Tag: interview preperation

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What No One Tells You About Job Interviews

What is the one thing all career professionals have in common?

Each must attend a job interview to advance their career.

Understanding the recruitment process, therefore, is key to a successful career, gaining promotions, and increasing a salary.

On average, career professionals will change jobs at least once every three to five years. The days of working in one organisation for life have long gone.

Are you interview-ready?

Even with regular job interviews, the number of job hunters who prepare in advance for a job interview is extremely low.

Being ‘interview ready’ means an increase in confidence. Confidence increase self-promotion and self-promotion increases job offers.

More importantly, understanding the secrets of a job interview can lead to consistent high-scoring interview answers.

What makes a successful job interview?

Research has shown that an applicant’s ability to predict the job criteria, due to possessing a high level of sector knowledge/experience, results in the interviewer being able to accurately predict the job performance (the objective of the interview process) of each candidate.

This means, the more an interviewee reference industry jargon, sector models, and relevant working examples, especially when communicated confidently, the more an employer will presume or predict that the applicant is well suited for the advertised role: the applicant’s interview identity.

Each interview answer is referenced against the job criteria on the interview scorecard as part of a structured job interview – the most commonly used recruitment process. Answers that don’t highlight the candidate’s high level of expertise are likely to score low.

The interview is a two-horse race.

On average, applicants are asked 8 job interview questions, with each question scored on a scale of 1-4, with 4 being the best scoring answer.

The total number of points available is 32.

Because weaker applicants are shifted out during the application process stage, the candidates being interviewed will all score, in the main, 3’s or 4’s for each interview question.

This creates a close race, where every point counts.

Employers have told us how the winning interviewee will only have one or two additional points above the next most suitable applicant.

Unforeseen forces affect the interviewer’s allocated scores, such as job interview unconscious bias. But in the main, the candidate’s ability to communicate competencies creates high or low scoring answers.

How to ace the job interview.

The three rules for a successful job interview outcome are:

  • Identify the job criteria
  • Be a self-promoter
  • Communicate with confidence

In addition, there are psychological interview tactics that can be embedded into the recruitment process including the process of creating likeability.

The common mistakes applicants make in job interviews are:

Using the same job examples in all job interviews

Having pre-prepared interview answers is a must in a job interview, as the rehearsal of the perfect answer ensures that the answer is delivered with confidence – rules 3.

The barrier though is ‘laziness’. Many career professionals will re-use the same interview stories time and time again.

Yes, their answer is perfectly delivered, as practice creates perfection. But, the original answer was designed for a previous role.

Rule 1, is to identify the job criteria. Creating interview answers based only on the job criteria for each position ensures that each answer will score high as the examples used will reference the required skills, knowledge, and experience for that role.

The same example or situation can be used for multiple recruitment processes, but the frame of the answer – what the example is highlighting has to be specific to the advertised position and the culture of the organisation.

Reserved or forthcoming?

In the UK, especially, job applicants like to be reserved. They will answer interview questions, but the answers lack the benefits, fail to self-promote and in general the interviewee is unforthcoming.

The job interview is the one place where you must be a self-promoter – the 2nd rule of a successful job interview.

To self-promote candidates can ustilse verbal and non-verbal communciation:

Non-verbal communication

  • Smiling is associated with confidence and competence
  • Nodding in agreement as the employers speaks and this helps to build rapport
  • Open body language, gestures and a relaxed postures is linked self-esteem
  • Strong eye-contact while speaking creates authority
  • What you wear can influence how the candidate is seen – desirable or unsuitable

Verbal communication

  • Long descriptive paragraphs help to paint the scene allowing an employer to understand the relevance of the job interview answer
  • Positive language is associated with a good worker
  • Mentioning the job criteria (rule 1) shows suitability
  • Giving examples highlights experiences
  • Explaining models and theories shows expertise
  • Changing pitch, tonality, and volume help to maintain employer interest

Is confidence charismatic?

Certain people stand out in the crowd.

We don’t know why our eyes are drawn to them, but something about them; how they dress, their posture, the way th move, or maybe a communication of facts make them a focus point.

It is the same in a job interview. A team of interviewers speak to numerous applicants throughout the recruitment period, with most candidates having a similar level of skills and experiences, but one or maybe two applicant stand out – why?

It is often the self-assurance of an applicant that increases their internal level of confidence. An increase in confidence, increases charisma.

Imposture syndrome, not believing you are at the right level for the job in question (even though you meet the criteria for the advertised role), is the biggest barrier to interview confidence.

Evolve the mind book on Amazon

Are you an anxious interviewee?

Anxious interviewees will:

  • Fidgeting, which distracts the employer’s attention
  • Mumble and use excessive filler words
  • Give short snappy answers to technical interview questions
  • Often look down, killing any previously built up rapport including that from the halo effect
  • Self-disclose weaknesses and past errors which results in low scoring interview answers

Charismatic and highly confident applicants will:

  • Frame interview questions so all answers sound positive
  • Focus on solutions, not problems
  • Create a conversation by asking questions throughout the job interview
  • Have a relaxed manner; sitting back in the chair, taking their time to reply, and using anecdotes and stories
  • Eye contact is strong, and they speak using natural gestures
  • Interview answers are detailed and well structured
  • Answers naturally reference several key job criteria
  • Give their full attention to the interviewer

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Are You To Busy To Prepare For a Job Interview?

Do You Fail To Prepare For a Job Interview?

You are offered a job interview for a position you really desire, you have 2 weeks to prepare yourself…two weeks later, with no preparation, the day of your job interview has arrived. Why am I so busy? If I were less busy I could have prepared better

Busy people often find it hard to prepare for a job interview, but here is how you can swap busy to productive

Busy vs Productive

There is a difference between having a busy life or a productive life….the big difference is, productive people, get things done.

Are you busy or productive?
  • Busy people have lots of goals, productive people have priorities  
  • Busy people say yes to everyone, productive people way up the action against the required time 
  • Busy set long deadlines, productive people set short deadlines
  • Busy never finish anything, productive people finish one task before moving onto the next task
  • Busy people keep starting new task/goals, productive people are focused on what they are doing

   

To-Do List

How big is your to-do list?

Even when you feel motivated having a list of a hundred tasks to complete will distract you, as you will always think about the next task.

Once your mind wanders from the current activity, you will lose focus, once you lose focus you will start a new task, that results in getting nothing completed.

This is what happens when preparing for a job interview. You decide that your goal is to research the company, predict the interview questions, create creative job interview answers, choose what to wear, research the interviewer……

As you start one task, researching the company” you lose focus “this company looks professional, best think about my presentation…before you know you have your nose stuck in the wardrobe, with no or little research completed.

Productive people have a maximum of 3 tasks. Once they are completed they will pick 3 new task

Interview questions and answers

Don’t Say Yes

You have two weeks until your job interview – plenty of time (if you set short deadlines for each task – short deadlines are more motivational then long deadlines)

Someone asks you to do X, you think “Well it’s hard thinking of great job interview answers, so I will take a break complete X and then get back to it. When doing X someone asks you to do another task….it is easy to get distracted especially when you find your current task hard.

Even simple tasks like researching the company can have the same effect, but rather than someone else asking you to do X, you ask yourself. When researching the organisation, you find the image and name of the interviewer, you ask yourself “shall I google him?” before long you are reviewing his Twitter feed, looking at his holiday pictures on facebook,  researching his family history….by this time you have forgotten to research the company history

Productive people way up each task, how will this affect by goal (with a short term deadline) if it has a negative effect productive people say no (in a very polite manner, of course)

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Interview Question and Answer What motivates you to be your best?

To answer the interview question what motivates you, your first need to think about the job duties required for the position you are applying for.

This way you can match your motivation to that of the job. In this article we have broke down what the interviewer is looking for in a perfect job interview answer and to help you create the perfect answer we have recorded an example answer.

Interview Question “What motivates you to be your best?”

Explanation of the Question:

If every job paid the same salary, would you still apply for this position? If the answer is yes, why? This is what motivates you.

Think about the job you are applying too, what is the end result this company delivers? Does it make something? Help people? Give advice? Sells?

If you are motivated by the same thing the company does then you will do well in the company and the interviewer will want to recruit you. 

Example Interview Answer

“I am always motivated knowing that my job role is making a difference with other people’s lives”

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A Manchester Career Advisor Shares The 3 Ss For a Successful Career Choice

I have met hundreds of career professionals in their late 20’s looking for a career change because they choose the wrong career/university course.

Choosing the right profession is key to a work-life balance. The ideal position creates motivation, decreases workplace stress and increase your chances of promotion, higher salary and career happiness.

But how do you choose the best matched job role? Today a Manchester Career Advisor will share the secret of career options using the 3 S’s for a successful career choice

The First S – Strengths

The best career choice is role that naturally utilizes your natural strengths.

First write a list of all your strengths, skills and qualities. Reread past employer appraisals and add to your list the strengths your previous employer said you had. Ask friends and family members what they believe is your natural talent.

Think about the duties you enjoy doing, the task that you find a breeze to complete and the skills that you have now, that you had as a child.

Circle the strengths that you, previous employers and family members all stated

The Second S – Your Story

Next, think about you and who you want to be. Imagine writing a character from the story of your future.

This character is you at your best. When you think about you at your best, what is important to this you? What does this you value? What do they believe in? How do they act? Who do they associative with? What are their aspirations and goals?

What is important to this version of you?

The Third S – Simple Irritations

Do you find that little things annoy you? Some of these irritations annoy you but not others. This is because we all have our own personality type, stress inducers and motivational traits.

Think about how you work best and what styles of work increase stress. Do you work better alone or within a team? Do you preference following procedures or having creativity? Are you interested more in people or systems?

Do you work more productively starting and finishing one task or do you enjoy the challenge of multitasking? Are you an organised individual who works with dairies, to-do list and in a neat and tidy environment or can you work in a mess, with information scribbled on post-it notes stuck under a book?

List what approaches to work motivates you and which working styles stress you?

Putting the 3 S’s Together

With a list of your key strengths, your story (your values and beliefs) and your motivational and stress indicators.

You can now match these to career ideas. If, as an example, creatively, innovation and design was a current theme you know a career in the art and design sector would suit you best.

Once you have spotted your common theme Google “theme Careers” IE “Art and Design Careers” Google will collate Art and Design job profile and job descriptions for you to examine. Read the various related roles and circle any duties that you would enjoy doing on a day to day basis.

The job description with the most circled duties will be a suitable role for you

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Preparing Your Interview Answers for Maximum Impact

Maximum Impact Interview Answers

To beat the job interview competition the savvy interviewee will prepare each interview answer to maximize the impact each answer has on the interviewer.

Don’t fall into the trap of simply re-reading your CV the night before the interview, instead start preparing weeks ahead of the job interview – as soon as you receive the invitation to interview e-mail.

This way you will have time to predict each question, prepare each interview answer and ensure each answer sells you and your skills, work ethic and employment experience.

The simple 3 step process below, will help you prepare each interview answer (the examples we will concentrate on qualities and skills, but the same process can be used for experience related interview questions).

Step 1 Predicting the Interview Question

First think about the position you are applying for and ask yourself “what skills and qualities does the employer require me to possess?” and write a big list of required skills, qualities and experiences. You can also use the job specification or job profiles to predict the essential job criteria.

Step 2 Breakdown the Skill

Each essential job criteria requires a certain skill or quality. Create a mindmap for each required skill, as an example “Communication Skills” – ask yourself “how do you communicate?” – e-mail, face to face, telephone, fax, body language, sign language, etc. make this list as big as possible, there are no wrong answers be creative add anything you associate to communication (or your essential criteria)

Next think about a real example of when you have used this skill or quality and recorded it.

Step 3 Creating the Answer

Now you have a giant list of criteria and a breakdown of those particular criteria, you can now move onto the third stage – paragraphs. All you need to do here is put the breakdown of the criteria into a paragraph (and this doesn’t need to perfect yet)

Let’s use the communication example – remember at this stage the paragraph doesn’t need to read well as we are still in the ideas stage. “I communicate with everyday, over the phone and face to face. When talking over the phone I use my voice tone to build rapport and ask regular questions to ensure the other person is taking onboard what I am saying. When talking to people face to face, I use my body language to increase likeness and watch the other people’s body language and face gestures to check they agree with what I am saying”

Use real life examples show’s the employer two things; one you understand what their essential criteria is and more importantly you have implemented in previous roles (which is often taken for you can do that part of the job)

Your real life examples need to be related to the position you are applying for. In sales jobs communication skills and rapport building are key essential criteria, so you can edit your above profile using real life sales (or any position) experience

“In my previous sales position I was always on the monthly top 10 sales executive’s board often at the top, this is because I understand the importance of communicating with people over the phone. I would often use my voice tone to build rapport with customers and ask customers questions throughout the sales pitch to ensure they were listening to me…..”

You need to re-write your interview answer 3 times to ensure it really sell’s you. After each interview think about which answer worked well and which answers need improving. Reflecting on your interview answers allows you to improve with each and every job interview.

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The 6 Stages of a Job Interview

Often interviewees to prepare for a job interview need to know what the stages of a job interview are.

This knowledge can help them prepare for the forthcoming job interview and allows the interviewee during the job interview to know at what stage they are at during the job interview.

The job interview is broken into 6 parts. This can vary slightly with each individual company, but as a rule of thumb, this is the general breakdown of most job interviews.

  • The introduction:

    1. the employer will introduce themselves, the company and the reason they are currently recruiting new members of staff. Some companies will use the introduction to sell their company, as they have only invited to interview those applicants they know will add value to their company.

  • The Opening:

    1. the opening of the interview is a few questions to get you talking and to help you relax. The question often include “what do you know about our organisation?” and “tell me a little bit about yourself and your experience” If your a confident interviewee you can use these opening questions to start selling yourself from the off.

  • The Skills:

    1. as the interview is underway the interviewer will question you on your skills and knowledge to see if your ability matches that required by the company. You may be asked technical questions at this stage.

  • The Experience:

    1. heading towards the end of the interview, you will be asked a series of questions related to your experience. You have confirmed you have a certain skill, you now need to back this up by giving answers relating to real experiences.

  • The Personality:

    1. employers understand that employees that work well together offer more output. Most interviewers will ask you a few questions on personality and values to ensure you will fit in well with both the team and the organisation.

  • The Sum Up:

    1. at the job interview end, the employer will thank you for your time and if needed ask you one or two more questions to finish of the job interview and may summaries the interview and how you preformed. In 9/10 job interviews, the interviewer will ask if you have any questions to ask them; this is your time to ensure that the company meets your values. This is sometimes overlooked by the interviewee but is highly important as you want to pick a company that you will grow in.

Overall the job interview on average will last around 45 minutes with the interviewer asking around 10 questions. Some interviews also ask you to complete the test, physically show a skill or to take part in some type of group exercise.

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Interview Questions for a Nursery Nurse Interview

One of the largest job sectors is the education sector, employing over 450,000 staff members, including a high number of nursery nurses

Most nursery nurses around £25,000 with nursery nurse managers having an average of £30,000. Having a qualification is key, with employers looking for a Level 3 Diploma in Early Years Education and Care – Early Years Educator or a T-level in Education.

Other entry routs include a level 3 nursery nurse apprenticeships. Employers during the recruitment process will check qualifications and experiences relevant to the role.

In the job interview, the interviewers will focus on skills and knowledge for the nursery nurse position.

Nursery Nurse Interview Questions

We have listed the most commonly asked nursery nurse interview questions and provided a breakdown of what the employer is looking to hear from an applicant.

In the main the nursery nurse interview will be structured, with each question being allocated a point – the highest scoring candidate will be offered the role.

To prepare for a job interview, it is also good to familiarise yourself with the generic commonly asked questions.

Can you tell me a little bit about yourself?

  • Show experience level by discussing the duration in the industry
  • State your highest level of nursery nurse qualification to highlight knowledge level
  • Give examples of working with a particular cohort (SEND pupils) to reference your unique skills and experiences

This results in: Experience x Qualification x USP interview formula 

What experience do you have working with children?  

The ‘experience’ questions requires additional detail to the generic ‘about you’ question.

  • Describe different vulnerable groups, age ranges, if the pupils had a disability – any specifics here works well, as a positive assumption is made when an applicant has direct experience with targeted leaners
  • Talking about working with older age also helps, especially when you link the experience to the criteria of the nursery nurse job role
  • Explain your knowledge of learning styles, how play is utilised in education and how to recongnise safeguarding concerns

Give me an example of when you had safeguarding concerns and what processes you followed?

What steps have you taken outside of work to develop yourself?

Employers, these days, are looking for staff who want to develop professionally. In the education sector increasing knowledge is very important as legislation changes on a regular basis.

To answer the CPD session it is good to describe the activities from any of the following four areas of learning:

  • Volunteering
  • Eventbrite sessions
  • Academic reading
  • Qualifications

Discuss the CPD opportunity, what you leant and how you can use the learning in the workplace.

Do you have any examples of when you have proactively involved a parent or carer in their child’s development?

A real-life example is a good way to explain the actions you took to support a parent. Tell the story by explaining the following 4 steps:

  1. Describe the situation – why was it needed for the parent to be involved?
  2. State the actions you took – how you engaged with the parent
  3. What barriers did you over?
  4. The positive outcome – how it supported the child

What would you do with a child who demonstrated challenging behavior?

There is a variety of challenging behavior when working with young people. Again, using a real-life example helps to highlight the skills you have to help a child with their behaviour.

  1. Describe the challenging behaviour
  2. Give context – was there a reason for this behaviour
  3. Discuss collaborative working with parents, child psychologist or social worker
  4. Discuss actions you took
  5. Describe the outcome

What would you do if you saw a colleague taking pictures on their phone of the children playing in the play area?

Safeguarding questions are very common in nursery nurse interviews. The NSPCC have a wealth of information that can be quoted in job interviews.

First state safeguarding regulations as this shows an understanding of the law and processes.

Next, explain the process of your current employer (reporting to manger, recording incidents, challenging colleagues) and safeguarding regulations.

The employer, here, is trying to understand your level of safeguarding knowledge.,

What is your understanding of OFSTED?

For all educational job interviews it is very important to be aware of the OFTSED inspection framework. 

  • State your awareness of the framework – ideally you will highly knowledgeable
  • Discuss past inspections in previous roles
  • Explain business as usual tasks that you complete adhering to OFSTED regulations

Why is health and safety deemed important?

When working with young child, the H&S interview question is from the perspective of the child not the work (as it is in other job sectors)

  • Explain the importance of H&S awareness
  • Discuss daily tasks you complete to ensure the safety of child – this could be as simple as removing dangerous/sharp objects or completing risk assessments for activities
  • Discuss ‘risk’ in detail

What would you do if you heard a child or parent saying something racist?

Some nursery nurse workers find this situation difficult. Which is why employers ask challenging interview questions.

  • Explain how you would challenge the comment
  • Give an explanation on why the comment would need challenging
  • Tell a story about a real-life example of dealing with a similar situation

Do you have any questions for me?

Always have questions prepared. As an example:

  • How many nursery centers do you have?
  • What training is available for new staff members?
  • What is the projected intake of children over the next 3 years?

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Five Failsafe Ways to be Prepared for your Job Interview

Be Prepared for your Job Interview

This Months Guest post comes from Simply Marketing Jobs

The golden rule of being interviewed is BE PREPARED! It sounds obvious but so many well-qualified job seekers make the mistake of arriving for interviews without planning properly in advance, hoping their experience and personality will carry them through. So what can you do before the big day to ensure you impress the interview panel and land that job?

How to Prepare for a Job Interview.

Carry out extensive research on the organisation

It’s vital to do all the research on the company that you can.

Spend time going through the company website and if the post you’re applying for is senior, get a copy of their latest published accounts (normally these are available to download from a company’s corporate website).

Google is of course a fantastic tool for finding out some interesting facts about the organisation you’re hoping to work for.

“What do you know about our company?” is one of the most commonly asked interview questions, so having to scrape around for something to say instantly looks bad. If the information is on their website, there is no excuse for not knowing about it, and having pre-prepared opinions about recent business activities and marketing campaigns will demonstrate your interest. It’s best to keep any negative opinions to yourself of course.

Areas of the business you must research:

·         What does the company do?

·         What’s the company culture?

·         Which products and services does it sell?

·         Growth plans for the future

·         Main competitors

·         Financial performance

·         Recent published trade news

·         Who will be interviewing you and what is their role?

Interview Test

Presentation

First impressions really do count so don’t risk everything by looking scruffy or inappropriately dressed.

Always overdress rather than risk being under-dressed. Studies show that often the average length of time between a candidate entering the interview room and a decision being made is less than four minutes.

After this time, recruiters are often looking for evidence to support the decision that – perhaps subconsciously – they have already made.

If you are at all unsure about the dress code ask the recruiter well in advance. Remember to think about your body language too – smiling often, sitting upright rather than slouching, and making plenty of eye contact will all show you in a good light.

Punctuality

As a professional, you don’t need to be told to arrive on time, but if you have interviewed extensively yourself you’ll know just how many job seekers still arrive late.

Make sure you find out where you are going and plan how you are going to get there. If you are unsure of the exact location of the interview print out a map.

Allow plenty of extra time in case of travel delays, particularly if you are heading into central London, or any other major city for the job interview. If you arrive very early find a nearby café and collect your thoughts and make any final preparations e.g. ensuring you have your mobile phone turned off before you go into the interview.

job interview coaching

Prepare for the likely questions

Many people fall down here, simply because they haven’t spent sufficient time thinking through answers to fairly straightforward questions. Here are a few classics that will remind you of what to expect at an interview and what kinds of answers to give.

Why do you want to work for us?

The interviewers want to know you are genuinely interested in the company and the opportunities this job provides.

So you must demonstrate that you understand what makes this company different from its competitors, and what you think will be the interesting/challenging/rewarding things about working there.

Think carefully about what really appeals to you about this job and company and how you can stand out from the other people who are applying for this job, and come up with at least three points – e.g. the brands are powerful and widely admired in the marketplace; it’s an award-winning company; you’ve read fantastic client testimonials on the company website.

How would you describe yourself?

Whatever you say it’s important to be honest and genuine.

You want the interviewer to feel confident that they are seeing your true personality rather than telling them what you think they want to hear.

Remember to give plenty of evidence to back up statements or claims about yourself. Rather than telling the interviewer you are ‘target driven’, give live examples of when you have hit or exceeded targets and describe the steps you took to ensure targets were never missed.

What are your strengths?

The interviewer wants to know what your key strengths are in relation to this particular job. Make sure you choose examples that are relevant to this role but also examples that set you apart from other applicants.

Try to have four or five strengths available in case the interviewer asks for some further examples. Remember that for most jobs you will want to include an example of working well as part of a team, and fitting in well with others.

What is your greatest weakness?

Of course, be careful not to say anything too negative about yourself – such as you struggle to concentrate, or are badly organised.

Prepare an example of a weakness that you have overcome – for instance, your time management skills have improved in recent years because you now use a certain system. “I used to accept too much work in an effort to please everybody, but soon discovered that I was diluting my focus and not performing as I should…. Today I try not to be superwoman, but explain carefully to colleagues why I must prioritise my workload.”

Where do you see yourself three years from now?

Don’t overstate your ambitions here. The company really just wants reassurance that you’ll stick with the company and stay motivated over time. So it’s best to say something like: “I envisage myself enjoying my work in a progressive company like this one, and being valued as an asset to the organisation. I hope I would have performed well enough to have earned a promotion, having proved I am worthy of such a position.”

Have questions prepared too

‘Do you have any questions?’ is actually a very important part of the interview process, so don’t say ‘no’, whatever you do.

Asking insightful, pre-prepared questions when given the opportunity is as important as any of the answers you will have already given during the interview, this is well worth remembering.

Not having relevant questions or squirming uncomfortably as you try to think up an intelligent question on the spot will make you look badly prepared and disorganised.

Have 10 questions prepared before you go into the sales job interview. As the interview progresses several of these will no doubt be answered as part of the general interview dialogue. However, when it is your turn to ask questions, pick the 3 to 5 questions that seem most relevant at the time.

Good questions to ask might include:

• What is the company’s approach to training and development?

• How would you describe the company culture?

• What is the biggest challenge facing your company currently?

• How will my success in this role be measured over the next 12 months?

• What kind of person does really well in this division?

Being fully prepared in these ways should set you off on the right track. The more prepared you are, the more confident you will appear on the day, which should also help reduce nervousness. So put in the time, and the rewards really are within reach!

This article was provided by Simply Marketing Jobs, a leading marketing recruitment board.

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The Interview Check List

Prepare for the Interview

    • Write a list of your strengths, skills and qualities – highlight the strengths, skills and qualities needed for the job you are being interviewed for.
    • Research the company; you can research the company online by clicking “about us” or “company history” tab on the company website – you will be asked “can you tell me what you know about our company?” during the interview.
    • Complete a mock interview; rehearse what to say and how to respond to interview questions. Also plan a list of questions to ask the interviewer.
    • Plan travel (complete a mock ruin in advance) prepare interview clothes, put CVs and references in a smart-looking file and set your alarm clock – you don’t want to be late!

During the Interview

    • Arrive early; no-one likes a late interviewee. Introduce yourself to the receptionist “good morning my name is Mr X, I have an appointment for an interview with Mrs Y, this morning at 10:00”
    • When asked into the interview, introduce yourself to the interviewer, shake hands and wait to be seated.
    • Have a good induction planned, as a common first interview question is “tell me a little about yourself”
    • Sit up straight, speak clearly and breathe between questions! Lock your hands together if you are nervous as this stops you from fidgeting, make good eye contact and ask for any questions you don’t understand to be repeated.
    • Answer questions using stories and real-life experiences; prove your knowledge, skills and worth by offering evidence or giving numbers, facts and figures.
    • Smile throughout the interview and offer detailed specific answers, relating to your background and experience – remember to discuss your skills that relate to the job specification.
    • Close the interview by asking the interviewer questions relating to the growth of the company, staff development, new contracts and the company employees.
    • Thank the interviewer for their time and shake hands.

After the Interview

    • Review the interview, write a list of what went well; your posture, interview answers, confidence etc. and a second list of what you can improve; speaking more slowly, answering a certain question, eye contact etc.
    • Complete a new mock interview and notice how you have improved with this new learning.
    • Write a thank-you letter to the interviewer indicating your interest within 24 hours of your interview.
    • Prepare references and continue to job search until you have a job offer in writing.
    • If rejected for the position, gain feedback from the interviewer. If offered the job, reply within 10 days.