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The DOs and DONTs of a Successful Interview January 17, 2012

Posted by Kirsti Burton in : Interviews, Selection Process , 1 comment so far

Originally posted at QM Jobs Blog

You’ve worked hard on your application and have spent days of compulsively checking your email hoping for a reply. Finally hear back from the company and, surprise, surprise, you’ve been invited for invited for an interview!

What Now?

First of all, congratulations! Getting invited for an interview means you’re in the last stages of the recruitment process and the employer is really interested in you. However, don’t take this for granted – the interview is vital in convincing the employer you’re the right person for the job. Ensure you make the most of this opportunity to really sell yourself and give the right impression. Here are some tips:

DO

DON’T

For further help on how to prepare and to see a list of interview questions see the resources page of our website. You can also book to see a Careers Consultant to practice answering some questions.

Raluca Maria Chereji
2nd year French and politics student at Queen Mary

Assessment Centres January 9, 2012

Posted by Andrew Falconer in : Interviews, Psychometric and Personality testing, employability and skills , add a comment

Assessment Centres are a typical part of the graduate recruitment process. Some students may not be aware of what they are and how they work and so can feel disadvantaged when attending one.

The typical application process for a Graduate Training Scheme would be: Online Application Form, Online Psychometric Tests, telephone interview, assessment centre, final interview followed by the job offer. As you can see it can be a lengthy process with each element being crucial to the overall application. Not all companies run this process and many will not include the telephone interview but rather have the first interview at the assessment centre.

Employers like assessment centres because they believe they can assess the practical skills required to do the job whilst giving candidates the opportunity to show their strengths. Employers believe assessment centres can help to remove bias in the selection process. Another benefit is that they can compare candidates with each other more easily.

The criteria you are assessed on should be the same core competencies that were covered when you applied for the job. Assessors will use a table to score you on each of those competencies. But they are also looking as you, how will you fit into their company, how capable are you of presenting a professional image to clients and external stakeholders?

You should attend the Assessment Centre wearing smart business attire – and that means well polished shoes too! Remember, you want to act professional so the employers can visualise you in their workplace.

So what happens at the Assessment Centre?

This really does depend on the company or organisation you are applying to. Most Assessment Centres take place in corporate offices or hotels and usually last a whole day, some may be over two days (e.g. some investment banks, JWT).  The centre is often the first time that the company sees you so it is essential to make the right impression. You will attend the centre with other candidates and that can be intimidating for some people. You should bear in mind that you may not be competing with the other candidates because they might be applying for slightly different roles or locations. Throughout the day the staff should make you feel at ease and you will have regular refreshments and usually lunch provided. Remember that whilst these breaks aren’t assessed they do present the employers with an idea of how the candidate behaves so remember to be nice and sociable with staff and other candidates!

A good recent account of a candidate attending the Ernst & Young assessment centre can be found on Wikijob.

The centre will run several exercises and the staff will assess each candidate based on their performance. You may also be asked to do further psychometric tests – companies do this to verify your performance in the online tests.  Some employers will only re-run the psychometric tests on a selection of candidates as a sample of overall reliability.

Typical exercises include delivering presentations, business games, in-tray  (or e-tray) and group exercises. Over the next few posts we’ll consider these. There are also lots of resources available to help.

My interviewer was wearing pyjamas! July 13, 2011

Posted by TCG Info in : Interviews, Skills and Competencies, employability and skills , add a comment

Our sister blog International Futures recently blogged on them but it seems that interview season continues. In our careers services we are seeing students going through different stages of the selection process including interviews. Some of the more bizarre situations include one candidate being interviewed, through video conference, by a high level executive from his hotel room in Singapore. He was wearing pyjamas and yawned throughout the interview. Makes you feel special doesn’t it? Another candidate tells of a group interview where they had to argue why the person to their left shouldn’t get the job.

As careers advisers we work with an extensive range of recruiters but cannot possibly know the thinking behind every question. In that example, the student concentrated on why they should be recruited rather than focus on the person on their left. How do you evaluate somebody you have never met before? The student’s response was reasonable but didn’t appear to answer the question. If you have views on how that should be answered, use the comments to share them!

Whilst you can prepare yourself and your knowledge in readiness for an interview, you cannot prepare so well for a poor interviewer. Once I was recruiting for a new position and had a severe coughing fit through a couple of the interviews. It was awful and terribly embarrassing – and candidates would have been right to question whether they wanted to work with me! Interviewers are (usually) human and want to do the right thing. That doesn’t stop some, like the boss who interviewed in the nude, seeming to enjoy the power of the situation. Likewise there are interviewers who are not up to date on the legal framework in recruiting – a friend of mine was recently asked if she planned to have children and if so, when – questions that are no longer acceptable.

So how do you prepare for the unexpected?

Instinct should be your friend. The situation of the nude boss should send clear warning signals about the work environment and their character – there is little point in pursuing the interview. My friend also decided that if a recruiter was so ill-educated in employment law it didn’t bode well for the company, and withdrew her application. If it doesn’t feel right, no matter how “hungry” you are for a job, it may not be the best move for you.

Professionalism should also play a part. So whilst the professionalism of the pyjama wearing executive can be questioned, that of the candidate should remain strong. To some degree it is pretending that this is all perfectly normal behaviour and getting on with delivering your best performance.

And if you think you’ve had a tough interview, imagine being Guy Goma who got a slightly different interview from what he was expecting:

This post was originally published on International Futures

Difficult interview questions August 5, 2010

Posted by Helen Curry in : Uncategorized , add a comment

I have just added a new podcast to our Difficult Interview Questions series, bringing us up to five in total. If you haven’t listened in before, each one is a 5-10 minute long discussion of how you might tackle that question, featuring careers advisers Jeff Riley and Deena Panthaky (who don’t always agree!). It is good preparation, gets you in tune with what interviewers want to hear and how to avoid the potential pitfalls.

Please let us know if you like them, and suggest any tough questions we haven’t covered yet.

And if you are preparing for interview, don’t forget our previous posts including:

Good luck

The 7 sins – interview mistakes to avoid September 16, 2009

Posted by Helen Curry in : Uncategorized , 1 comment so far

Ever had one of those moments at interview when you realise while answering a question, as the very words tumble out of your mouth, that you really shouldn’t have said that? I was reading an article in THES from a serial interviewee, Nicholas Tesla, and I loved this example:

You get asked about your strengths and weaknesses. I once made the perfectly correct but suicidal point that I had never seen a strength not turn into a weakness in the wrong context, and vice versa. It was a nadir in my career as a professional interviewee. As soon as it was out of my mouth I knew it was over, and it was only the second question.

I wrote once before about the importance of practice, that any interviewee ought to have a ready answer to such common questions.

Here are some more tips to save your interview performance! Remember the seven sins…

  1. Pride – You know you have to sell yourself, so you have prepared short speeches on your achievements, and bold statistics to quantify the improvements you made, but how do you know when you have gone too far? When you can’t remember what the question was anymore. It is a matter of judgement when selling-yourself turns into boasting, so do keep an eye on your interviewers reactions – have they glazed over? Are they still making eye contact? If your answer is getting long check if they really want to know more…
  2. Greed - It can be difficult to know when to begin the salary negotiations. How about waiting until you are actually offered the job? Many employers will be put off if you seem too concerned with the bottom-line. Even if they ask you early on what you expect salary-wise, it might be best to defer this question, say you want to know more about the position – the responsibilities, typical hours etc. That way you will demonstrate a commitment to the work they are offering – it is not just a job to you.
  3. Envy – ‘where do you see yourself in five years?’. How about ‘sitting in your chair’! Scary stuff. Ambition is good, as long as you demonstrate a good understanding of the work involved and the steps you will need to take to earn it.
  4. Wrath – The question comes up ‘why are you leaving your current/previous job’ or ‘would you say your last boss was a good manager?’ This is not the time to vent your feelings on the idiosyncracies of the organisation or your manager’s deficiencies. Keep a cool head and analyse his or her management style, express what you consider makes good working relationships.
  5. Lust - Flirting with an interviewer is a very risky strategy. See the video here at number 12. It is usually going to turn out awkward, embarassing, and what are you going to do if you actually get the job??
  6. Gluttony – So the assessment centre or networking event has a free buffet, or you have been invited to lunch – obviously food is not the main event here. Keep it neat and modest. Demonstrate your professionalism through good personal presentation even outside the interview room.
  7. Sloth – Lack of research about the company, poorly structured answers… it speaks of disinterest, poor attention to detail, and a lack of self-management. Late to the interview? Overly-relaxed body posture? Thin CV? Don’t do it!

For a more general overview of preparing for interview, see our free leaflets on Interviews and Telephone Interviews.


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Choosing a legal career: job interviews – say as little as possible?? March 19, 2009

Posted by Helen Curry in : Law , 2comments

Continuing the legal theme this week, I thought I’d discuss an interview tip given in a new book we have acquired. In “The Legal Job Interview”, Clifford Ennico gives valuable advice on every stage of the interview process from initial body language to negotiating salary, and the perspective on legal culture makes it particularly useful over general interview books. However his top tip, his “key rule”, stood out to me as somewhat controversial and needing a little more examination.

SAY AS LITTLE AS POSSIBLE

He calls this the 20/80 rule. In any successful interview he reckons he will do 20 percent of the talking, and the interviewer does 80 percent. Why?

Of course, the key to success with this approach is asking the right questions.

Rather than demonstrating the qualities they are looking for in your answers, instead you demonstrate them in your questions:

It is an interesting approach – it sounds a little too evasive at first, until you realise the importance of the questions you are asking. While I wouldn’t worry trying to achieve the magical 20/80 ratio, the main point to take away is how important it is to ask good questions. Some of the qualities listed above are difficult to demonstrate in any other way, it is a key way of showing your interest in the firm, and they will at least expect one question from you at the end to round off the interview. It is worthwhile preparing a few, so even if they answer some prior to the interview you still have something to ask.

No matter how detailed the recruitment brochure and website has been, no matter how clearly the presentations have explained everything about the firm, it is essential ask them questions!



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Interview questions: real-life examples February 26, 2009

Posted by TCG Info in : Uncategorized , 1 comment so far

As my previous posts on interview questions have proved very popular, I thought I’d just put up a short list of some websites where you can find real-life interview questions that candidates have reported being asked.

All these sites are dependent on students sharing their experiences every year, so if you use them do submit your experiences to them afterwards. eFinancialCareers are even offering a draw for an iPod nano as an incentive

And just a word of caution, recruiters can change questions and indeed whole recruitment strategies without warning, so check the dates of these student reports, and use these as guidance rather than a definitive programme.


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Preparing for competency-based interviews February 16, 2009

Posted by Helen Curry in : Uncategorized , 6comments

What are competencies?

Competencies can be described in slightly different ways. Here’s one definition:

a written description of measurable work habits and personal skills used to achieve a work objective

From Paul Green’s book Building Robust Competencies

Competencies are the skills, behaviours and abilities that you will need to do the job well.

Examples include: teamwork, attention to detail, presentation skills, ability to motivate others, ability to work under pressure, adaptability, research skills, negotiation, problem solving…

Why would I have a competency-based interview?

Competency-based assessment is usually just one step in a recruitment process that aims to get a picture of you as a whole person. Your CV will probably have told them all they need to know about your qualifications. Any technical abilities required (e.g. computing languages) may be assessed in a technical interview or a practical test. The competency-based interview is intended to draw out how you like to work and what sort of tasks you will do well. Rather than looking for previous experience of doing the exact same job, they allow you to prove yourself using a range of previous experiences, including coursework, societies, sports, voluntary work, and life experiences like negotiating with your landlord. This is why they are popular amongst graduate recruiters, because they help identify your potential to grow into a new professional role.

How does the interview work?

You will be asked questions from a pre-prepared list to see how you measure up against a limited number of specific, required competencies. The questions will often be behavioural or situational, for example ‘describe a time where you had to work with someone very different to you’, so it is particularly important to back up your answers with examples.

At the same time you should bear in mind that the interviewers will also be looking at your presentation, your communication skills and to some extent your personality. You need answer questions clearly, make your point well and demonstrate that you fit into their workplace culture. This should be natural: for instance, if you are going for a sales role you mustn’t spend the interview looking at the floor with your arms folded. You have to be the person they are looking for.

What sort of answers are they looking for?

Your answers will be scored and compared against other candidates, so these must be strong examples that provide clear evidence for the point you are making.

Think of a few projects you have been involved in and prepare  short summaries in advance. Each project should be useful to demonstrate a number of competencies, but you must prepare a few to show your success was not a one-off (and to stop the interviewers getting bored…).

You are more likely to make a strong impression if you use the STAR formula to structure your responses, as you provide a fully rounded story, with a positive outcome that demonstrates the importance of your contribution.

STAR:

  • describe the Situation,
  • describe your specific Task
  • explain your Action
  • give the Result

How can I prepare?

First of all you should read through the job ad carefully to see if they have used keywords like the example competencies given at the start. If they have then great! Make sure you can meet all of these competencies.

If they haven’t specified them, look at similar job ads in similar firms, and look for a company mission statement or slogan on their website (try the ‘About us’ section) that gives you an idea of their values, e.g. innovation, expertise, personal touch, originality, leadership, tradition, future-proof strategy. Think about what sort of person would fit a workplace and a role like that.

As I mentioned above, you can practice talking about a few projects and situations that demonstrate a few of the competencies they require. You don’t need to learn them all by rote, they also want to see someone who can think on the spot. You will probably find that once you have given one clear answer from prepared material, you will be a bit more relaxed and think of all sorts of other examples.

Best of luck!

Resources

To help you prepare for interview, we recommend:



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More tough interview questions – examples February 6, 2009

Posted by Helen Curry in : Uncategorized , 7comments

Last week I wrote about answering hard interview questions, but I didn’t give many examples. Here are some more examples to practice with. I found a number of books on this topic in our library, but you’ll have to come down and take a look if you want to find out the recommended answers!

I have divided them roughly into sections, but beware! The question like “what role do you usually take in a team” could also be asking about your leadership potential…

Teamwork

Leadership

Adaptability and managing change

Self-motivation

Decision-making

Problem-solving and creativity

Communication, interpersonal skills and negotiation

Personality

About the company and the job

…other…

Tips

Often there is no right answer, or you are given a false choice when really you should talk about how you can adapt to both options e.g. “working with a team energises me when I am thinking up new ideas, but sometimes I like working alone when I am concentrating on a specific task”.

You might not have a suitable example from your work experience to answer a question. If not, you can either describe an example from your wider life experience (sports teams, university coursework, musical activities…), or you can describe what you would do in that hypothetical situation. You can develop a hypothetical answer by describing a real situation you observed, and saying what you would have done if you were in charge.

And remember, if you don’t understand, or if you have a hundred possible answers to give, don’t be afraid to ask for clarification to make sure you give them what they really want!

Resources

These books will give you more examples of questions and answers, pointing out the pitfalls and traps in some questions, and explaining how to maintain a professional attitude when asked personal questions.

Yate, M. J. Great answers to tough interview questions. 

 

 

 

 

Eggert, M. Perfect answers to interview questions. 

 

 

 

 

Gerstmann, P. Tricky job interview questions and answers.  

 


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How to answer hard interview questions January 30, 2009

Posted by Helen Curry in : Uncategorized , 4comments

When I was applying for my present job, my Dad commented that he had only ever had one interview in his life! He got the job, and stayed there. It sounded crazy, but it was much more common in his generation to have a job for life. Now people would expect to have much more change in their careers, and for some jobs people will have multiple interviews by phone and in front of different panels. But doing more interviews doesn’t make it any easier!

I think most people hate interviews, and it is common to walk out feeling you didn’t show a true picture of yourself, or that you stumbled over a question which you now have the perfect answer for…

How would you answer these?

  • Why do people like working with you?
  • What sort of tasks do you normally put off doing if you can?
  • How would you describe your leadership style?
  • How would you cope with a heavy workload?
  • Who is your hero/heroine?

It is a terrible experience if you get blocked in an interview, if someone asks you a question that completely throws you. While you are less likely nowadays to be asked truly bizarre questions like “if you were a vegetable, what would you be?”, however you may be asked negative-leading questions like “what is your greatest weakness”. Your first thought might not be the one you want to give…

It can definitely help to write down a list of possible questions based on the job description and run through them with a friend. Even better, get down to your local careers service and borrow a book on interviews. That’s where you will find the questions you don’t expect. We just bought a new book called How to answer hard interview questions which is full of both tough questions, and model answers. You might think that such books aren’t useful to you, as they aren’t job-specific, however a large part of any interview is about general work skills and you as a person – how you handle stress, how you work in a team, how you plan projects, how you lead. These personal questions can be the hardest ones to answer on the spot.

For a general overview of preparing for interview, see our leaflets on Interviews and Telephone Interviews.

I think sometimes there is a feeling both amongst interviewees and interviewers that people shouldn’t prepare, that an interview should bring out a person’s natural responses to get a true picture of them. I disagree. What is natural about an interview?

  1. Not everyone is good at thinking up answers on the spot, but that doesn’t mean they won’t be good at doing the job. Does the day-to-day job really require instant, unprepared answers?
  2. Many people just aren’t comfortable with talking about themselves, or boasting about their achievements, and it can make them feel embarassed. Rehearsing answers can help them find a way to express their success stories in a way that they feel comfortable with, that represents the facts of what they did well.
  3. Modern interview questions are carefully designed to identify key skills and requirements from the job description. In this situation, an answer can be greatly strengthened if you follow the model answer format that matches this question style. If they ask “how do you cope with tight deadlines”, you can either say “very well thank you”, or produce a structured STAR response: describe the Situation, describe the specific Task, explain your Action, and give the Result. The latter answer is stronger because you are giving concrete examples to demonstrate your point, and you are revealing much more about your personal, practical and emotional responses.
  4. Some people say you can’t anticipate every question, so if you are very well-prepared you might feel even more thrown when you get something unexpected. Perhaps. But I would never recommend learning rote answers to every question you can find – it is a waste of time, and you don’t want to sound like a robot. Just take some time to identify a few key examples for each key skill that you can adapt to fit different questions.
  5. Avoid common mistakes. In a recent interview practice session, when asked to describe a team project, many students talked about “we discussed our options, we decided this by vote, we did this”. As soon as you see other people do it, you can see the problem. The interviewee is being modest or is trying to play up their teamwork credentials, but what the interviewer really wants is to know about you - what you suggested, what role you took in the team. As far as they know, you could have been completely passive. When you practice in front of others, they can point these kinds of mistakes out to you.
  6. And of course, applying for jobs is competitive. Would you go to the Olympics without training so your ‘natural talent’ will shine through? No, you would practice because you can always improve; you will compare yourself with others before the big day so you know that you have met the standard to compete.

While it is true that a good interviewer can bring out a lot from a candidate and compensate for the awkwardness of the situation, many job interviews are conducted by non-specialists.  I mean that in two respects, either they are expert interviewers from the HR department but they don’t know the technical details about your role, or they are your future colleagues, experienced in doing the job but untrained in coaxing answers from inarticulate candidates. Furthermore, there are sometimes procedural restrictions on how many additional leading questions can be asked to stimulate the candidate to talk further.

Why take a chance? Why make the interviewer do all the work? If you prepare a few good examples, and get familiar with interview questions, you will feel more relaxed and more confident. You will know what you want to say, how to express who you are, and what you can do, and make sure they hear it!


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