1. First and foremost, a winning attitude. Are you well-rested, fully prepared, and confident? Friendly and warm? Execution often reflects having the right attitude, which goes a long way toward making you a more likeable candidate.

2. Your pre-interview research – what you learned about the organization, job, and each interviewer, condensed into a page or two of notes. Review these notes while waiting for your interview to begin.

3. Your brag book, a professional three ring binder of proof documents. What should it contain? Original documents (each in a protective clear plastic sleeve) including letters of commendation/recommendation, awards, customer letters, reports, publications, patents, A-rated performance reviews, and other similar items that demonstrate exceptional performance. Occasionally refer to them as proof to support a point you are making.

4. Questions for this specific employer. These should be developed from your research of the employer (its market, its performance, its latest news, and the like) and each of your interviewers. Arrange questions by functional area, and ask when given an opportunity to do so.

5. Your employment and education fact sheet. Sometimes employers ask you to complete a detailed application or other demographic form that calls for specific dates and other details. Build a master form that contains education, addresses, and employment details such dates, job duties, compensation information, and other things that you probably haven’t memorized.

6. Applicable examples drawn from experience to support your answers. Your interviewers are likely to ask you to describe a time when you solved a problem, dealt with a challenging person, or overcame obstacles. As part of your prep, it’s good to build a quick list of examples where you delivered measurable results to answer the common, “Tell me about a time when you…” questions.

7. A professional pad and pen for taking notes. Here’s where a professional looking padfolio comes in, with a clean pad of pages, along with a professional pen (not a bic or someone’s promotional pen). Be at-the-ready to take notes during your interview. The padfolio can be used to house your notes about the employer, interviewers, and the questions you want to ask.

1. Crisp extra originals of your résumé. These are customized for the position, perfect in appearance, grammar, spelling and facts. Offer one to each person who interviews you.

2. Crisp professional business card. Not one from a current or previous employer (unless you own the company), but one that provides your name and professional contact information (including social profile addresses).

3. Crisp originals of your Career Impact Matrix℠. A Career Impact Matrix is a powerful one-sheeter that provides both quantitative and qualitative descriptions of the positive impact you’ve made thus far during your career.

4. Crisp copies of items from your brag book. Whenever you reference your brag book during the interview, make sure you have several crisp photocopies behind each original in the plastic sleeve, so that you can hand it to your interviewer(s).

5. Folders into which to place your leave-behinds. Here’s a touch that shows you go the extra mile. Have a few extra crisp, clean folders to use to house the leave-behinds you provide to an interviewer. Choose a folder that has pockets for your proof documents and a place to affix your professional business card.

6. Your thank-you kit. These are your thank you cards (blank inside), along with envelopes and stamps, that you’ll send to each person who interviewed you. Write a personalized note inside, hand-address them, include a business card (your professional card used for job search), and mail them from the closest post office to the interview, immediately following your interview.