You have less than a day before that important job interview. But you need not worry much. You can easily outshine the competition with a little preparation. The following four tasks would take you about four hours (plus five minutes) to complete, and you’ll walk into the interview confident of your success.

Do a recce

To prepare properly for an interview, find out as much as you can beforehand. Call the person who scheduled your interview and ask the following questions.

Who would you be talking to? Would you meet the manager you will work for, or would you just talk to the HR?

What are the interviewer’s expectations?

What’s the dress code? Dress better than suggested. Most times, it’s best to wear a professional suit. Many candidates show up looking like they’re going to class. Their dressing sense does not exhibit professionalism.

Get directions to the office. Plan to leave early. Keep a phone number to call if you get stuck on the bus or in traffic. If you arrive late and stressed, the interview would not go well.

If you don’t have a detailed job description, ask for one.

That’s a five-minute phone call.

Learn more

Do some fast research work on the Net. This would make you appear wise and knowledgeable when you interact with your interviewer and also give him a feeling that you are interested in your job. Go to the employer’s website, or search the Net for the following information.

How big is the company in terms of annual sales or employees?

What does the company say about its products or services?

What recent news (such as a new product, a press release, an interview with the CEO) can you discuss?

If the company is public, the boilerplate at the bottom of its press releases will tell you a lot.

Basic research should take you about an hour.

Think up stories

Be ready to answer typical interview questions with a story about yourself. To prepare, write down and memorise three achievement stories. Talk about times you’ve really felt proud of an achievement at work or school. These stories demonstrate all those hard-to-measure qualities like judgment, initiative, teamwork or leadership. Wherever possible, quantify what you’ve done.

Examples: “Increased sales by 20 per cent”, “cut customer call waiting time in half”, “streamlined delivery so that most customers had their jobs done in two days.”

Non-work achievement stories are good too. Talk about how you volunteered for the local food pantry where you overcame a big challenge or a crisis.

Achievement stories always create an impression, which is what you want. There’s an exercise in Monster Careers: Interviewing called Mastering the Freestyle Interview, which helps you develop these stories into compelling sales points.

Take the time you need — at least three hours on this task.

Sleep well

Finally lay out your interview outfit the night before, get a good night’s sleep, and always get an early start. The last thing you want is to waste all your interview preparation by arriving flustered and panicked.