I had my first ever job interview when I was 16 years old.

It was for a job in a hotel as a Conference Porter. I would be responsible for setting up conference rooms and delivering coffee to the delegates.

The man who interviewed me firstly explained what the job would entail. He told me what would be expected of me and the hours of work.

He only asked me one question – What football team do you support?

I told him it was Fulham, a rubbish team in Division 2. He laughed. We had something in common, he told me that he also supported a lower league team and that they were terrible.

He offered me the job and we soon became friends. In fact, I was the best man at his wedding a few years later.

My next job interview was when I was 25. It was for an Information Technology position at one of the coolest companies at that time, Sony PlayStation, at their head office in Soho, one of the coolest parts of London.

I knew nothing about IT, so didn’t stand much of a chance, but I was desperate to get the job.

My first interview was with one of the Human Resources staff, a girl a few years older than me.

At the beginning of the interview, I told her about how excited I was and I joked that without any experience I probably had no chance of getting the job.

She laughed. We started chatting and after a while she told me that there were 3 other candidates for the job, all of them were IT professionals.

She then told me that she really hoped I got the job because it would be fun to work together. The other IT professionals were too techy, too boring.

Despite a terrible subsequent interview with the IT Manager in which I told him my main weakness was ‘cooking’, I was offered the job.

The main reason I got these jobs was not because of my qualifications or my experience, it was my personality. My interviewers liked me. They thought I would be good fun to work with.

A recent study revealed that 78% of professionals from various industries agreed that personality is the most crucial factor when hiring.

Most people work 8 hours a day, so try and be the person that people will want to spend that time with. Knowledge can be acquired, skills learnt, and experience gained, but personality is what makes you.

Be professional and work hard, but don’t forget to smile, be positive and most of all – be nice.