jobs. Ever wondered what someone who works in marketing actually does all day? What are the lesser-known qualities you need to work in finance? What unexpected surprises does being a teacher hold? This series is here to help answer these questions! This week we’ve been having a chat with Alice (part of The Career Girl team!), who works as Communications Manager in education.

What job do you do?

I’m the Communications Manager for a multi-academy trust (MAT). Until recently I was Marketing Manager, but the department had a restructure and this new role was created. It’s a varied role that includes producing magazines and newsletters, managing websites and social media channels, ensuring all the schools have consistent branding, creating video content, I could go on! I also do some freelance work on the side; a bonus to this specialism is that you can apply the skills elsewhere.

How did you end up in that role?

I’ve always been creative, and I studied Fashion Promotion and Communication at university; it was a really broad course that covered a lot of the ‘stuff’ in fashion – marketing, copywriting, PR, photography and graphic design. After graduating I applied for a job as a graphic designer at Allianz (a global insurance company), I didn’t get that job, but they did offer me a maternity cover role in the marketing team. I took them up on the offer and went from there! What was meant to be a temporary role turned into a permanent position and I worked my way up to Marketing Officer. I’ve always had a desire to work in education (I did think of going into teaching), so after Allianz I went into working for an independent schools group, then the MAT I’m working at now.

What’s your general working day like?

My role is technically office-based, but I go to the schools all the time, which is great as I don’t enjoy being at a desk all the time. I’ll typically start the day checking my emails in case anything has come up overnight – if there has been an incident or anything that could cause negative press, we need to be on it straight away. It could also just be that updates need to be made to websites quickly; communication between schools and parents/carers is imperative, so every time something is communicated e.g. a letter sent home, it also needs to go on the website. I’m often in schools planning with Principals to make sure their goals are being met, which can mean writing and designing a new prospectus, taking photos for their website, organising events, writing press releases, and devising campaigns to promote an area of their offering. One of the schools has a city farm so I’m working closely with them to promote their pop-up incubation project to local schools, plan events (once they can open to the public) and promote the farm as its own learning resource.

Is there anything you do in your job that you never expected you’d be doing?

Branding is probably the biggest area that I didn’t anticipate being part of the job. It’s only once I started doing it that I realised it runs through every aspect of a company – the stationery, signage, staff ID badges, merchandise, letterheads, websites, posters, flyers…it goes on and on. If these don’t all have consistent branding i.e. logos, colours, fonts and style, the whole company can look a bit shoddy!

Is there anything you thought you’d be doing but you don’t?

To be honest, it’s a job that I didn’t really understand until I was doing it, so I don’t think I had many expectations! I think I imagined advertising to be a greater aspect of it, but I now realise that’s a completely different offshoot (that still crosses over with marketing) and a different career path in itself.

Are there any qualities that you didn’t realise you’d need for this job?

Relationship building is key. This is definitely a job for people who enjoy talking and working collaboratively. This can’t happen if you’re not good at building relationships with your colleagues, they need to trust you and believe that you’ll go away and make their vision come to life. It’s also a lot more creative than I expected. You need to be a creative problem solver; I’ll have a Principal say ‘I need more students applying from xyz, make it happen’, so I have to go away and think of what events, campaigns, PR etc we could do to realise their aims.

Any words of wisdom for someone thinking of going into marketing?

Think about what industry you’d like to work in. Every company in every industry needs marketing and communications, so pick the area that most appeals to you! If you’re into sports, look at sports teams’ websites for vacancies; if you’re into food, look for major food brands, restaurant chains or blogs that you like and see if they’re hiring. It may not be possible to go straight into your desired industry, so try to keep your interest going outside of work, in a way that you can evidence when the dream job opportunity does arise. If you’re able to and it’s relevant, start a blog and build a social media presence in the area you dream of working in. When that opportunity comes up you can show you’ve got the professional experience (albeit in a different industry), and you can show them your blog to support your application. This could even open doors that the traditional job seeking route wouldn’t!*

*I’ve been supporting Nina with this website for the last couple of months, a relationship that was built on social media through our shared love for sewing!

Tips for starting a podcast!

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Podcasts; they can seem like a saturated market, everyone’s doing them, so you shouldn’t bother, right? If these women are anything to go by, we’d say there are plenty of reasons to start your own show! We asked three new(ish) podcasters 6 quickfire questions to find out all about launching their podcasts and what they’ve learned along the way…

The New Craft House Podcast, with Hannah and Rosie

The New Craft House Podcast is hosted by Hannah and Rosie, founders of The New Craft House, a fabric shop with sewing classes and workshops in East London. 

Can you tell us about your podcast?

Our podcast is called The New Craft House Podcast (imaginative name!) and in it we talk about everything sewing. We have guests on most episodes from the sewing world, business owners or people with interesting careers in sewing. It's quite informal and we both host every episode.

When and why did you decide to start it?

It was during lockdown when we had the headspace to start a new project. I think it was actually Hannah's boyfriend's idea, he's a musician and said he could do the editing for us. That was about six months ago now.

How do you approach the technical side of things?

During lockdown we were recording them remotely, so it took a lot of co-ordination with different laptops and zoom calls! We actually just record them on our phones at the moment but for the second season we're going to invest in some actual equipment like a real microphone. Hannah's boyfriend still edits for us.

Are there any aspects of running a podcast that you didn’t expect? 

We didn't expect people to want the show notes so much. It was such a last-minute thing to do the podcast, so the show notes were all delayed but we had so many requests for them!

Have any opportunities arisen as a result of you starting your podcast? Has it opened any new doors? 

Not new opportunities exactly but it's been great to be able to have in-depth conversations with people we wouldn't usually have had the opportunity to chat to. 

Any words of advice for someone thinking of starting a podcast?

Someone else told us to record the start after recording the bulk of the episode, you'll already be warmed up and sound more natural!

Un:CUT, with Alice, Atia and Juliet

Un:CUT is hosted by Alice, Atia and Juliet, three friends who met through the crafting community. You can listen to the podcast here. 

Can you tell us about your podcast?

Un:CUT is ‘the makers’ podcast’. Through laid-back chats we delve into how everyday people from different walks of life approach creating the things they love. It's really relaxed, we just chat (and often laugh!) our way through topics that our listeners can relate to. 

When and why did you decide to start it?

The three of us are friends through sewing, and in February Juliet messaged me (Alice) and Atia saying she’d had an idea…! We jumped at the chance and wanted to get going straight away but then lockdown hit so we parked the idea for a while. We then realised we could record remotely so within a week we’d booked a date and recorded our first three episodes! We didn’t really have a specific reason for starting; we’re all multi-crafters though, so we intentionally made the podcast open to all makers, not sewing-specific. 

How do you approach the technical side of things?

We record on Zoom, it’s so simple, no technical equipment needed! Juliet has a good microphone, but Atia and I just wear basic headsets as we’ve found it makes the sound clearer than using the mics on our computers. Juliet then edits the episodes using Final Cut Pro, but it’s quite time consuming so we’re going to look to hire someone to edit for us. We share a graphic each week to show what the episode is about, any guest we have on and if there’s a sponsor, so I design that on InDesign. 

Are there any aspects of running a podcast that you didn’t expect? 

The feedback! It’s been wonderful, we’ve received so many supportive and kind messages from listeners. People have made suggestions for topics, and put themselves forward as guests, which we weren’t expecting at all. 

Have any opportunities arisen as a result of you starting your podcast? Has it opened any new doors?

We’ve been featured in a few craft magazines which blew us away! We’ve got more in the pipeline, too, which is so exciting. Also, it’s been wonderful to have in-depth chats with people we wouldn’t normally have the opportunity to talk to. 

Any words of advice for someone thinking of starting a podcast?

It’s more time consuming than I’d anticipated – not the recording or planning the episodes themselves, but the extra ‘stuff’ that comes with it – promoting and marketing it, so make sure you’re happy to invest the time.

I really would say to just give it a go! When we decided to go for it, we’d recorded within a week; it’s something you can make happen really quickly, and it’s so much fun.

The Enthusiast & Co Podcast with Ellie Kime

Ellie is a creative consultant and all-round enthusiasm spreader. You can find more about her work here.  Nina was a guest on The Enthusiast podcast last month – listen to her talk about The Career Girl, her love for London and the empowerment of sewing bras(!) here.

Can you tell us about your podcast?

The Enthusiast & Co is a podcast talking to people about what they're enthusiastic about in work, life, and play. I believe one of the best things is listening to people talk about what they're really, truly, enthusiastic about, so I chat to a whole host of different guests about what lights them up.

When and why did you decide to start it?

I started The Enthusiast & Co in April 2020 - it was in the pipeline before Coronavirus anyway but happened to go live just after the UK went into lockdown. I started it for mostly selfish reasons - I love getting to know people, and there's nothing I enjoy more than chatting to people about what they're enthusiastic about; I thought other people might feel the same too! At the start of lockdown, I released an episode every week, hoping that it would give people something to look forward to in the week, and then tapered to my original plan of fortnightly.

How do you approach the technical side of things?

I'd already co-hosted The Business Proposal Podcast for a year and a half before starting this one, so I had a bit of a head start in terms of the technical side - I bought a mic from Amazon (though Apple headphones and your phone recording app are actually fine quality!) and use Libsyn as my publisher. I also outsource my editing, as I find it exceptionally difficult to cull my own chats!

Are there any aspects of running a podcast that you didn’t expect? 

Ooh what a good question! The planning always gets me - I like to keep my audio as current as possible, so my biggest struggle is recording it with enough time to edit, but not having too much of a backlog so as to release in 4 months’ time! (There are just too many great people I want to chat to!) 

Have any opportunities arisen as a result of you starting your podcast? Has it opened any new doors?

It's amazing to have a place to point people to for more in-depth chats about what I do, rather than snippets on Instagram. And people have listened in over 30 countries, which blows my mind!

Any words of advice for someone thinking of starting a podcast?

DO IT! It may feel like everyone is doing a podcast now and it's not worth trying, but only a third of podcasts are fronted by women - a stat we definitely want to up! Stats also show that your average podcast listener listens to 6 or 7 podcast shows a week, so even though there are plenty of podcasts out there, there's absolutely room for yours too!

Brilliant closing words from Ellie, there. If you’ve got a topic you’re passionate about and want to share with others, please do go for it, we’d love to listen!  

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