October - Seasons of Mists & mellow fruitfulness

Well what a month October was. Lots of job opportunities and plenty of placements - it really does look like people are moving around again and there is more confidence out there. Long may it continue.

AV Awards were on the 9th - great networking opportunities and great to see so many clients and candidates - well at least before midnight. After that most people were talking broken biscuits!! :-)

My last blogs talked about Writing a Professional CV, so I thought I would now give some interview tips. Hopefully you won't need all of these but you may not have thought of some. Let me know your thoughts and if you have any other interview tips for job seekers please let me know.

In the current economic climate there are more candidates than jobs so you are obviously in a more competitive situation than ever before in the jobs market. This makes it even more important to ensure you are at the top of your game for every interview you attend.

We can’t guarantee that you will end up with your dream job by following this guide but we are pretty confident that if your skills and experience tick the right boxes you should get through to more 2nd interviews and those elusive job offers.

Getting an interview in the first place means ensuring your CV is up to scratch.

Ok – you have an interview date – how can you ensure you are going to beat the competition and get past the first post?

Preparation

• Do your research – Check out the Company’s website(s), do a Google search for
any other information you can find on the company, call and ask for brochures but
make your research relevant to your level and expertise e.g. if you were going for a
Field Engineer’s position you don’t need a copy of the Company Accounts (but worth
seeing that the company is viable and secure).
• Ask who will be interviewing you and research them too -use Google again,
check if they are on any social networks such as Facebook or Linked In and are they
in any industry magazines or industry websites?
• Ensure that you understand the role you are being interviewed for -and that you
can do it or that you even want it! Ask for a Job Specification and/or a Person
Specification. Talk the job through with your recruiter or with the Company’s HR or
Hiring Manager before agreeing to an interview.
• Check out the location -Ensure you will be there on time on the day (and that
means 10-15 minutes beforehand) – don’t get there too early and don’t be late under
any circumstances! Check routes and if necessary travel the route at the same time
of day before your interview date in case of any traffic black spots. Check public
transport times if necessary. If for any reason on the day of the interview you know
you are running late or have got lost then ensure that you let the company or your
recruiter know immediately -so make sure you have their numbers with you.
• Appearance-This may seem obvious but always ensure that you dress appropriately
for the role you are being interviewed for. Check the dress code for the company
before you attend the interview. Be nice to be near! Don’t overdo the perfume or
aftershave but do pay attention to your grooming – clean hair, teeth, fingernails and other aspects of your personal hygiene. Don’t forget to check out your clothes– being neat and tidy with polished shoes will add plus marks whereas being too casual with scuffed shoes and fraying hems will put you right at the bottom of the list.
• It is not so much the colour of your suit or the pattern on your tie that matters. It is the respect you show to the interviewer by indicating, indirectly, that the interview is an important occasion to you and that you value the interviewer's time so much that you have put serious consideration into your appearance.

The interview

What is an interview? Well that’s like asking “how long is a piece of string?” Interviews and interviewers will vary enormously and not every interviewer is a skilled one so you must be prepared for a wide range of questions and questioning techniques.

The interview is an opportunity for you to convince the person hiring that you are just what they are looking for. A skilled interviewer will ask you lots of open questions – Who, Why,What, When, Where, How -and your answers give you the opportunity of showing examples of your skills and abilities and how these benefited your previous employers.

You have 20 seconds or less to impress upon an employer whether or not they should
consider hiring you. From the moment you walk into their office to the moment you sit down in a chair, thousands of neurons will be firing in the interviewer's brain asking one of two things:
"Is this person friend or foe?" It's an inescapable reflex, necessary to our survival as a species, to gauge immediately whether the stranger before us is going to help us or hurt us.

First Impressions

Whether it is right or wrong to judge a person the moment we meet them, it is a biological fact and necessity that we do so. As long as we know that's a fact, we need to ensure that we use it to our advantage.

If you want the interviewer's initial response to be "this is a friend" rather than the opposite, you should follow a few simple instructions.

• Wear a smile, no matter how you feel. A smile conveys confidence, high self esteem, competence, warmth, empathy and enthusiasm. Plus, believe it or not, medical
testing of brain activity has shown that when people smile, they actually perform
better at what they are doing because they are using more of both the left and right
sides of the brain!
• Have a firm handshake, using the whole hand. A handshake that is too loose
unconsciously communicates to the interviewer that you are not fully committed. On
the other hand, a bone-crushing handshake sends a message that you may be overly
competitive and even aggressive. Neither of these messages is attractive to an
interviewer. A handshake that is firm with one, two, or three "pumps" of the elbow is an appropriate business greeting, signalling to the employer, "Let's get down to
business."
• Address the interviewer as Ms. or Mr. until you're invited to call him or her by a first name. Again, this greeting is part of being respectful of the interviewer's time and authority.
• Introduce yourself by your first and last names and say that you are happy to be
there. Less than 50% of interviewers are trained to do the job of interviewing, they
very often feel more nervous about interviewing you than you feel about the interview!
By introducing yourself and expressing that you're glad to be there, you have taken
the first step to putting the interviewer at ease, so that you can both enjoy a relaxed meeting.
• Do not sit down until the interviewer suggests that you do. If he or she doesn't, ask politely if you may sit down. As soon as you sit down in a chair in the interviewer's office, you become part of his or her territory. It is therefore wise to wait until you are invited to sit or you have asked permission to do so.
• Take along a copy of your CV, many interviewers can be disorganised and not have
your CV with them – make it easy for them.
• Ask the interviewer if they mind if you take notes, make sure you write down anything you might use to ask a question later in the interview.
• Do not, at any time during the interview, put anything on the interviewer's desk. Keep briefcases, note pads, diaries or handbags by your side or on your lap. The
employer's desk is even more sacred and private territory than the surrounding office.
Invading the interviewer’s personal space is a big No, No! Keep hands, elbows, and
any other items from the top of the desk. If, however, you have been invited to sit at a conference table or a round table that is not a desk, you should feel free to take notes on the tabletop as the meeting goes on as these spaces are shared territory.
• Make your behaviour in the waiting room impeccably professional and polite.
Interviewers often ask their receptionists what they thought about you. Many
managers, directors, and executives rely on their assistants as a second pair of eyes, so you'll want them to give their bosses a good report.
• Remember that linguists and psychologists have said that 93 to 97% of
communication is nonverbal so watch your body language. You can read up on this
by using Google (check out Business Balls - they have lots of good info) but key points are:
o Smile
o Keep eye contact
o Use positive and open body language
o Don’t cross your arms and
o Don’t rub your nose!

The Questions

As said previously, not everyone is a good interviewer – you must ensure though that you are a good interviewee.

o Listen carefully to each question and don’t interrupt.
o What is the question behind the question? In other words, why are they asking a
particular question? For example – “What did you most enjoy about your last job?”
doesn’t mean they are interested in hearing about the great coffee machine or the
generous holiday allowance but rather how you used your skills to achieve the best
outcomes for your employer.
o “What were the worst aspects of the jobs?” – again they don’t want to hear that Fred in payroll was always on your back for expenses but things that you were able to improve for example.
o You will be asked some difficult questions – you need to keep your composure and
think about your answer – use the technique of repeating the question back to the
interviewer to buy yourself some thinking time but don’t take too long!
o Give real examples when answering questions – this shows that you have been there
and done it and reduces the risk factor for your new employer.
o Ask questions-you have done your research so make sure you write down some
questions before you attend the interview and even if all of these were answered
during the interview process before you asked them - ask one again, acknowledge that
they have answered this but ask them to expand on it.
o Don’t ask questions about holiday allowance or pension schemes – these are basics
that you should already know from the job specification and if asked sound as if you
are either only interested in the holidays or can’t think of a real question to ask! Either way these questions won’t score you any points.
o And finally! You can conclude with the “Last Chance” question – “Is there anything
that you are unsure about or would you like me to expand upon any of my previous
answers?” This question may just save the day if there is anything niggling in the
back of their minds.
o Ask about the decision making process even if you know already, will they be making a decision from first interview or will there be second or even third interviews and will you be invited back? How long does the interview process take? When can I expect to hear from you?
o If you are in a sales interview then make sure you close! After all that’s why they are looking to hire you – examples of closing questions “Based on this interview do you believe I am the right person for this role?” or “When can I expect a second interview?”
o Make sure they know you are interested in the role and you can use this as a closing question too (you don’t have to be in sales to do this!) – always thank the interviewer for their time and say something like “Thank you for seeing me today, I have been very impressed with everything I have heard and would love to join Fred Bloggs & Co., what will be the next stage?”
I hope this guide will be useful to you in getting that next job – if you feel you can add any pointers to this then please let us know.

©Elementary Resources Ltd

If you would like me to send you this as a PDF please send me your email address - pat@elementaryresources.co.uk