Some Tips to Ace an Interview… It Starts with Good Old Common Sense

After interviewing people for everything from events and promotions to bikini pageants, I’ve learned a few things about what it takes to truly ace an interview. Someone once asked why I’m always interviewing people… I never thought this would be something I do, let alone often; but since I have and do, I wanted to share some of these tips. Most of which, start with the old adage – common sense!

One of the most important aspects to ace an interview begins with the FIRST IMPRESSION. Did you know that most people form an opinion of you in less than 30 seconds? This is based on your appearance, presentation, handshake, body language and more. To ace an interview you need to be mindful of the image you are projecting. Do you appear confident and self-assured or do you potentially seem nervous, anxious and unprepared? There is a saying that goes, “dress for the job you want, not the job you have”. Even if it’s a part-time job, you need to put some effort into your hair, makeup and apparel. If you don’t, the interviewer could be concerned about your ability to put in this effort when you’re actually representing their brand.

You can’t make a good impression if you are late so I can’t stress enough the importance of being on time. For our interviews at Tigris, we actually close the door once everyone is seated. Even if someone is just 5 minutes late, 5 minutes of a 30 minute interview is huge. We cover our company history, expectations and procedures in 5-8 minutes, so if you’re trying to walk in late, you’d be missing a substantial amount of information. As such, we don’t let those people in and make them wait until the next session.

Let your personality shine! If you are one on one with your interviewer, all of the attention is on you. Be careful not to fidget, swivel in your chair, play with your hair etc. If you’re in a group setting, you have to work harder to be memorable, think of something different to say than the person before and after you. You should also strive to engage the entire group and articulate well. You want to be the person who stands out and is memorable, rather than forgettable. The way I look at it, if I can remember you after meeting 50+ people in one evening, that is either a really good thing – or a really bad thing.

You Can’t Ace an Interview if You Don’t Try

Going to an interview can be nerve racking. There is another old saying, “80% of success is showing up, 90% of success if showing up on time and 100% is showing up – with energy”. One of the things that has always amazed me is how many people confirm an interview and don’t show up. Consistently, and on average, we find that 25-30% of people who not only book – but confirm an interview – don’t show up. Perhaps this is because we primarily offer part-time positions over a full-time opportunity and as disappointing as this may be, the silver lining is that this allows us to weed out a lot of people who may decide not to show up to an event – had we not taken the time to interview first.

Of those we do get to meet, I value the one’s who show up on time, are interested and engaged in what we have to say, think of some unique answers to our questions and also come prepared with some of their own questions. Event staffing and experiential marketing is about branding and personal connections – so largely observe and gauge people on their personal presentation and how well they connect to us. They are going to be the people that we entrust with our client’s brands/reputations so this is hugely important.

As long as you try, it’s not hard to ace an interview. Think about what you’d be looking for if you were on the other side of the table. Would you hire the person that looked like they combed their hair with a pillow and showed up disheveled while they doodled on their application form? Unlikely and neither would we.

Tigris Personnel is always looking for great people! To show us how you can ace an interview, apply on our website.

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Street Advertising Success for Fiction

Tigris Personnel put together a small team of staff for a street advertising campaign for Fiction Nightclub.

In spite of the frigid December temperatures, our beautiful brand ambassadors, Gabrielle and Patricia, roamed Union Station and Yonge-Dundas Square to maximize the street advertising project. The events staff were promoting two special events for Fiction including an appearance by Rashad Evans on Fri., Dec. 21 and the year end New Year’s Eve Bash on Mon., Dec. 31.

As part of the street advertising, the promotional models distributed approximately 250 flyers per shift, for a total of 500 over two days. They specifically targeted young male and female professionals who would get excited about these types of events and potential attend. Those without New Year’s plans were especially interested in hearing about what Fiction has to offer for the biggest party of the year.

Supplementing Social Media with Street Advertising

Fiction Nightclub opened in spring of 2012 and immediately captivated the Toronto club scene with it’s luxurious venue, interesting decor and top DJ’s. The club has a strong social media presence on Facebook and utilizes photographers to capture fun times had by club go-ers who can view the photos on the Facebook fan page within 24 hours of the event they’ve attended.

For these two special events, club owner Andy Deonharine (long time supporter of Tigris Personnel), organized an additional street advertising effort to reach out to a broader spectrum of people not already familiar with the establishment.

Fiction Nightclub hosts regular club nights on Friday and Saturday evenings as well as a multitude of special events featuring guest DJ’s from around the world and celebrity appearances. For an amazing night on the town, Fiction can be found at 180 Pearl St. Toronto. They also hosted Tigris  Personnel’s holiday party on Fri., Dec. 9.

Stay tuned for news and updates. For Tigris Personnel, this street advertising promotion is the first of many more to come for the nightclub.

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Tigris Personnel Proudly Hosts an Event Staff Party for the Holiday

Our team of temporary staff work hard for us all year round, so what better way to thank them than with an event staff party. This year, we decided to throw the bash at the brand new and beautiful Fiction Nightclub on Dec. 9.

Tigris arranged for line by-pass and free entry for each person attending the event staff party along with 2 complimentary drink tickets. Although our entire roster wasn’t able to make it, those who did, had a blast!

An Event Staff Party to Remember

Tigris doesn’t want to be known for all work and no play, so we love this time of year. We appreciate the efforts of our roster, who work hard for us, event in and event out. We love being able to give them the opportunity to let loose and get to know other event staff on the roster – outside of our events and programs.

Over the past 9 years, Tigris Personnel has been happy to host an event staff party annually in Toronto including:

Il Fornello Dinner in Dec/04
Lot 332 in Dec/05
Embassy in Dec/06 (the first year we went national!). We rented out the nightclub from 7-10pm and featured a magician, hypnotist and catering prior to the nightclub opening up for regular party go-ers
The Swimming Pool casino themed Christmas Party in Dec/07 complete with an inflatable money machine, casino entertainment, raffle tickets and prizing
Backyard BBQ in Aug/08
Mystery Entertainment Northern Lights Boat Cruise in Aug/09
Bar 1812 at the Thompson Hotel Dec/10
Easy & the Fifth Dec/11
Fiction Nightclub Dec/12

Who knows what next years event staff party will look like – BUT, we want to hear from you! If you have any idea for an amazing event staff party that will guarantee maximum attendance, we’d love to hear your idea.

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