Category: Interviews

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Everything You Need to Do to Prepare for a Job Interview

The job interview is one of the most important meetings in life.

Why? Because being successful in a job interview has a direct impact on a person’s work/life balance, their stress and motivation levels, potential salary earning which links to the person’s lifestyle.

So, it makes sense to prepare for this highly important event.

This article will cover everything any job seeker and career professional needs to do to prepare for the job interview.

To help job seekers find employment, we will link to relevant articles under each of the interview sub-headings allowing each interviewee to read the source article for a more in-depth understanding of each job interview topic.

What to wear to a job interview

Your outfit is your armor.

What you wear in a job interview makes a difference in two distinct ways: 1) ‘dress to impress’ increase personal confidence levels, 2) a professional look changes the employer’s initial impression of a candidate.

Down to basics:

Wear smart professional clothing.

What an applicant wears influences the interviewer’s first impression of a candidate. Interviewer’s, as does everyone, has ‘unconscious bias’ – an opinion is made based on how one person views another. Research shows how an interviewee’s outfit can create a positive or negative opinion.

The ‘professional look’ can only help to increase likeness.

Avoid:

  • Unironed clothes
  • Casual wear
  • Not shaving
  • Dark colours
  • Getting caught in the rain (resulting in you looking helpless)

There is something about the choice of clothing that affects the emotional state. Dressing in gym wear, as an example, will result in a person being more likely to complete exercise. In the same sense, dressing confidently creates confidence.

Source: what to wear for an interview

What you need to research before a job interview

Pre-interview preparation creates perfection

Prior to the job interview, there are 2 must research objectives: 1) company research 2) interview question research.

Initially, applicants need to research the organisation to ensure that this is a position they would like to accept, once offered the advertised role.

3 key facts that affect workplace happiness

  1. The company – does the company vision and values align with your own?
  2. The boss – does the boss’s managerial style motivate you?
  3. The co-worker(s) – does the company culture draw you in?

The pre-interview research on accepting a hiring decision can save time – only attend the interviews with employers you are interested in.

Once an applicant knows which organisations they are interested in, the next step is to prepare for the job interview by researching the potential job interview questions.

  • Check potential questions by reading the job profile for the advertised role. Each essential duty will be referenced as a job interview question
  • Use the internet to search for the organisation asked out the box job interview questions
  • Plan your interveiw stories as storytelling interview answers often rate higher on the job interview scorecard

Source: questions to ask before accepting a job

How to plan for the interview

The initial interview planning is based on the type of job interview the candidate has to attend.

Job interview types include:

Understanding how each job interview is different gives the pro-active job seeker an upper hand. As an example, most screening job interviews are conducted over the telephone.

The interview itself needs planning for. For an online interview, ergonomics is key. A clear background, eye-level screen and clean space, not only helps the applicant feel relax, there are no visual distractions for the interviewer.

A common mistake career professionals make is their interview preparation. Most job seekers will check the duration from their home to the interview establishment, this is good, pro-active. But the mistake is made at the time of night they choose to prepare for the job interview.

Most people prepare for interviews at night and plan, using an online map, the duration of travel. But if the job interview is scheduled early in the morning, the duration to the venue can change, as travel times vary depending on the time of day.

The barrier here is that a late applicant creates a negative impression that distorts how the interviewer views the applicant during the course of the job interview. Is easy to make error can have a lasting effect on the job interview.

Source: types of job interviews

How to prepare for the first impression

The first impression defines the rest of the job interview. The initial barrier is the interviewers unconscious bias, and then their reaction to how they perceive the applicant will perform once employed.

The initial impression is formed by the senses taking in billions of pieces of information, which is then filtered by the interviewers values, beliefs and experiences, resulting in an impression being created within milliseconds of the interviewer coming face to face with the candidate.

These 5 factors affect the initial impression:

  • An applicant’s smile – smiling helps build rapport. Research has shown how a smile improves likeability
  • What the candidate wears – association from clothes to persona is powerful. If you dress ‘professionally’ you will be seen as a ‘professional’
  • The firmness of the handshake – a firm handshake shows strength and confidence, both of these traits improve how an employer views an applicant
  • Eye contact – strong direct eye contact shows confidence. Weak people will often look down or away. Employers for all job roles are looking for confident employees who can make decisions and take action
  • The level of confidence in communication – asking questions, varied tonality, a strong pace are all ways to communicate confidently. Confident communicators score well in job interviews as they are able to give answers that reference the job criteria

Source: Make a good first impression

How to reduce interview anxiety

Job interview anxiety is the number one reason why job applicants fail in job interviews. A lack of confidence can only result in a poor job interview performance.

Confidence can be improved. The biggest barrier to self-doubt is comparison. Often employees will compare themselves to another colleague prior to the job interview. This behaviour is unhealthy and effects the nervousness level in a job interview.

The comparison leads to self doubt. Self doubt, is extreme cases, lead to some career professionals finding excuses not to attend the job interview, and those that do often perform badly.

Confidence in the job interview can be improved by making a few tweaks to your thinking. Having self-appreciation instead of self doubt increases self-esteem.

For career confidence, listing your achievements, your skills and abilities change the focus of thinking, helping applicants to realise their worth, improving their self-worth.

Source: how to boost self-confidence

What to do to stand out during the job interview

The competition for the advertised position is competitive as everyone attending the job interview has a similar level of skills, experiences and qualifications, at the minimum the applicants all meet the job criteria or they wouldn’t have been invited to be interviewed.

What this means is that you need to stand out in the job interview.

First, is the basics; having killer answers to tricky job interview questions but more importantly successful career professionals need to go one step further.

A simple and underplayed stand out tactic is being enthusiastic.

Think about it! Most interviewees are nervous, resulting in standard job interview answers communicated in a monotone voice. If the next interviewer delivers strong interview answers, delivered with passion and enthusiasm, they will grab the employer’s attention.

Creating an interview conversation, rather then just answering questions is enough to be uniquely, as is bring evidence of your expertise in the form of stats, graphs and references. Having a growth mindset, showing you can take the initiative and simply becoming confident create a string persona because most applicants are, well, nervous wrecks.

Source: stand out in a job interview

The pre-interview checklist

  1. You know the date and time of the interview
  2. The interview venue, building name and room number is correct
  3. A copy of the application, ID and certificates have been prepared
  4. Research on the organisation has been completed
  5. Potential interview questions have been researched
  6. And answers to interview questions have been prepared and researched
  7. For online interviews, the room ergonomics have been reviewed and for face to face job interviews, the duration to the venue has been checked
  8. The interview type has been checked and actions completed to ensure confidence levels are high for all interview types
  9. A self-review of industry skills has been completed to increase confidence
  10. Many mock interviews have been completed, as practice makes perfection

Job Interview Advice

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How to prepare and pass a telephone job interview.

Telephone job interviews are, in the main, viewed by employers as a recruitment cost saving process.

Think about it, to deliver a structured job interview requires time, resources and of course money. It makes much more time to plan for a face to face job interview than it does a telephone one.

With employers receiving hundreds of suitable application forms from high skilled applicants, recruiters need to be able to reduce the number of job seekers they will eventually offer a job interview to.

Initially, the employer will reduce the ‘suitable’ applicants down to a reasonable number through the application process, but as the number of applications received for each position rises, the employer needs to add in a ‘screening’ interview which is designed to result in only the most suitable candidates being offered a face-to-face job interview.

The telephone interview is the most common way to ‘screen’ applicants.

What questions are asked in a telephone interview?

A telephone screening interview is short. Unlike a structured job interview, where each interviewee is asked the same job interview questions, the telephone screening interview is an investigation.

Employers, after reading the job applications from applicants that they feel have the required skills and experiences, still need to reduce the applications to around 6-10 applicants that they will invite to a job interview.

While reviewing the application forms, employers may require specific information to ambiguous statements: “12 years sector experience…” The conscious interviewer will be asking “12 years experience in the same position? company? level of responsibility?”

It is this specific ‘data’ that will be the basis of the screening interview. In this way, each screening telephone interview will be different.

Applicants, even though interview questions are harder to predict can still prepare in advance for the telephone interview.

Below is a list of the types of telephone screening interview questions that will be asked during the telephone job interview.

Telephone Interview Question 1

Can you tell me more about your experience at X?

Telephone Interview Question 2

What were your specific duties?

Telephone Interview Question 3

Tell me about a problem that happened during this (project)?

Telephone Interview Question 4

Explain, exactly, what your level of responsibility was?

Telephone Interview Question 5

How do you put into practice the systems and models you learnt during your degree?

Telephone Interview Question 6

Over your years working in X sector what has been your biggest weakness?

Telephone Interview Question 7

How did you communicate across different departments?

Telephone Interview Question 8

What has made you apply for this role in this organisation?

Job Interview Advice

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How to answer the ‘weakness’ interview question

Out of all the common interview questions asked, the ‘what is your greatest weakness’ question, is among the hardest to answer.

Candidates, applying for an advertised position within a new organisations, struggle to answer a direct interview question that deliberately focuses on a negative, not a strength, because they believe that a ‘negative’ interview answer will score low, on the interview scorecard

Who is asked the ‘weakness’ interview question?

What many applicants don’t consider, is that all interviewees will be asked the same ‘weakness’ interview question.

Some of these applicants will try to influence the job interview by not directly answering the question: ‘I don’t have any weaknesses!’

This answer is weak within itself. It is the same as being asked ‘are you a team player?’ to then talk about working on your own initiative. Employers ask each job interview question for a particular reason – they want to know something specific about the applicant that is relevant to the job vacancy.

Job seekers who state: ‘I have no weaknesses’ will be scored low.

Interviewers are really asking ‘how do you develop?’ or ‘what have you done to improve an area of development?’

Mainly the ‘weakness’ interview question is asked for low skilled positions or within the ‘supportive’ sector that needs career professionals to be lifelong learners.

How to approach the ‘weakness’ question?

We have established that the ‘weakness’ question is really about a candidate’s approach to development. More specifically, self-reflection and development.

The 3 step process to answer the ‘weakness’ interview question is:

  1. Self-reflection – identifying a weakness or area of development
  2. Upskilling – taking action to develop the weakness
  3. Ability test – completing a self-check to ensure the weakness or area of development has been overcome

How to answer ‘do you have any weaknesses?’ Interview question.

The 3 step process, when answering the interview question, can be framed with an opening and summary.

Interview answer opening.

“I believe everyone has areas of development…”

“One of my strengths is recognising my weaknesses, so I ca develop my skills….”

“Because I believe in self-development, I am always self-assessing my skills…”

Interview answer 3 step process.

  1. Self-reflection – “…an example of this is when I (give an example of a self-development process IE during an employee review, completing a skill test, via a mentor, etc)…”
  2. Upskilling – “….to develop this skill I focused my time on (add actions you took to improve the (area of development)…”
  3. Ability test – “….I knew I had improved on this area when (give an example of using the skill with confidence and competence)

Job Interview Advice

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How to pass a civil service administrator job interview

Working for a government department, a civil service administrator is responsible for the administration of government policies to serve the public.

Civil service administrative tasks can be a front or back-office job. Front office includes dealing directly with the public, requiring an additional set of skills. In fact, for each civil service role, duties will vary.

In this sense, applicants need to carefully read the job description to help predict the job interview questions. Below is a list of the most common interview questions and answers for a civil service administrator.

Civil Service Administrator Job Interview Questions and Answers

Each of the commonly asked job interview questions can be phrased differently for each particular job interview, but the required answer (meeting the job criteria) will be the same.

Read the interview question, relate the question to your own experience and skill set, and use the example formats as a basis to create an answer that will score high during the job interview.

Civil Service Administrator Interview – have you worked in a government office before?

Of course, the ideal answer to any interview question is ‘yes’, but if you haven’t worked with a government office don’t worry that this will be a barrier to employment.

The ‘experience’ question is designed to check that the applicant has the required competencies to confidently complete the day-to-day duties of a civil service administrator.

The opening statement to the interview answer needs to state clearly the administration experience the applicant possesses.

“Yes I have 12 years experience working in government offices, with the past 5 years being spent at …..”

Or for non-government experience, pass this question by focusing on the candidates office experience.

“For the last 22 years, I have worked in administration where I have been responsible for….”

For each version of the answer, the interviewee should state experiences and skills relevant for the role they are applying for.

“…my strengths include (list duties that match the job criteria) …”

Civil Service Administrator Interview – give me an example of dealing with customer/service users sensitively

As a civil service front-of-house administrator, the employee will be dealing with customers, and their sensitive issues, on a daily basis. Even back of office administrators often communicate with customers (this could be online or via the telephone), therefore, all administrators in one form or another need to possess customer service, interpersonal and communication skills.

‘Example’ interview questions are designed to see how the applicant has previously dealt with a situation (similar to a situation that they will face once employed).

When giving ‘examples’ applicants must embed the skills and qualities they used to gain a successful outcome. Don’t simply state the situation, several actions, and an outcome. Instead, explain the strategy behind the conversation.

3 steps for answering ‘example’ interview questions

Step 1 – set the scene. Describe in detail the customer, how they were feeling, their communication style, and the sensitive issue.

Step 2 – focus on thinking. Explain the strategy or thought process you went through to ensure the approach you took best fitted the situation. Give detail here by explaining that normally you would do X, but due to the nature of the situation you did Y (as this shows creative problem-solving skills)

Step 3 – conclude. Finally discuss what happened post the conversation, etherizing the positive outcome.

Civil Service Administrator Interview – when report writing, what do you think about?

As a civil service administrator, there will be an expectation to produce accurate and high-quality reports.

In many administration job interviews, a literacy test will be mandatory. In addition, the employer will ask questions are report writing,

A strategy for answering ‘skill-based interview questions is to set out the steps required for the task. As an example for report writing you may;

  • Quantify what is required
  • Research, collect data, find evidence
  • Plan the report structure depending on the intended audience
  • Draft, analyze and rewrite the report
  • Process report

A process answer needs to be wrapped around with a confirmation opening line that confirms the applicant is an experienced report writer, and a summary to close the interview answer.

Civil Service Administrator Interview – how would you ensure you are adhering to a high number of complex procedures?

Working in the civil service can be a stressful career, due to the tight deadlines, having to support customers with their complaints, and having to follow processes and procedures that often change.

The employer here is asking how the employee can adhere to the many processes embedded in the civil service sector.

By explaining the applicant’s understanding of procedures can help an employer to identify a strong or weak employee.

Initially, discuss how it is important to understand the ‘aim’ of a policy or procedure (by understanding the aim, employees are more likely to adhere to the policy) before embedding the process into business as usual.

Next, give an example of following a complex procedure in the workplace. explain the consequences of not complying with the process and, in the example, set out the outcome that was created from following the procedure.

Civil Service Administrator Interview – give me an example of your research skills

Research skills are paramount in the civil service sector. As a key skill, the answer to the ‘research’ question must showcase the applicant’s research skill set.

Stay away from giving an example that states an easy piece of research. Instead, explain the complexities of research- did the applicant use qualitative or quantitative data? Why does the data source matter?

By stating problems and solutions to research problems only helps to highlight an applicant’s research knowledge. After explaining the complexities of research, the interviewee can give a research example.

The example can explain the reason for the research, any potential barriers to the research project, and the actions the applicant took to gather and write up the research knowledge they found.

Civil Service Administrator Interview – tell me about a time you worked as part of a project team

A civil service office is a team within a much large, national, team. Within the office team, smaller project teams will be put together to complete mini-projects. Therefore, teamwork skills in this role are a must.

To answer ‘project’ interview questions, compared to answering an interview question relating to business as usual, the applicant needs to set out the reason and objectives of the project “I was part of X project, the project was a 2-year project designed to X, Y, and Z…”

Because ‘projects,’ within the civil service, are commonplace, applicants need to discuss the project tools they can use; Gantt charts, risk assessment, finance sheets, and how they utilize the tools within the project.

Finally, state the impact the project had on business as usual.

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What Job Interview Advice You Need to Know

10 job interview pieces of advice, tips and suggestions to help ready you to face the interviewer.

This is a quick summary to help ace the job interview. Click the links for more a detailed breakdown of interview advice.

Job Interview Advice – What are the things you should never say in an interview?

A job interview is designed to test if an applicant is a ‘good fit’ for the organisation.

As each company is different, they all have their own values and vision, applicants should approaches each job interview differently.

But, a career professional excels in an organisation that has a culture that fits, naturally, with their temperament. In this sense, applicants can be themselves , and say whatever they like – for some interviews this would result in a job rejection (but the career professional may not of enjoyed working within this culture) or a job offer (and is likely to excel)

Saying that, though, there is a couple of common mistakes applicants make during the job interview; the common no-no’s during a job interview:

  • Don’t talk about salary until an employer brings this up
  • Don’t put up barriers by stating that there is an expectation to work out a long notice period
  • Don’t ask personal questions unrelated to the job sector or company

Job Interview Advice – How do you make a good impression during the interview

Likeability is the key to interview success

A confident self-promoter, research shows, is more likely to gain employment then a quiet applicant who easily self-discloses weaknesses.

5 tips to create a good impression (basic but powerful)

  • Smile
  • Open gestures
  • Use Stories and examples
  • Find commonality with the interviewer
  • Highlight a high level of industry knowledge and experience

Job interview Advice – How to answer interview questions

Before preparing a job interview answer, it is important to understand the structure of the job interview itself.

Each Interviewer asks different types of interview questions. A good rule of thumb when answering any job interview question is to state, confidently, that you have the required skill or experience

“In my last role this was one of my main duties…”

Second, give an example “an example of this was….”

And finally create a summary “to end I have 6 years experience of (skill)..”

Job Interview Advice – How to prepare for the job interview

Job interview preparation is key to a successful career.

First ensure you have put time aside to prepare for the forthcoming job interview.

Second write down a list of sector related job interview questions. Use the job profile or job criteria to predict the job interview question.

Finally, write down your interview answers and ‘role play’ until the answers are second nature.

Job Interview Advice – What do say in an interview presentation

Interview presentations are becoming more common.

Having to create an interview presentation is a big barrier from many applicants as this isn’t an easy to require skill.

By breaking the interview preparation down into 3 steps can help creates an easy strategy to work with.

  1. Have a beginning, middle and end (open, main body and summary)
  2. Use one slide per minutes with little text
  3. Have one key message that runs through the theme of the interview presentation

Job Interview Advice – How to start an interview

The interview handshake creates the first impression.

Once an applicant has been invited to the interview, it is the employer who will start the interview, often by making small talk (to relax the applicant)

Applicants need to be polite by introducing themselves to the other interviewers.

The applicant, to come across well at the interview start, can create a conversation by asking the interviewer questions rather than just answering their questions.

It is important at the interview start to communicate with confidence, discussing sector-related information as this creates a positive interview identity.

Job Interview Advice – How to be more confident in a job interview

Interview confidence comes from being well prepared.

Applicants can use mind tricks to increase confidence

  • Imagine a positive interview where everything is going well. By imagining a confident version of yourself creates the feeling of confidence
  • Remember industry-related successes to remind yourself of your high level of sector skills
  • Stand with confidence as the mind-body connection makes you feel confident if you stand with confidence

Job Interview Advice – What common mistakes do people make in a job interview?

There are 3 key mistakes applicants make who constantly fail in job interviews. These interview mistakes are often unconscious but have a terrible effect on the outcome of the job interview

  1. Self-discloses weaknesses, past mistakes and negative traits without being promoted by the interview panel
  2. Talk to quickly (and therefore not understood) or say to little (and not hit the job criteria resulting in a low scoring answer)
  3. Makes no effort to build likability or rapport with the employer

Job Interview Advice – How does a structured interview work?

The competency based job interview is the most common of all job interviews.

Each applicant, in a structured job interview, is asked the same 10 job interview questions. The question, recorded on an interview scorecard, comes with a scoring mechanism, often a score of 1-4.

The more job criteria a candidate states the high a score they will receive, with the highest-scoring applicant being offered the advertised role.

Job Interview Advice – How to end an interview

Job interviews are evolving.

There is a new style of job interview questions being asked.

No matter what type of interview an applicant attends; video interview, structured interview, informal interview, the applicant has a chance to ask their own interview questions at the interview end.

The standard questions to ask an employer are:

  • What development opportunities are there?
  • Can you describe the team dynamics?
  • What makes you want to work for the organisation?
  • What does the organisation value the most?
  • When am I likely to hear back from you?

Job Interview Advice

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How to Pass a Probation Officer Job Interview

Probation officers work with a caseload of offenders to support each of them to make better life choices to reduce reoffending.

Probation officers can work in the community, in the courts or within prisons. Each probation officer is tasked to work collaboratively with the police, prison service, social services, housing agencies and a range of professional agencies to create a supportive program that will reduce reoffending.

To be successful in a probation job interview, applicants need to showcase a range of skills and qualities from interpersonal skills to teamwork, from case management to report writing.

During a probation officer job interview, applicants will be asked to give evidence on how they meet the job criteria. Each ‘essential’ job criteria for a probation officer will be discussed and challenged through a number of job interview questions.

Due to the complexity of work that a probation officer has to undertake, and therefore highlight in the interview, the applicant needs to prepare and practice the most commonly asked job interview questions.

Why have you applied for a probation officer position?

To be a probation officer you will either have a Professional Qualification in Probation (PQiP) – this is an industry recognised probation officer qualification and/or a number of years experience working with ‘challenging’ behaviors.

When explaining why you have applied for a probation officer role, the applicant can first state their level of knowledge and experience “Last year a passed by PQiP and have been working with ex-offenders as part of a local initiative…”

Follow up the opening statement by giving an example of relevant skills: “When working on X project, I was responsible for (case management, effective decision making, working with offenders, etc)

And end the interview answer with a short summary “I applied to work with youth offenders, rather than adult offenders, because (reason)…”

What do you have to consider when case-managing a large number of offenders?

Case-management questions are asking about an applicants organisational skills.

Start with an example: “In my previous role I successfully managed a caseload of 55 ongoing cases…”

Next, state the skills and strategies that were used to ensure that all key tasks and duties were performed on time and to a high level of quality.

“When case managing, I found it important to utilize management tools. As an example of this I would manage by time by using X tool, this allowed me to A, B and C…”

In addition, applicants can explain a common problem relevant to case managing offenders and state the solution: “When working with X company, we found that 50% of offenders would not attend their 3rd probation appointment. To increase attendance on the 2nd appointment, that many offenders attended, I would (add strategy)…”

Why is accurate report writing important for a probation officer?

Any interviewer that starts a question by asking why X is important is telling the interviewee that this is a key duty/skill that is required for the advertised role.

At the start of the interview answer, candidates can reassure the interviewer by agreeing to the statement “I agree report writing needs to be accurate….” The agreement with the interviewer increases liking.

After the ‘agreement frame’ explains the reason why (the applicant) agrees with the statement embedded within the interview question: “…because the reports probation officers write can be used as evidence in a court of law….”

End the interview answer by stating the process utilized in previous roles “To ensure accuracy of my reports I (make notes, write the reports during a meeting, check and recheck accuracy, etc)…”

As one of the key duties of a probation office, this question is bound to come up during the job interview.

How would you risk assess an offender?

The risk assessment is based on two key; the risk of reoffending and the risk of risk of serious harm.

When answering the interview question, applicants need to show their understanding of risk management. Interviewees new to this sector need to discuss their knowledge base, while experienced probation officers can give a real-life example. Either way will help create a positive interview identity from an employer’s perspective.

Explain risk level, who is at risk, protective factors and how the applicant would go about completing the risk assessment – what evidence they would use?

How would you support an offender not to re-offend?

The re-offend question is the bases of the job role. There are many approaches and potential answers here.

In short, this question allows an applicant to discuss their unique selling point – the reason they should be hired for the role.

A strong opening answer can win the interviewer over “in all my previous roles I have been able to reduce the number of re-offenders on my caseload by an average of 30%..”

By stating a confirmation of ability, creates interest. Follow up this opening line by stating the process used to achieve the stated results.

“To lower the number of re-offenders I…….”

Examples could include:

“Help to plan the diary management of offenders with community orders, this simple strategy ensures offenders attend their agreed number of hours working in the community”

“I have a collaborative approach with external agencies to ensure the offender has all the basics; housing, benefits, medical care. This collaborative approach not only reduces the hours the probation service needs to put in to support an offender but also ensures an offender doesn’t feel they have to offend to survive.”

“My ability to be trust and rapport with an offender allows them to open up to me. This mentoring approach has been proven to help me find the underlying issues the offender has and therefore gain the offender the right support to help them live a normal life.”

Job Interview Advice

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Telephone Interviews are Dead

In 2020 the telephone job interview is dead!

That’s right, a recent decline in telephone interviews is convincing career guidance professionals to advise job hunters to spend their efforts on the video and face to face job interviews.

Why telephone interviews became popular

During the 1990s are a large number of organisations used the telephone interview as a screening process before inviting successful candidates to a face to face structured interview.

The telephone was a cost affected method, compared to inviting candidates down to head office, of getting rid of the undesirable job hunters. As the telephone screening process became more popular, the fear around answering job interview questions on the phone was commonplace, with many interviewees stating they feared the telephone job interview more than face to face recruitment processes.

The telephone interview; an informal process

In the main, the interview by telephone was an informal job interview with no set questions; a more ‘get to know you’ conversation. Recruiters formally named this as an ‘informal job interview’. Informal interview decisions about taking a candidate to the next level of the recruitment process, or not, relies on ‘gut reaction‘ – there’s something about this applicant that I like!

The structured in-person interview is more analytical with applicants being asked interview questions that are marked on an interview scoresheet.

Employers, even though they are leaving the telephone interview call back in time, still require a way to reduce the number of applicants who have applied for the position (the applications for each advertised position is higher than ever before) down to 6 suitable candidates to complete the high-time structured job interview (the face to face interview)

So, what is replacing the telephone interview screening process

Not much of a surprise; the online interview is the new screening process. Being interviewed online can be a bonus as the interveiwers see’s the applicant’s non-verbal communication. Non-verbal communication, such as smiling and natural use of gesture increases likeability – a factor in the interview scoring process.

It is also easier to sell yourself when you, the applicant, can see the interviewer, especially when they nod and smile during your answer.

A downside is unconscious bias. research has shown how the way someone looks affects the decision-making process with one piece of research showing how an obese candidate is less likely to get hired than an ‘average’ sized person. Being viewed as beautiful or ugly, male or female (depending on the role) also creates a visual unconscious bias.

Job Interview Advice

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4 Questions to Ask Before You Agree to a Job Interview

  • Vision
  • Culture
  • Development
  • Location

Job hunting is a time consuming activity, but one with a great pay off.

Having a successful CV, Resume, or Application Form will result in a large number of invitations to be interviewed.

Organisations are in constant search for the best talent. If an applicant possesses the required level of knowledge and experience, employers will want to hire them! With a high number of interview offers, some with competing dates, career professionals need to make the tricky choice of which interview offers to accept.

In fact, it’s pointless attending a job interview if by the interview end you can’t wait to leave. The worst situation to be in is to be employed by an organisation that you cant do business with.

These 4 questions will help you decide if it is even worth attending the job interview in the first place

Should I attend the job interview question 1

Do you believe in the company vision?

The company vision is crucial to an employee’s workplace happiness. The vision is aligned to the company’s values and the company values influence management decision making. Workplace happiness comes from shared values between the employer and employee. Say, for example, that the employee values include being environmentally friendly, but the organisation values profit before anything else. In this scenario, the employer makes decisions based on profit which could include cheaper but not environmentally friendly purchases, which affect the employee’s motivation.

Compare this to an environmentally friendly employee who works for a ‘green’ organisation. The employee works harder and is happier as their vision of the company is the employee’s personal mission.

Should I attend the job interview question 2

Culture kills motivation

The culture of a company increases and decreases employees’ motivational levels. Imagine an employee who is very creative and innovative, after being highly successful in one organisation they move to a new company – doing the same role, in the same sector, only for a salary increase.

On paper everything is the same, so surely the industry expert should perform just as well as they did in their last position? In the new company, though, the culture is more procedure driven, deadlines, data and planning are the key to the new organisation success. This disparity between how the employee and organisation work demotivates the new employee, reducing their ability to be creative and therefore successful.

Should I attend the job interview question 3

Development or die

One thing that is clear for a successful career in the current climate is having workplace and professional development. As the world of work keeps changing at a rapid pace, career professionals need to keep on top of industry-related changes and sector updates.

Without gaining new skills, gathering new qualifications and understanding the impact of sector technology, a career professional can be left behind. Purchasing your own development opportunities can be highly expensive.

For continuous development, the career hunger individual needs an employer who will fund their professional development.

Should I attend the job interview question 4

Location, location, location

What is the flexibility of the new organisation? Can employees have a home office, is their flexibility in start times, is remote working an option?

If the job is office-based, what is the duration of travel to and from work? What route would the applicant take to work? Research shows how travel affects stress and stress affects work happiness

Plus the cost of travel or not traveling adds up and can take a big chunk out of the employee’s pay package.

Job Interview Advice

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What questions are asked in a job interview

  • Opening questions
  • Organisational questions
  • Work ethic questions
  • Experience questions
  • Questions to ask the employer

Common asked job interview questions

What will an employer ask you in a job interview?

By understanding what interview questions an employer will ask in a job interview, allows an applicant to prepare relevant job interview answers.

Opening Questions

The initial questions asked in an interview are really designed to relax an applicant. These ‘welcome’ questions are not scored against the job criteria (they won’t even reference the job role) but do help an interviewer create a first impression about an applicant before the start of the ‘official’ interview.

“Did you have any trouble finding the premisies?”

“Did you drive or use public transport?”

“Did you watch the (insert any big event) last night?”

Organisational questions

The first official interview questions, commonly, will be based on the applicant’s knowledge of the organisation. Employers here to wanting to check keen an applicant is to work for their organisation.

“Do you know what the company mission and vision is?”

“How long has the organisation been in operation?”

“What made you apply for this role?”

“What values do you look for in an organisation?”

Work ethic questions

Employers, these days, are asking more work ethic related questions than ever before. The changing job market driven through globalisation and technological advances has resulted in career professionals ‘job-hopping’ on a regular basis. Employers will question applicants or their employment reliability

“When did you go above and beyond in a previous role?”

“What is the average time you spend with an organisation?”

“What keeps you motivated in work?”

“How would a previous employer describe you?”

Experience questions

The key section to any job interview is the question around a candidate’s experience. It is the answers to these ‘experience’ questions that result in job offers or the ‘unsuccessful’ phone call.

“Give me an example of when you have solve a problem”

“Tell me a time when you (add any industry related situation)?”

“How do collabrate with other team members?”

“Explain a set back that you had to overcome to achieve an operational objective?”

“How would you deal with (add any industry related problem)?”

Questions to ask the employer

At the interview end, applicants will be given the chance to ask their own questions. This creates a two-way process for the interview; the interviewer checking if the candidate is a suitable person to recruit and the candidate deciding if they would enjoy working for the organisation.

“Can you tell me why do you enjoy working for the company?”

“What does an average day working here consist off?”

“What development and training opportunities are available for new members of staff?”

“How does the company ensure its values are being met?”

Job Interview Advice

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What are the 5 steps for a successful interview

  1. Identify the job criteria
  2. Deliver answers within a structured framework
  3. Be a self-promoter
  4. Communicate with confidence
  5. Ask questions

Step 1 for a successful job interview

Identify the job criteria

The scoring process, for a structured job interview, is to score the interviewee’s answers against the job criteria.

Each of the essential criteria, on a job specification, is discussed through the process of interview question(s) and answer(s). If the job criteria are referenced in the applicant’s answer, the answers are scored higher on the employer’s scorecard.

By identifying the job criteria for each job interview, applicants can prepare high scoring interview answers. The highest scoring candidate is offered the advertised position.

Step 2 for a successful job interview

Deliver answers within a structured framework

Two mistakes can kill job interview success; not talking enough and talking too much.

A lack of information results in low scoring job interview answers, whereas verbal diarrhea ends with too much irrelevant information that can be confusing for an employer.

The solution is to use an ‘interview structure’ for each answer. Typically, a perfect answer follows 3 steps:

Step 1 – Use a hook to grab the employers attention

Step 2 – State a problem and solution

Step 3 – Explain how the discussed ‘skill’ can be beneficial for the new employer

Step 3 for a successful job interview

Be a self-promotor

Interviewers can only score applicants based on their answers.

If you don’t self-promote, employers won’t have any idea of what the applicant can bring to the team. For some, self-promotion feels awkward, but in the job interview self-promotion, isn’t just required, it is expected.

To be successful, the interviewee needs to give an answer to tricky interview questions that not only highlight their strengths but that also sell the career professionals unique selling point

Step 4 for a successful job interview

Communicate with confidence

No matter how much criteria are mentioned in each job interview question, applicants will only score high if each answer is communicated with confidence.

This is because non-verbal communication affects the employer’s likeability factor. If an employer views an applicant as confident, they are more likely to have a stronger rapport with the applicant, which can be the difference between or 3 or 4 scores.

As job offers often go to candidates with only a few points higher then there nearest rival, each additional point does make a difference.

Step 5 for a successful job interview

Ask questions 

Most interviewees wait until the interveiw end to ask questions about the company vision, CPD and salary. But the job interview is designed to be more conversational.

Successful applicants will ask questions throughout the job interview. The key is to ask for specifics when the interviewer has asked a generic question. This ensures that the candidate’s answer is relevant to the asked question, ending with a higher scoring answer

Employers are looking for the best suitable applicant. They don’t want to trick the interviewees, but the job interview process has flaws – the most suitable candidate doesn’t always get offered the advertised the position. To be successful in the job interview, the candidates need to present themselves in the most positive light. 

The interview prediction grid is one way of understanding how an employer sees you in terms of value.

Job Interview Advice