By Ada Offonry

Interview coaches are increasingly becoming an important part of the job search process.  Yet many job seekers still fail to realise the value of investing in one. They often look to their recruiters to provide them with impartial advice on how best to improve their CV/resume or interview technique.

Whilst many recruiters take this part of their role seriously, not all of them do. Within the context of the current global economic downturn and a job market flooded with candidates, it is important that as a job seeker, you leave as little to chance as possible and do everything in your power to set yourself apart from the crowd.

An interview coach can spend one on one time with you to understand your experience, strengths and weaknesses and then coach you on how to draw these things out during an interview. They can also provide you with basic and advanced interview preparation techniques and equip you to deal with tough questions.

A good interview coach should not give you run of the mill answers.  Instead they should spend time getting to understand you and help you tweak your existing technique.

Here are 12 reasons why an interview coach is an important part of improving your prospects during a job search.

1.) You have been gainfully employed for a long time and so have had no need to interview for a new role.  However, you have recently been made redundant and have no idea about how well you could perform in an interview.

2.) You keep coming out of interviews thinking that they went very well, only for you to be rejected time and time again. To make matters worse, your recruiter is not giving you detailed feedback and you are not clear on where you may be going wrong.

3.) Your interviews never last beyond 30 minutes and/or you never get to meet all of the interviewers you are scheduled to meet.  It seems like your interviewers are suddenly dragged into emergency meetings that they cannot get out of to interview you.

5.) You are a new graduate and are entering the work force for the first time.  The market is touch and you want to ensure that you make the most out of the few opportunities that open up to you.

6.) You want to switch industries or job functions but no one is giving you a chance to interview and on the rare occasion when you are interviewed, you get rejected for lack of relevant experience

7.) You want to relocate and have never historically struggled with interviews but things haven’t quite clicked this time.  There may be nuances in business etiquette that you may not be aware of that a good interview coach could help with

8.) Speaking in front of people or a person overwhelms you, you sweat profusely, and become incoherent. An interview coach can provide valuable constructive feedback to help boost your confidence and give you the opportunity to practice in an encouraging environment.

9.) You are unsure about how best to explain long gaps on your CV or less than stellar academic results.

10.) You consistently make it through to the final stage of interview only to lose out to another candidate, even though everyone said you were the ideal candidate for the job and as far as they were concerned, you were highly likely to secure the offer

11.) You are seeking a move to a new company as a team.  An interview coach will help you structure your pitch/presentation and help develop a strategy that allows all team members to shine

12.) You just want to know that you have done everything in your power to maximise your chances for a new job.