Preparing for a job interview is extremely stressful – there’s simply no denying it The 30 minutes of intense questions and answers will decide the direction your life will take for you, so it’s imperative to make it count

I think I’m yet to meet anyone who actively enjoys the job interview process Sure, there are those infuriating people who suffer from no job interview stress and glide through the meeting as if their careers didn’t depend on it, but even they don’t actually enjoy it – they just don’t let it affect them

So last month I tackled some of the common job interview questions you are likely to field Some of them may have seemed tricky, but they’re small fry compared to some of these tough interview questions that employers reserve for when they really want to make the applicants sweat

I think I speak for all managers around the country when I say that we have all, in our darker moments, fantasized about mimicking Sir Alan Sugar’s catchphrase on ‘The Apprentice’ and telling an employee in no uncertain terms that they need to clear their desk and leave: “You’re fired” Nice as it is to be able to pretend it would be this easy to get rid of that typist who spends more time on the phone to friends than doing their job, or the office manager who pulls a sickie every week, the truth is that simply firing your staff in this unceremonious manner will lead to all the ‘pleasures’ of an ‘unfair dismissal’ lawsuit

Anyone who is becoming disillusioned with their online job search and has found themselves looking enviously onto the effortless lives of celebrities can take comfort in the fact that they haven’t always had it this easy Even the most glamorous celebs have crumpled discarded CVs that they’d rather we never see

Wouldn’t it be wonderful to get inside the mindset of HR departments and employers and know exactly what they’re looking for in an applicant’s Curriculum Vitae and interview It’s always difficult to know how a given employer will react to specific elements of your CV – is it a positive thing to be in demand, undertaking interviews at many companies, or does it suggest you’re disloyal to your potential new boss

A recent statistic I read stated that employers spend an average of 10-15 seconds on each Curriculum Vitae before making their decision over whether to take the application further I’m not sure if it’s quite as bleak as that, but for the purposes of someone applying for a job, this is not a bad assumption to make

When reading travel industry job applications, I find the covering letter is often treated as an afterthought… a formality only included because convention dictates it should be so That’s actually the wrong way to think about things, and here’s why: The CV cover letter is the first thing your contact at the organisation will see, and you don’t want it to be the last

If you’re so down in the dumps about work that your commute feels like a trip to the gallows, you're not alone – in one recent study, 41% of workers were found to be dissatisfied in their job If a job really isn’t right for a person, I would advise them to leave

We all know what the perfect job interview candidate is supposed to be like – well qualified, immaculately presented, and most importantly – confident Working in the travel recruitment sector, I’ve heard a fair share of interviewers fed up of dealing with brash, arrogant candidates – enough to know they’re seldom welcome