Interview Tips (part 3). Final video outling key interview preparation tips!!

Interview Skills Training Ireland

Many job interviews still fall into the traditional style. They are CV and job specification led. This makes it very important to know your CV inside out. I hear many of you saying that this all sounds a bit obvious. I agree, but I have yet to meet a job seeker who has mastered this point. Below I will help you understand and master 3 CV related interview questions.

Can you talk me through your CV?

Most job seekers struggle with this question. Where do I start? What do I talk about? How long to I talk for? Do I mention all my work experience/training? TIP!! Insert the words “relevant information” into the question. ANSWER “Can you talk me through the relevant information on your CV?” This action immediate cuts out a lot of the irrelevant information. It also helps redirect your focus towards the hiring manager and away from yourself.

Tell me about your current (or last) role?

TIP!! Talk about this role in terms of the job you are applying for. This requires a deep understanding of the job specification. Most job seekers outline the role in terms of how they see it. They give little consideration to the requirements outlined in the advertised job. Focus on relevant experience and achievements. Talk less about, or even ignore, irrelevant tasks and experience.

Why did you leave (or join) a company?

You have to prepare the story about how your career and personal development progressed to date. You must be able to explain the reasons for study choices and career moves (this includes redundancy). TIP!! Spend time perfecting this during preparation. A pause, a stumble or an uncomfortable moment can put a question mark over your application.

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They leave their thinking until the actual interview – Many job seekers wait for the bullets (interview questions) to start flying before they start thinking. Crazy! It’s extremely difficult to recall examples/scenarios at interview. This means waffle, padding, and answers that lack impact.

They deliver interview answers that lack focus – Many job seekers are inward thinking. They pay little attention to the company and job requirements.

They don’t sell themselves effectively – Most job seekers fail to sell themselves at interview. They provide little evidence of facts, figures, successes, or achievements.

“Fail to prepare, prepare to fail”. Roy Keane used this popular quote shortly before he hit the eject button from Saipan. These six words are critical for interview success. Effective interview preparation helps eliminate the above issues, helps increase confidence, and helps transform results.

Below are 6 core components for interview preparation ….

1. Access all the available information about the interview – Acquire as much information as you can before you jump into your preparation.

2. Understand what the employer requirements – Don’t just read the job spec. You need to surgically dissect it. If possible use your network to identify key challenges within the organisation. This will help you deliver more focus at interview.

3. Understand how you meet requirements – This is the process of sifting up all relevant information in advance of the interview. This removes most of the thinking during the interview. Remember the golden nuggets (Facts, figures, and achievements) to help sell yourself effectively.

4. Be familiar with my CV – I refer you back to point 2. You have to know your CV in terms of the role you are interviewing for. Be able to explain past job changes.

5. Research the company – Anyone can say they want to work for a company. BUT actions speak louder than words. Ensure you go beyond the company website!!

6. Identify questions to ask the employer – Do I need to explain?

When I mention “interview cheats” it is automatically assumed that I am talking about lying at interview. I don’t promote lying at interview and I actually think it is a pointless exercise. If you want to get an edge over the competition then invest your energy in what I call “Investigative Googling” prior to interview.

The explosion of social media has enabled recruiters/employers do more research on applicants throughout the recruitment process. When you apply for a job you will be Googled or checked out on LinkedIn by the recruiter/interviewer. Have you ever thought about using this strategy to give you an edge during your job search? Perhaps you should start doing some “Investigative Googling”. Rather than researching the company (which is obviously important too) I am talking about researching the interviewers, recruiters or hiring managers.

I am a firm believer that people hire people and not skills and qualifications. The ability to do a job is important but so is the ability to fit into a team and get on with management. This makes your ability to build rapport with the interviewer during interview very important. How do you build rapport at interview? Research the interviewer and find common interests, experience, education, associations and memberships prior to your interview. Much of this information is freely available on a LinkedIn profile. The subtly bring this up during interview.

Start turning the tables at interview today. Check out interviewers online prior to interview and access powerful information to help give you an edge at interview. For more useful advice on INTERVIEWING join Measurability Careers & Jobs Clubon Linkedin or follow me on Twitter.

Feel free to post any additional interview advice or comments below!!

I have not completed any formal research on “The World’s Greatest Fears” but I would guesstimate the greatest fears are in the following order – Death, Public Speaking and then Competency Based Interviews. There is normally a greater fear of Competency Based Interviews over the traditional interview (glorified chat about anything other than the job) but this is really down to lack of knowledge and understanding. Personally I love Competency Based Interviews.

You can learn to love them too …..

As with anything in life knowledge and preparation can help reduce fear/nerves. This article goes beyond the STAR Technique as you can get this information on any of a million websites. I am assuming that you know how to structure your answers using the STAR Technique and want to highlight some other key pointers to help you prepare and deliver …..

Your examples – Most jobseekers do not put enough time into example selection and quite often use the first example that comes to mind. I find when I brainstorm with my clients that they have many other hidden gems which are often more relevant. Put more effort into the example choices. Ensure that your examples highlight evidence of the behaviours underpinning the competency. And finally ensure that you have backup examples for each competency just in case.

Forget friendly smiles – On the day expect a cold experience with little small talk (Competency Interviews can seem a bit like the scary interview pictures we visualise). The whole nature of Competency Interviews is to remove subjectivity from decision-making. Therefore it really is a case of get the candidate in, grill the candidate, getting candidate back out again and repeat. The interviewers really are genuinely nice people in disguise for the duration of the interview. You should also expect the interviewers to be writing frantically during interview. This is very much part of the assessment process. Lack of smiles and writing may throw the other candidates and impact their performance but you have been forewarned.

It is not about the “X Factor” – When doing a competency interview it is all about the “I Factor”. Many jobseekers find it difficult to use the word I. Why? This could be because throughout our early development we were continually told that talking about ourselves was being big headed and boastful. You have to get over this!! If the interviewer hears the word “we” they can’t assess your contribution/behaviour.

Probing questions – The interviewers may ask probing questions during the Competency Based Interview. Embrace them. The interviewer is not being difficult or trying to trick you out. The opposite is true and the interviewer is actually being helpful. Probing questions mean the interviewer has not heard evidence and is giving you another chance to deliver. For example you may have been using “We” during your answer instead of “I”.

Then end of the road – Expect to be asked about results at the end of your examples BUT the interviewer may probe further with questions like “What went wrong?” or “What you would do differently next time?” Ensure you prepare for these questions too.

Final point – As with most areas in life some interviewers are not fully trained to execute Competency Interviews and therefore can dilute the objectivity of the interview. With this in mind concentrate on delivering your answers with energy and enthusiasm during the interview.

This really is the final point – Expect the unexpected. I have many examples where jobseekers prepared for Competency Based Interviews as they were told to expect this and guess what ….