How can you land that perfect job? Here are some of my top tips for candidates:

• Research: You know your specialism, and you know your services, but do you complement this professional asset with an understanding of the background and context? Do you have a current view of the organisation and the key pressures that will affect it in the coming years?

Do you understand the strategic drivers that will bear upon the role you're applying for? Being able to demonstrate a nuanced grasp of the operating environment is a definite advantage in the process. It's not all about reading the corporate plan – social media accounts, articles and profiles of key people can be just as valuable in gleaning that vital insight.

• Rehearse: A lacklustre or uninspiring performance can fatally undermine your application. Treating an interview as merely a professional conversation can mean you miss crucial opportunities to make your offer more distinctive than the next person. Strong candidates take the time to prepare relevant examples which illustrate how your professional strengths match the role profile.

I recommend the STAR method: Situation, Task, Action, Result. It provides a robust structure to your answers without sacrificing any immediacy or fluency in the dialogue. Being able to respond with a relevant, concise example creates a really positive sense of competence and assurance.

• Reflect: Prepare well and revise your own professional repertoire in detail and you'll go into any appointment process with a significant advantage. But even more important is to think hard about why you have applied. You can be sure that at some point, a panel member will ask you why you want the job.

Make sure you've got a great ‘closing summary' – a three or four-sentence paragraph that really lands your proposition.

And good luck!

Dawn Faulkner is a partner at Faerfield

This article is sponsored content for The MJ