Your Interview Packing List
| By Sarah Lemmon | Career, Job Search
So you finally got that call back asking you to come in for an interview. Congrats! This is an exciting time full of nerves, palm sweats, and last minute shopping for the perfect interview outfit, or just something you won’t have to iron yourself. Amongst all that running around it can be easy to forget some essential items.
Your Interview Packing List
- A Watch- A Watch is both a perfect accessory for your dress for success persona as well as a practical addition. In general, it is best to keep your phone uses to the absolute minimum, so having a watch will allow you be time conscious and not distracted by the buzzing of your phone
- Written Directions- I know we live in the technological age and written directions are a bit archaic. However, if the worse does happen and you lose all power to your GPS enabled devices you won’t be completely lost.
- Resume Copies- Be sure to bring lots of copies of your most up to date resume with you. One for every person you’ll be interviewing with, and then some extra’s for them to take to non-attending decision makers. If you know all your interviewer’s names you can even create named file folders to put your resumes in. This will show that you are prepared and care enough about the opportunity to put in some prep work.
- Portfolio- Actions speak louder than words, and in this case work samples do. Having a good portfolio not only shows that you’re telling the truth about your talents, but it also gives you fuel for talking points. For that additional affect go ahead and print out some of the portfolio pages you’ll be focusing on and include them in those file folders your resumes are in.
- Lint Roller- Nothing feels better than our favorite furry friend wishing us luck going out the door. Unfortunately, their love comes with a lot of clingy hair. Do you and your black pants a favor and throw a lint roller in your car.
- Hair Brush/ Touch-up Make-up- Same principle as the lint roller. Just make sure that everything looks the way you want it to look so you can feel confident about your appearance.
- A Bottle of Water- Survival 101, you really can’t go wrong bringing a bottle of water anywhere. Combat that nervous dry mouth with some refreshing H2O.
- Snack- There is something about those pre-interview nerves that can make your metabolism suddenly like that of an Olympic athlete. Do yourself a favor and pack a snack. No one wants to be hungry during an interview.
With these items with you, or at least thrown in your car, you’ll be sure to have as relaxing of a pre-interview time as possible.
What things are on your interview packing list?
Hi Sarah – great article. I really like the suggestion of a watch (it certainly makes candidates seem professional). Portfolio is also a very good idea – candidates who bring examples/samples of work are impressive. I would disagree with bringing food though – candidates should have clean teeth and fresh breath!