Do these Things the Night Before a Job Interview

The night before a job interview is important because it is the last chance for you to make sure that you are fully prepared and well-rested for the following day.

Some people may think that the night before a job interview is not important, but this could be one of the most crucial moments of your life. After all, it is not just about showing up and doing your best work – it’s about making a good first impression and making sure that you are well-prepared for an interview.

Here is our list of 11 things you should pay attention to the night before your job interview.

Memorise Your Research

Unless your job interview was scheduled at very short notice, you should have done your research on the business before now.

We cover research more thoroughly in our articles:

The Ultimate Guide On How To Prepare For A Job Interview

What Should I Research About a Company Before an Interview

One of the things you should do the night before a job interview is to read over everything you have learned about the business.

Knowing about the business you are interviewing for is a fantastic way to make a great impression, match your skills to the job role and business and it shows that you are serious about working for the organisation.

You might be able to find lots of information about a business online, but prioritise what you feel is the most relevant and commit it to memory.

There will be time tomorrow before the job interview to go over this once again so do not panic if you think you will forget it after you’ve gone to sleep.

Recall Your Job Application

If you are an experienced job hunter, a piece of advice you’ve probably heard many times over is to always tweak your resume/CV to match the job description of the role you are applying to.

Because of this, it is possible that you may have several versions of your resume stored on your computer.

Take the time to go over the resume you sent to the employer as well as any additional documents such as a cover letter. Familiarise yourself with all the details you included.

In our article 13 Top Job Interview Tips, we discuss the importance of preparing a story behind every point made on your resume, so that if you are questioned on any individual point you are prepared and can deliver an answer of quality immediately.

Not knowing what you have put on your job application is a job interview mistake you should definitely try to avoid. Take the time the night before your job interview to go over it.

Read Through Your Notes

As part of your job interview preparation, we always advise that you go through the job description document and make notes on it.

The notes should reflect each fact, statement or job responsibility listed on the description and give a suggestion into how you would answer a question relating to these areas or work in that content into an answer where possible.

The notes shouldn’t be long paragraphs but short sentences of keywords to help jog your memory of a skill, experience or qualification you can relate to when discussing that particular aspect of the job role and your suitability for the role.

Your notes are another thing we advise you take a look at just prior to the job interview, but going through them the night before will help them stick in your mind.

Review Prepared Questions

Like with your business research, ideally you will have prepared what questions you would like to ask before the night prior to your interview.

Make sure that the questions you are proposing to aks are relevant to the job role and address any gaps in information that you was not able to acquire from either the job description or the company’s website.

It is always good to have a few questions prepared, as some of the information you would like to discover might come out naturally during the course of the interview.

If you get to the end of your interview and all of your questions are already answered, do not simply say that you have no questions to ask, politely mention the information you was interested in discovering before the job interview and express that you are happy that you discussed them during the course of the interview.

This will show that you were prepared with questions and might even make the interviewer feel like the interview was a productive one.

Struggling to think of questions to ask? Check out 10 Impressive Questions to Ask in a Job Interview

Double Check Your Travel Plans

This task will only take you a few minutes but could end up saving you a lot of time and stress.

Double-check the address of where you are travelling tomorrow, obviously, you can ignore this if it is a virtual job interview or telephone job interview.

Make sure you are aware of the time it will take to travel there and of any disruptions that could cause delays for you. This could be scheduled road works or issues on the train line you use.

Do not forget to factor in to your travel time the time it will take to get from the car park or bus/train station to the front door of the employers building.

If you are driving to your job interview, make sure that you have enough fuel in your car the day before, or make sure you leave the house in plenty of time tomorrow to get fuel and account for any long queues at the pumps.

Remember Who the Interview Is With

This is a simple reminder but it is always worth reminding yourself of the person or people you are meeting tomorrow for your job interview.

If the first person you encounter at the business tomorrow is a receptionist, you want to be able to tell them who it is you are there to meet for your job interview.

Not providing a name could cause some embarrassment, especially if it is left to the receptionist to then pick up the phone and find out who the job interview is with.

Gather Any Requested Documents

Some employers might ask you to bring certain documents with you on the day. This could be anything from proof of qualifications, your passport or proof that you have the right to work in the country.

Make sure that you gather these documents the night before so that you can easily pick them up on your way out of the door tomorrow.

Rushing around the day of your interview trying to find document you have misplaced is not a good way to start the day and the stress could carry over to your job interview if it causes you to be late or rush to get there on time.

Prepare Your Clothes

Ideally, you will already have in mind what you will be wearing for your job interview tomorrow. Remember to keep it professional.

Give your clothes a quick inspection and if needed try them on.

Going to put your interview clothes on and discovering a hole in them or that the suit you last wore a couple of years ago no longer fits can set us on a negative path for the day.

We want to feel confident and look professional in our clothes and not have any self-conscious thoughts about our appearance lingering over us.

Relax

Hopefully, you will have prepared thoroughly for your job interview in the days prior to your job interview and the points listed above should all be quick tasks that don’t take up a great deal of your time.

Aim to get them done earlier in the evening so that you can spend the rest of the evening relaxing, helping you to get a night of better sleep.

It is not uncommon for people to feel nervous about job interviews. This can be because of the pressure of having to impress your interviewer or because you are worried about what questions they might ask you.

If you are feeling stressed, it is important that you take time out the night before your interview to relax and prepare yourself mentally and physically for tomorrow’s interview.

How Many Hours of Sleep Before Interview?

Not getting enough quality sleep the night before a job interview can lead to making costly mistakes, such as not having enough energy for the interview and coming across as unprofessional or uninterested.

Some recent studies have shown that we need about eight hours of sleep a night for optimum performance. WebMD suggests most adults need 7 to 9 hours of sleep a night which would agree with this.

Research by Lowry, Dean and Manders (2010) showed that students who slept for more hours on an average night tended to obtain slightly better grades on tests. The same could be applied to job interview situations.

Read our article – How Many Hours of Sleep Do You Need Before a Job Interview?

Drinking the Night Before a Job Interview?

When you are going on a job interview, it is best to avoid consuming alcohol the night before. You want to make sure that you are at the top of your game the next day and not impaired.

Limiting yourself to one glass of wine or one beer the night before will likely be fine, but we don’t want to consume a large amount.

Consuming excessive amounts of alcohol the night before a job interview can make it hard to concentrate during your job interview the next day. It may also cause you to have a hangover, or to feel sick the next day.

Research on the next-day effects of heavy alcohol consumption on cognitive performance suggested that sustained attention and driving abilities were impaired during hangovers and that alcohol hangovers may involve impaired cognitive functions and performance of everyday tasks.

What we can take from this is that if we are driving to the job interview the next day we are putting ourselves at risk and the impairments we experience from alcohol consumption can impact the quality of interview we have, damaging our chances of getting hired.