Great thread although I must confess that I don't have the time to read through all 14 pages of it. I conduct interviews for my company and I'd like to share a couple of things from my point of view that I hope might be helpful to those preparing to attend interviews. Do bear in mind this is my personal way view of it and my company is nto a large one so we're less particular than the multinationals. The starter of this thread posted an excellent piece and so these are just a couple of things that I'll add.

1. Most interviewers do realise that candidates are nervous and we do cut you some slack for that so don't worry too much. We would very much prefer you to be your natural self rather than give us standard answers that is "lifted off" from job seeking sites. Interviewers can tell an honest answer from a "prepared" answer.

2. We also realise that not everyone is necessarily conversant in a particular language. What is important is that you actually try your best to. For example, I purposely conduct my interviews in English and I've encountered many cases where the candidate responds to my questions in their preferred language. You'll be amazed at how frequently that happens. We don't fault you for your lack of proficiency in a language but the one who shows an initiative and attitude that is willing to at least try definitely earns points. I had a young Malay candidate who struggled through her interview in English but I took her in. Within 3 months, she was speaking English confidently. Attitude counts for a lot.

3. Do NOT name your parents as your referees! This seems a rather silly tip and I do feel silly posting it but again, I have encountered it way too many times. It really boggled my mind, to be honest.

4. Dress smartly. It does count. You need not necessarily wear a suit (it depends on the position applied for, really) but you do need to be decent, neat and groomed.

That's about it for now.