Interview Tips

Interview Techniques

The aim of the whole job search process is to obtain an interview with the client and this is made quick and easy through the Final5 process. An interview is an opportunity for exchanging information and for mutual marketing, assessment and fact-finding.

During an interview a constant inner question might be: how is my conduct in the interview strengthening my claim on this position or helping me to decide whether I wish to work for this organisation?

Interviews vary enormously, from the informal, 20 minute 'chat' to an assessment centre process lasting a whole day. The style and emphasis depend largely on the requirements of the job and the nature of the organisation. There are many features, common to all interviews, and the following information provides a core around which you can construct your own interview preparation.

What you want to achieve:

You will want to achieve certain things from the interview:

Effective self-presentation
Increased knowledge about the job
Increased knowledge about the employer

While your ultimate goal for the interview is to secure a job, the immediate aim is to move forward a step in your job search. If the job appeals to you, you will want the interview to lead to a second interview, or directly to a job offer. If the position or organisation is not for you, you will want the interview to help clarify this.

Preparation

It is essential that you plan carefully for every interview. The following points may help you to prepare:

Confirm the interview place, time, day and date.
Make sure you know how to get there. Plan your journey beforehand.
If possible get background information about the job and the employing organisation, its products, processes and services. The web should give you most of this information.
Obtain a copy of the job description, if possible.
Re-read the advertisement. Assess what you have to offer (relevant strengths, experience and skills) and memorise five or six of the key points.
Think over what would be an acceptable range for a financial package should this be raised in a first interview.
Arrive with time to spare, so that you can be as relaxed as possible given the circumstances.
Be neatly groomed and conservatively dressed.
Refresh your memory about your present/former employers. You will be expected to know at least the basic facts about the organisation you last worked for.
Prepare some questions to ask during the interview. You might like to ask questions about:
- Exactly what the position involves
- The reason the position is available
- Organisation/section growth plans

Targeted or Behavioural Interview Questions

Interviewers often ask you to demonstrate how you would act in a certain situation or how you have acted in certain situations in the past. This is called 'Behavioural Interviewing' and aims to give the interviewer a picture of your behaviour patterns in a range of circumstances that may occur in the workplace. Some examples are:

Can you give an example of when you worked with a team that had difficulty agreeing on a solution to a problem?
Tell me about a time when you had conflict with a co-worker.
Give an example of when targets were not being met and you were required to make changes in order to meet the targets?

These sorts of questions are often referred to as STAR questions because they want you to:

Describe the Situation or
Task
Describe the Action you took
Describe the Results you achieved