It is important from beginning to convince your new employers that, in selecting you, they have made right choice.

* Demonstrate that you are highly-motivated and eager to get started.

* Discuss your duties and responsibilities; and establish your priorities. Set challenging, but achievable, short-term and long-term goals.

* To enable you to fit in quickly, find out as much you can about your company and its organisational structure.

* Identify most successful and highly valued people in firm and analyse reasons for their success. Use them as your role models. Associate with colleagues who are perceived as ideal employees.

Begin by studying job description and candidate profile. This will enable you to identify company's particular needs and demonstrate that you possess skills required to meet them.

Find out all you can about company's products, services, history, and culture. Make a special effort to identify any areas where your skills and experience may be of particular value.

Familiarize yourself with company's website and be prepared to comment constructively upon it if asked.

Prepare a list matching your accomplishments to company's stated requirements. Keep this list in front of you during interview and refer to it at every opportunity.

Specify and quantify your accomplishments, e.g. 'increased sales by 35%' or 'reduced overheads by 27%'.

Interviewers are keen to hear about relevant challenges or problems you faced in workplace, specific actions you took, and measurable results you achieved. They seek to identify key competencies such as communication skills, analytical skills, teamwork, drive and initiative. Be prepared to give examples of how and when you have demonstrated these key competencies.

To get feel of being interviewed over phone, compile a list of probable questions and ask a friend use them in a simulated phone interview. Prepare your answers carefully, using key words and phrases from job description and candidate profile. Do not attempt to write out your answers in full or they will sound wooden and scripted.