A Successful Interview

1.10 General Tips

As we know, job search techniques change, the labour market changes and job descriptions change. But what more or less stays the same is the job interview. Its your chance to sell yourself. The first 30 seconds of a job interview are the most important so if you want to be a cut above the rest you need to be on the ball. Rob Yeung, a business psychologist, maintains that an interview is all about the three Ps. You need to prepare, you need to practise, and then, on the day, you need to perform.

1. First impressions count

Greet your interviewer with a smile and firm handshake. Give eye contact. Try to make small talk during the walk from the reception area to the interview room. Liz Anderson, a human resources manager says, You have to sell yourself before you can sell anything else and the first 30 seconds are when the interviewer subconsciously makes decisions about whether they like you or not and whether you will fit into the team.

2. Be prepared
Re-read your CV and the job advert just before the interview. Do your research thoroughly: Look at the company web site or obtain literature. You may be asked about the salary you are after so make sure you research that as well.

3. Dont waffle
Answer questions properly even if you need a few moments silence to collect your thoughts. Anderson advises, Its better to say you need a minute to think about your answer rather than speak instantly and regret it afterwards.

4. Why should they hire you?

Most job adverts will list qualities theyre looking for a team worker, a good communicator so its up to you to think of examples of how you can demonstrate these skills. Be ready to talk about your knowledge, experience, abilities and skills. Have at least three strong points about yourself that you can relate to the company and job on offer.

5. Be positive
Your interviewer will be thinking about what it would be like to work with you, so the last thing theyll want to hear is you talking about your boss or current colleagues behind their back. Interviewers like to see someone who enjoys a challenge and is enthusiastic.

6. Remember your body language

It is not what you say, but how you say it. During the interview, do not fold your arms and lean back or look to the floor! Sit upright and try to maintain good eye contact. Use your hands and lean forward when making a point. Many people cannot think and control their body language at the same time, which is why you need to prepare.

7. Expect the unexpected

Your interviewer may try to catch you off guard: A survey by OfficeAngels has revealed that 90 per cent of employers ask killer questions in interviews. It is impossible to plan for every difficult question, such as How would your colleagues describe you? but try to appear relaxed and in control. Ask the interviewer to repeat the question if necessary but do not evade it. Hopefully you will not befall the fate of those job candidates at B&Q who were asked to dance to Blame it on the Boogie!

8. Develop rapport
Show energy, a sense of humour and smile. Jean Smith, a social anthropologist says: Its infectious, being positive and enthusiastic. Ask your interviewer questions about themselves and any issues the business is facing.

9. Clarify anything you are unsure of

If you are not certain what are meant by a particular question, ask for clarification. At the end, ask the interviewer if there is anything else he or she needs to know about. Do not be afraid to ask when you are likely to hear if you have been successful or not.

10. Remember your manners

It is better to choose than to be chosen. Tell the interviewer why you are interested in the company and job opportunity. Ask them for a business card and follow it up by sending a thank-you e-mail or letter, saying how much you enjoyed meeting them and how interested you are. Take the opportunity to detail the key advantages you bring. By following the three Ps prepare, practise and perform, you can turn yourself into a candidate who would not look out of place on The Apprentice.

2.DOs and DONTs DOs

1. DO: Establish rapport but keep it formal
As with any interview, part of what is being assessed are your people and communication skills, so take time to establish rapport.

Member(s) of the panel may engage you in small talk at the start or end of the interview. Treat this as your opportunity to show them that you understand the importance of small talk for establishing rapport, advises Rob Williams, a chartered occupational psychologist and author of Brilliant Verbal Reasoning Tests. Even if this feels like an informal part of the interview remember that you need to demonstrate that you get on easily with other people. Do keep in mind though, that panel interviews are formal and structured rather than casual conversations. While you need to establish rapport, its best to keep it formal. This means formal handshakes and smiles all-round, smart outfit and grooming, no slouching in the chair and no bad language, says Corinne Mills, Managing Director of Personal Career Management and author of Career Coach: Your personal workbook for a better career. A casual, matey or even jokey approach usually goes down badly in these types of meetings, so dont even attempt them.

2. DO: Hold your nerve

Panel interviews can be intimidating and feel more like an interrogation than a rapport building opportunity, so its more important than ever to keep your nerve. The panel will understand that you may be nervous so if you fluff a question or start to waffle, its not the end of the world, but you do need to recover yourself, warns Corinne. Give yourself time to think before you answer the next question so that you can deliver a well thought through answer and get back on track.

3. DO: Ask who will be there

Find out who will be in the room before you attend the interview this will give you a clue as to the questions that will be asked. Panel interviews usually comprise of the manager, a technical expert to advise on your levels of expertise, and HR, who will be looking at your interpersonal skills and ensuring that the selection process is fair, says Corinne. Other stakeholders may also be invited onto the panel this could include other functional heads, a key customer, a member of the board or governance body etc. Research the panel before the interview to work out what their agenda may be and what they may be looking for in a candidate. For instance, the technical expert will want to test your current knowledge and awareness of trends or developments in the field. Prepare answers in advance that are likely to satisfy their particular requirements.

4. DO: Take multiple copies of your CV

Typically your interviewer will have a copy of your CV and application form in front of them. In theory this will be the case for a panel interview too. However, in practice you may find that the interview panel are sharing copies of your CV or only have one copy between them. There is always a lot of paperwork that needs to be prepared in advance of interviews and if a lot of interviews are being conducted that day then there simply might not have been enough time to produce copies for everyone on the interview panel, explains Rob. Always take multiple copies of your CV it shows the panel that youre organised.

5. DO: Remember at the end of the interview to thank each panel member
Its good interview practice to thank your interviewer once you know that your interview is over. This might seem challenging with a large panel of interviewers, says Rob. In some respects its even more important to smile and thank each member of the panel in turn before you leave. This shows respect and that you understand that each panel member is playing a part in the overall interview process and outcome.

DONTs
1. DONT: Just look at one person on the panel
Knowing where to direct your gaze can be tricky when youre faced with a row of people. Focus on one panel member at a time, suggests Rob. Remember that the each member of the panel will have a say in their assessment of your overall performance. Any of the panel could form a strong opinion that you are a pass or a fail. Dont focus all your efforts on the member who asks the questions, you should also engage with the one who is introduced as the most senior or who seems in charge throughout the process. At the same time, dont forget to look at every panel member. Corinne explains: Direct your answer at the person who asked you the question but at some point in your answer, sweep your eye contact at least once across the rest of the panel. This will make each panel member feel that you have included them in your answer and will give you the opportunity to gauge how youre doing by assessing their body language.

2. DONT: Be surprised by repetition

Panel interviews tend to be very structured with panel members assigned particular questions to ask. Dont be put off if they seem to ask you a question that you may have already answered in response to a different question.

Corinne explains: They will need to ask this question because that is the pre-agreed format and procedurally there is a need to be seen as fair in asking the same question to all the candidates. Just reprise your earlier answer, ideally by supplying a different example to illustrate what you mean.

3. DONT: Be put off by the amount of note-taking

Given the number of people in the room, you can guarantee that there will be notes taken of your answers so dont be put off by scribbling. The panel may each have an interview script to follow and have been trained to write their answers onto this document, explains Rob. Its also possible that the interviewers will have assigned different roles amongst themselves; one of which may be an assigned note-taker.

3.10 Weird Questions You Could be Asked at a Job Interview

If you could be any superhero, which one would you be?- AT&T (Large US telecommunication provide) How many smartphones are there in New York City?- Google (search engine giant) Using a scale of 1 to 10, rate yourself on how weird you are?- Capital One (credit card company) If you were an animal, what animal would you be? Just entertain me for five minutes; Im not going to talk. Acosta (sales and marketing firm) How would you cure world hunger?- Amazon (e-commerce company) How many different ways can you get water from a lake at the foot of a mountain, up to the top of the mountain?- Disney Parks & Resorts (entertainment conglomerate) What is 37 times 37?- Jane Street Capital (proprietary trading firm) Who do you admire most and why? Either tell a joke, do an impression of a moose, or tell a story involving a pirate.

4.Telephone Interview Tips

Firstly, if you have a telephone interview for a job well done! You have interested a potential employer or recruiter enough for them to arrange a telephone interview with you. This is often an intermediary stage, following application, to whittle down candidates to a more manageable amount for face-to-face interviews; it can occasionally be the only interview, however, particularly if there are problems of distance. A telephone interview is very much a two-way conversation. The employer wants to find out a bit more about you; they want you to expand on your CV, provide more detail and concrete examples, and they will be gauging how you come across on the telephone your verbal communication skills, your enthusiasm and your interest. Asking pertinent questions about the role and the organisation are vital then just as relevant for you is whether you want to progress your application. It could be that, on reflection, and armed with more information, this is not the opportunity for you, and it is better to find out at this stage, rather than having to pull out when the job is offered to you. Preparation is key If you havent already been told, its worth asking how long has been set aside for your interview as this will give you an idea of how much detail to go into. Be alert, also, to how the interviewer is responding to your answers, as a guide to whether you are being detailed enough. If they interrupt you, to move you on to another question, you need to be more succinct; if they are prompting you for more information you need to open up more and give some more examples. Before the interview, write down the key objectives and responsibilities of the role, and prepare examples of how you meet the criteria. Dont assume the interviewer will tease out your skills from your examples really spell it out for them: how does that specific skill relate to what they are looking for? Try to keep your answers structured using a four-part approach: what the situation was, what skills/tools you used, why it relates to the role and finally a reflection on how it went. Its very easy to get side-tracked and waffle to fill awkward gaps, but keeping it tight with this approach ensures it remains relevant. The environmental graduates we have placed have found this works really well. Striking a rapport Successful interviews always involve building rapport. If the candidate and interviewer are aligned, both parties will feel they have got the best out of the conversation. The interviewer wants to feel comfortable just as much the candidate. Concentrate on conveying a warm and open manner, and respond to any verbal clues. Show enthusiasm, keep your examples appropriate and sell yourself.

5.8 Toughest questions at a job interview

Interviews are designed to do just one thing: identify the best possible candidate for the advertised job. And sometimes it may feel that the questions being asked have been designed to deliberately catch you out or make you question whether you are up to the job or not. But thats not their intention. Some questions aim to establish how well you cope under pressure, others will be to reveal your personality or to see what your career aspirations are. Just remember that there is no need to draw a blank or clam up if you have done your research and preparation beforehand. If you want to avoid an interview disaster, here are some of the toughest interview questions and their suggested responses. Q: Tell me about yourself This is perhaps the most open-ended question of them all and is typically used by interviewers as a warm-up question to give you the opportunity to shine. But resist the temptation to start talking about your life history. What your interviewer is looking for is a quick two or three minute snapshot of who you are and why you are the best candidate for the job. So keep your response relevant to the position you are applying for. For example: A: I started my media sales career five years ago as a telesales representative, rising through the ranks before gaining promotion to sales manager three years later. I am now responsible for training and developing a team of 15 sales consultants that are currently the companys best performing sales team. Q: What are your salary expectations? You should have done some research into the average salary and remuneration that this type of position will pay. Try to deflect the question by turning it around and asking the interviewer about the salary on offer. Typically, they will start with a lower figure than they are prepared to offer because they want to keep their costs down. So if you are pressed to give a number, its best to give a range to avoid pricing yourself out of contention. For example: A: Im sure whatever salary youre paying is consistent with the rest of the market average of 23,000 to 25,000. Q: Why should we hire you This can be a killer question and can make or break your chances of winning the job. And how you answer will depend on how well you have probed your interviewer about their requirements and expectations. So what the interviewer is really asking you is, What can you do for my business? Your response needs to answer that question. For example:

A: As I understand your needs, you are first and foremost looking for someone who can increase your advertising sales and has experience of managing a sales team. I have a proven track record in successfully managing and developing my territory within this sector, having increased my sales from 150,000 to 210,000 over the last two years alone. Q: If you were a car tree animal what would you be? Baffling though it may seem, some interviewers still insist on asking silly questions, such as If you were a car, what type of car would you be and why? There are no right or wrong answers. The interviewer is simply testing your reactions under pressure to see how you will cope with the unexpected in an attempt to gain an insight into your personality and how you view yourself. Dont get hung up on the implications of what type of car you say you would be, just be mindful that you will be expected to explain your choice. For example: A: I would probably be a 1962 Alpha Romeo Spider classy, stylish, driven and fast off the mark Q: Why did you leave your last job? You know this question will be asked at some stage, so have your answer ready in advance. The rule of thumb is to always remain positive about your current and previous employers because you never know when your paths may cross again. Besides, who are you going to turn to for a reference? For example: A: I learned a lot from my previous employer and enjoyed my time there. However, promotional opportunities were few and far between and I am keen to advance my career sooner rather than later. Q: What are your weaknesses? Career manuals abound with ways to tackle this question. And most of them seem to suggest that you should take one of your strengths and portray it as a weakness. For instance, I work too much. But this will actually work against rather than work for you because it may imply that you do not organise your workload effectively, or that you have poor time management skills. Instead, opt for a genuine weakness. For example: A: I used to struggle to plan and prioritorise my workload. However, I have taken steps to resolve this and now I have started using a planning tool and diary system on my laptop. Q: What motivates you? Short of telling your interviewer that you are motivated by the prospect of earning a footballers salary, driving a Bentley or having a holiday home in St Tropez, try and give a constructive answer that will excite your interviewer into understanding what benefit you will bring to his business. For example: A: I get a real kick out of seeing my team exceed their sales targets and completing the project on time and within budget. Q: How would your former colleagues describe you?

This is a sure sign that the interviewer likes you and is already thinking about contacting your previous employer for a reference. And this is the time when you realise how important it is to choose your referees carefully. So answer this question in the way that you would like to think your employer would respond. For example: A: I have an excellent working relationship with my manager and we have mutual respect for each other. He considers me to be hard working, dedicated, reliable and able to work well using my own initiative.

6.Ask Questions at a Job Interview !

Youve sailed through the interview. You breathe a huge sigh of relief. And then comes the killer bite, Do you have any questions? This could make all the difference between being a job seeker and a job getter. Ask, ask, ask One survey of over 150 recruitment managers found that the most unforgivable behaviour exhibited in job interviews was not having any questions to ask. If you dont ask questions in the interview, many recruiters will wonder if you are truly interested in the job. They also need to feel satisfied that the candidate has enough information on which to make a decision in case an offer is made. Susan Trainer, a senior Information Systems recruiter interviews hundreds of candidates to determine if they represent a good fit for her client companies. It makes me crazy when I ask a candidate if they have any questions and they say either No, you have answered them already or How many days holiday does your client give? There are so many things you can screw up in a job interview and not asking thoughtful questions when you have the opportunity is probably the biggest one. This is a real chance for a candidate to shine and set themselves apart from all the other job seekers. The questions you ask, and how you ask them, do as much to differentiate you from the competition as the questions asked by the interviewer. Trainer insists. Show off your knowledge Asking questions is an excellent way to demonstrate your sophistication and qualifications. The questions you choose indicate your depth of knowledge of your field as well as your general level of intelligence. Asking questions also enables you to establish an easy flow of conversation and build rapport. The more senior the position you are seeking, the more important it is to ask complex and tough questions. Recruitment managers will judge you as much on the inquiries you make as on the

responses you provide. If you dont ask sufficiently detailed questions, it will demonstrate a lack of initiative and leadership qualities that a senior level position demands.

Ten top questions to ask

Here are some examples of good questions to ask: Whats the makeup of the team as far as experience?

What does this company value the most and how do you think my work for you will further these values? What kinds of processes are in place to help me work collaboratively? What do you think can I bring you to add value? Whats the most important thing I can do to help within the first 90 days of my employment? Do you have any questions or concerns about my ability to perform this job? When key people leave the company, why do they leave and where do they usually go? What potential do you see in me? What do you think are my strongest assets and possible weaknesses? Do you have any concerns that I need to clear up in order to be the top candidate?

7.Common Interview Mistakes

Job interviews are a lot like first dates. You dress in your most flattering clothes, smile a lot (but not so much that youre creepy), you laugh at the right times, act interested, and try to make yourself sound interesting. Like first dates, interviews can go really well and leave you feeling like something amazing is about to happen to your life. Interviews can also go so wrong that you fear no one will ever want you and youll be miserable for the rest of your life. Unfortunately, you dont always know when the interview went wrong and what you couldve done differently. Fortunately, The Corner Office went straight to hiring managers to find out what job seekers are doing wrong during their interviews. They had plenty to say.

8.8 errors you cant afford to make

When asked to identify the most detrimental mistakes job seekers make in interviews, employers cited: Appearing disinterested (57 per cent) Appearing arrogant (54 per cent) Dressing inappropriately (46 per cent) Talking negatively about current or previous employers (44 per cent) Chewing gum (42 per cent) Not providing specific examples (41 per cent) Answering a mobile phone or texting during the interview (39 per cent) Not asking good questions (28 per cent) Providing too much personal information (18 per cent)

9.The 9 worst body language mistakes

These mistakes, however, arent just things you say or actions you deliberately do. Sometimes youre sending the wrong signals without even realizing it. Take the top mistake: appearing disinterested. You might actually say the wrong thing that implies youre not interested in the job or the interview, or your body might be saying it for you when you cross your arms and dont make eye contact. Here are the nine worst body language mistakes that employers witness: Failure to make eye contact (61 per cent) Bad posture (42 per cent) Failure to smile (35 per cent) Fidgeting too much in his or her seat (32 per cent) Playing with something on the table (31 per cent) Crossing their arms over their chest (31 per cent) Handshake that is too weak (30 per cent) Playing with hair or touching ones face (23 per cent) Using too many hand gestures (20 per cent)

10.What you must do before your interview:

1.

Prepare your answers

You cant know everything an employer is going to ask you, but you should expect to be asked some basic questions. You dont want to be caught saying Uhh when asked an obvious question such as Tell me about yourself or Why do you want to work here?

2.

Record yourself

Although it might sound silly, watching yourself give a mock interview can reveal a lot of the body language mistakes youre making. Use the camera on your phone or laptop to record yourself

answering mock interview questions. You might be surprised to find out that you slouch, look at the table instead of the person across from you, or fidget with your pen.

3.

Bring notes

Unless told otherwise, you can take notes with you into the interview, so jot down some questions you know you want to ask. Plus, you can take additional notes throughout the interview to show youre interested and also to ask follow-up questions.

4.

Put your phone away

Do not answer your phone or text someone during an interview. Ever. Make sure youve turned the phone off so it cant unexpectedly ring or vibrate mid-interview. Once youve set up your next interview, glance at these 17 mistakes and think about how youll avoid them. Polite manners and good body language can fix all of them and put you ahead of your competition.