Plan properly. Conduct your homework so that you can field any specific questions about the company that you are applying to. Study the detail about the company so that you can rapidly furnish any answer with details about the company's financial dealings or product news. Don't just look enthusiastic about joining the company and then fall on your sword when they realise that it's all a show.

Some great information can be found at the following sites:

The company's website will share a range of useful information. You should understand how the company wants to be viewed and ensure that you reflect that in your dealings with them. Study the market that the company operates within and what products and services they are looking to promote. Appreciate and reflect the company's tone and culture in your written and spoken communications. Study the annual report and any of the communication department's press statements.

As you filter all this info, consider how the role you're going for links to the department's mission. You may as well be inclined to employ the site's search bar to discover more about the individual or panel members who will be interviewing you.

Invest the time to look at websites to discover anything you can about the department. Use Google News to read some of the latest info about the company. You could even dig into the current employees facebook pages to learn insights into what it's like to work there.

Google yourself, just in case members of the selection panel are using the internet to investigate you.

Industry sources - Build a decent knowledge base of the industry or market that your company operates in. If you can let slip some of this information in your interview, you will gain some major brownie points. Read business sections of the newspapers or business focussed publications and websites to find out more about your company's competition and threats.

Back issues of trade publications are available either online or in your local library. This can often be gleaned at no cost.

If you work in the same industry as the company - then use your contacts to ask around about the company you are looking to join.

Preparing yourself - Plan enough time for this purpose. Most don't - most fail. Study for your interview, like you study for exams. Time spent on this will always pay off - if only through increasing your confidence.

Top Tips For You To Look Through:

Have a friend ask you the common interview questions in a practice interview session.

Make a note of the time, date and venue of the interview(s). Learn the names of the members of the interview panel.

Know how you will get to the interview. Plan for any potential problems and be confident that you will be able to arrive about a quarter of an hour before your alloted time.

If you look good, you tend to feel good too. Avoid any last minute panic by preparing what you're going to wear the night before.

Don't go into the interview with lots of baggage - psychological or physical. Take the bare minimum with you so you can concentrate on the interview, and nothing else.

Collect your certificates, references and paperwork in advance. You don't want to be in a blind panic looking for them on the day of the interview.

It may sound patronising, but make sure you use the toilet before you go in - you don't want to be bursting to go when you're mid-interview.

Be methodical - Sit down and quietly study your CV. Note down all of the elements of your work record and achievements that you want the interview panel to learn. Ask yourself a series of what, why, where, when, who and how questions to gather the detail about your candidacy.

Try to relate specific areas of your CV back to the job description. It will make it clear to the interviewer why they should hire you.

Don't forget that a common interview question is the "Tell me about yourself" question. Create and practice a balanced answer to this question. It needs to be focussed and structured. Let them know about the kind of person that you are.