BASIC TECHNIQUES
There are no definite ways of performing at interview that will guarantee your success - but there are some basic techniques that, when followed, give you an increased chance of getting that job.
The better prepared you are the, the more relaxed and confident you will be at your interview.
Do not leave anything to chance:
- How long will the interview last?
- How will I travel?
- By car: -
- Check the location on a map
- Confirm parking arrangements and how much it costs - make sure you have the change!
- By Train: -
- Check time's
- How to get from station to interview
- Check the interviewer's title and name and how to pronounce it.
- Confirm travel arrangements
- Take contact number on journey with you. Something may go wrong, telephone them tell, do not just leave it!
This is beyond doubt crucial.
- Find out all you can about the company before the interview and let the interviewer know you have gone to this trouble.
- Do not bombard them with in-depth details of the company but ensure they are impressed with your knowledge of the company - it will flatter and show them that you have given serious thought to joining their organisation.
- Points to consider are company size and number of branches, whether they are a subsidiary of a major group, turnover, and accounts, types of project undertaken.
Always take a copy with you just in case. Have fresh in your mind the basics of your current and previous employment - essential facts and dates.
The interviewer's aim is to recruit suitable staff, not to trip people up or embarrass them. They may ask searching questions to ascertain your aptitude, motivation, stability, maturity, and general outlook. Be prepared for them.
Give careful thought to the questions you want to ask. An interview should be a two-way communication. That said do not make the mistake of interviewing the interviewer.
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THE INTERVIEW
It is stating the obvious but the first impression will be the most important statement you make. Dress smartly and appropriately for the company, arrive punctually and greet the interviewer by his or her surname. Shake hands firmly and wait until you are invited to sit.
Doing Your Homework
You need to prepare for an interview knowing three important things about the employer's needs, wants, and desires.
First, you can discover a lot about what an employer needs, wants, and desires by taking the time to do research.
Knowing Your Interviewer
Research the industry in general and the company in particular before you walk through the interviewer's door. If at all possible, also research the interviewer himself. This may not be so difficult if he has any degree of prominence in the industry or company.
You'll learn more about researching later in this course and in future courses.
Every employer is looking for varying needs, but there are some things that all employers want from their employees. These are the traits every employer looks for:
- A solution to their problem, not a problem added to a solution
- Someone who can do the job - I know abvious - but can you really do the job!
- Someone who will stick around
- Someone who will fit in
- Someone who's likable
- Someone who will return the investment
A solution to their problem, not a problem added to a solution
Making the Employer's Life Easier
The employer wants to hire a solution, not a problem. Present yourself accordingly. This means coming into the interview prepared, having fully briefed on the issues that concern the industry and the company.
It also means working with the interviewer to make the interview itself pleasant and productive. Know when to listen and when to take the lead.
Avoiding a Self-Centered Perspective
Do not come into the interview bristling with demands, objections, and complaints. Some candidates who have a healthy regard for their own qualifications and value misuse their sense of self-worth by playing "hard to get" and "driving a hard bargain," as if they were temperamental pop stars.
This attitude makes you look like a problem, not a valuable asset.
Being Willing to Compromise
By all means, think highly of yourself, but don't let self-esteem transform you into a prima donna. Instead, emphasize cooperation and a willingness to strike a bargain. You can always negotiate or, if necessary, turn down an offer.
But remember, you must first get an offer before you can turn it down.
No Whiners Allowed
You will also probably be perceived as a problem rather than a solution if you complain about your present job or present employer, or if you complain about anything like the weather or the traffic.
Adopt a cheerful, positive, upbeat tone.
Being prepared for an interview and being willing to take the lead not only benefits you directly — by ensuring that you deliver the information you need to deliver — but also benefits you indirectly by helping the interviewer.
To the degree that you make his job easier, you will be perceived as a problem solver, which is something every organization wants and needs.
Someone Who Can Do the Job
Finding Someone Who Can Produce
While many — perhaps most — interviewers have only a vague idea of their company's requirements, most do understand that they need someone who can do the job.
The interviewer may not think about this beyond the dimensions of raw ability and experience as defined in some official job description — or as defined more crudely by the interviewer's generalized concept of the job: "The job is selling. This person's has to be able to sell."
That Someone Is You
Address this "can do" aspect of the interview by ensuring that your qualifications are clearly and convincingly spelled out in your CV and other pre-interview paperwork. Be prepared to back up your claims with specific examples, anecdotes, and, wherever possible, facts and figures.
Don't Sell Yourself Short
Emphasize the positive, even when you're not entirely sure of your qualifications. Don't shoot yourself in the foot by expressing self-doubts or other reservations that may intrude into your consciousness during the interview.
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Someone Who Will Stick Around
Being Stable
Searching for, interviewing, relocating, training, and inducting a new employee are expensive propositions. Each day that a new employee is on the job represents an investment for the firm — an investment in education and development. No employer wants to see his investment evaporate after only a few months.
Be certain to convey to the interviewer an image of stability and commitment.
One Possible Scenario
What happens if your CV reveals a history of using multiple jobs as stepping stones? Put this in the best light possible.
You: "One of the things that most excites me about this position, Mr. Burns, is that it is truly worth my long-term commitment. I have been searching for a job in which I can grow while developing a great program for the organization."
Someone Who Will Fit In
Fitting In with the Team
Learn everything you can about the environment and culture of the prospective employer. This includes making an effort to learn how casual or formal the attire is and what haircuts are acceptable. It also involves demonstrating social ease, which is most loudly proclaimed nonverbally, through body language.
Keeping Your Options Open
If it becomes apparent to you, as the interview conversation develops, that you do not fit in — that you just don't like these people — try not to let your doubts show. It's always better to secure an offer, which you can evaluate in calm and tranquillity before rejecting. For now, do everything you can to keep your options open.
Beware of volunteering too much about your political and social beliefs at an interview. You don't know whose toes you might step on.
Also note that it is inappropriate for the employer to ask you questions relating to your religious beliefs, ethnic background, sexual orientation, age, disabilities, marital status, or plans for raising a family.
Someone Who's Likable
Being a Good Egg...
Related to the question of whether the prospective employee will fit in is whether they are likable. In certain positions, such as sales and customer service, likability is a job prerequisite, but even in positions that require little or no customer contact, it's important to be pleasant and enjoyable to be around — likable.
...Not a Bad Apple
No one wants to work with an obnoxious or disagreeable person. Sure, you're nervous, but do your best to project a forthcoming, friendly, open image. Avoid single-sentence or one-word responses to questions. Don't chit-chat aimlessly, but do open up. Be approachable. Smile and make eye contact. Speak with enthusiasm.
Someone Who Will Return the Investment
Employers Want Good Value
Whatever else an interviewer may or may not say he wants, you can be certain that he is looking for an employee who will work hard, is motivated, and who takes interest in the work.
In short, every employer wants good value for his investment.
Going the Distance
In the interview, be prepared to speak with enthusiasm about the mission of the company, department, or division and how you intend to dedicate yourself to it.
Be prepared to discuss how you will go "the extra mile" to ensure that the mission is always accomplished.
Being an Asset
What all of this adds up to is not a vague and nerve-wracking game of guessing precisely what formula or combination of qualities an employer is looking for.
It is, instead, a matter of presenting yourself as an answer rather than a question, an asset rather than a liability, a solution rather than a problem.
Easing the Pressure
If you make the transmission of this message the goal of each of your interviews, they will become less murky, less confusing, and far less intimidating.
Instead, your interviews will come to seem what they were always meant to be: an experience in positive communication and a fair exchange of value between a prospective employer and employee.
Concluding the Interview
Make sure you have told the interviewer all they need to know about yourself and your capabilities. Check that there is nothing else you wish to ask. End on a positive note by expressing your interest in the post and asking what the next step will be.
Making a decision
Consider all job offers carefully. Try to balance the pros and cons of each position. Think back to your reasons for wanting to move and make sure the prospective post will satisfy these requirements.
The Resignation
A verbal acceptance of an offer is legally binding for both parties. Write to confirm the acceptance of a verbal offer and, at the same time write your letter of resignation as a fait accompli. At this stage, it is too late to use your offer to hold to ransom your current employer for a better salary or position. Before you even consider the new position, you should think about your reaction to a counter offer. Never accept an offer while you are still willing to negotiate with your current employer. It is however only fair to all parties to establish a specific date by when a decision will be made.
Visit our Guide to Resigning
Not this time
A negative point on which to end, but make the most of failure. You do not have the job you wanted but there will be other opportunities and with this experience behind you, you will interview better next time. There may be a justifiable reason why you were not offered the job, such as the promotion of an internal candidate or a change in the company's plans. However, it may simply be that you were not the best candidate. Try to analyse where you went wrong and correct it next time.
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