Prepare before the interview
Self Assessment
You must be able to answer the difficult question, "why should I hire you?" comfortably,
not with a lot of fluff,but with information about yourself. Before the interview, begin to do
a positive self-assessment with specific emphasis on:
- Your Educational Background
- Your Work Experience
- Your Campus Experience
- Your Career Interests
- Your Personal Characteristics and Skills
- Your Job Criteria
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Employer Research:
You must know something about the employer and the position opening. Briefly, you should go
into the interview knowing:
- About the career field
- growth history
- recent problems/pending issues
- probable directions
- About the organization
- products, services, and philosophy
- earnings and growth record
- location of work sites
- About the job
- job title and description
- necessary background, skills, and training
- career ladders
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The Day of the Interview
- Dress appropriately.
- Be sure to arrive on time.
- Shake hands firmly and introduce yourself.
- Maintain good eye contact throughout the interview.
- Be yourself and be sincere.
- Be enthusiastic and confident about yourself.
- Communicate with the interviewer; answer questions with complete, informative sentences and
give specific examples to support your statements.
- Highlight your strengths, not your weaknesses.
- Ask questions
- Be sure to write a thank you letter to the employer or employers you visited.
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During the Interview
Employers may use one style of interviewing or a mixture of styles. If you are interviewed by
a panel or group of interviewers, each member of the group may use a different style of interviewing.
Although there are several styles of interviewing the five most commonly used are:
Behavioural
This style of interviewing is becoming very popular with interviewers. It is based on
the idea that the best predictor of future performance is how you may have handled a similar
set of circumstances in the past. The interviewer is looking for a detailed explanation of how
and why you dealt with a particular situation. The interviewer is likely to question your response
for additional details to try to get a vivid picture of your behaviour.
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How Can I Prepare For A Behavioural Interview?
- Analyse the type of positions for which you are applying. Try to get an actual job description.
What skills are required by the employers?
- Analyse your own background. What skills do you have (content, functional and adaptive) that
relate to your job objective?
- Identify examples from your past experience where you demonstrated those skills. How can
you "tell a story" about your use of particular skills or knowledge? Concentrate
on developing complete PAR answers and remember that a good story has a beginning, middle and
an end.
- Wherever possible, quantify your results. Numbers illustrate your level of authority and
responsibility.
- Be prepared to provide examples of when results did not turn out as you planned.
What did you do then?
- Before starting the interview process, identify two to three of your top selling points and
how you will convey these points (with demonstrated PAR stories) during the interview.
- Once employed, keep a personal achievement diary to help document demonstrated performance.
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Sample of Behavioural Interview Questions.
- Describe a situation in which you were able to persuade others to see things your way.
- Give me an example of an incident when you used good judgement to solve a problem.
- Tell me about an important goal that you had set in the past and how you were able to reach
it.
- Give me a specific example of a time when you conformed to a policy with which you did not
agree.
- Tell me about a time when you were able to successfully work with someone that you did not
like (or vise versa).
- Directed
This style follows a definite pattern. The interview seems very organised and structured,
with the employer asking specific questions and trying to engage you in conversation. The employer
may seem to have a "check list" which he or she is making notes on during the interview.
- Non-Directed
This style feels as though the employer is not prepared and is not focused on you or the job
interview. The interview seems very loosely structured. Questions seem to be very random,
broad and general in nature. The employer seems to act more like a moderator - inviting you,
the prospective employee, to direct the interview.
- Situational
During the interview the employer presents various hypothetical situations to you and asks
how you would react (e.g., you see another employee stealing from the company - what do you
do?).
- Stress
An employer will use this style if he or she feels that the job for which you are interviewing
is so stressful that he or she needs to evaluate your ability to handle stress even at the
interview stage. Techniques which the employer will use to create a stressful environment
include: interrupting you, arguing with you about your answers, challenging your answers,
commenting negatively about some aspect of your credentials, and /or long periods of silence.Once
you answer, another, more complicated situation related to the first one may be presented
to you for your response.
These styles are not completely separate entities. For example, depending on the situations
presented, a situational interview may become quite stressful. It is important to recognise the
style of the interview without reacting to it (particularly during a stressful interview) and
continue to present yourself in a professional manner.
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A Typical Interview Format
A typical interview follows a basic format. If you are aware of what's going on, you will be
more comfortable. The general parts of an interview are:
Your Agenda
Think about your educational training, skills, and experiences - with specific supportive examples
- which you want to discuss during the interview.
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Getting Acquainted
Initial greeting and small talk designed to make you feel at ease.
Organization Information
The interviewer presents information about the organization and the job opening.
Questions
Questions about you, your background and experiences. Most questions are open-ended and allow
you to tell the interviewer about your strengths in relation to the job. You will have an opportunity
to ask questions about the organization. Remember to ask questions that convey your interest
in the organization and it's future direction.
Closure
The interviewer will indicate that the interview is over. Shake hands. If the interviewer does
not give you an idea about when you will hear from him or her and the next step(s) in the hiring
process, ask. be sure to state confidently your interest in the position.
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