Honing your job interview skills is vital if you are to have a successful experience.

Whether you are up for your dream job or you find yourself back on the job market after a long time in one place, you will find that preparing for a job interview is essential.

A job interview is not something that you should go into cold, and if you want to make a good impression, you'll find that preparation is imperative. Preparing for a job interview is not hard, but you'd be surprised how few people do it – or do it well. Consider some of the job interview skills below that will help you land that job.

1.Research the company

If you want to work with this company, you are going to need to know something about it. Few things displease an interviewer more than realizing that you know next to nothing about their company. Figure out if they were in the news lately, and what their corporate mission statement is. Just a few minutes of checking out their website and their history can help you make a much better impression.

2.Interview practice

Before you go in for your interview, think about what kind of questions they are going to ask you. By being prepared for certain questions that are likely to arise, you are going to be able to whip out a good answer in response, rather than fumbling for words or speaking out of turn.

3.Select your clothing beforehand

Ok, so this isn’t a job interview skill, but it is vitally important. It seems like a small thing, but it can make a huge difference on the day of the interview. Lay out your clothing ahead of time and try it all on. Your clothes are a big part of the image that you want to present and if you wait until the morning of the interview to try everything on, you'll find may find that you are inviting disaster to strike.

4. If possible, find out ahead of time who you will be interviewing with. Do some research on this person (or people) to find out more about them. You never know what could come in handy during an interview. Use the internet for your research, too. Social sites and professional sites are great sources of information (think Facebook and LinkedIn). Who knows… maybe you both went to the same college, like skydiving or enjoy cooking.

There are definitely things that you can do to make a good first impression. Using the job interview skills at your disposal will put you ahead of the crowd.

When you leave, make sure that you leave a thank you note with the secretary or mail one immediately after leaving. This makes an excellent lasting impression and will help them keep you fresh in their minds.