Easy to implement ideas that will make a big difference in a job interview

Why are job interviews so tricky?

One of the main reasons why most career professionals struggle in a job interview is because no-one is taught how to act during a recruitment process.

Everyone knows that during a structured job interview the employer will ask a set of industry related questions to check the competencies level of all applicants.

Each answer is then scored on the interview scorecard.

What is an interview scorecard?

An interview scorecard is the document each interviewer has to help them rank the applicants interview answers against the essential criteria for the position being hired.

The interview scorecard, in chronological order, lists all the job interview questions. Beneath each question is a list of the skills, qualities and experiences required for the advertised role, and/or an example answer/pointer for the allocated points.

In the main employer use scoring of 1-4; 1 = weak, 2 = medium, 3 competent, 4 = expert – with each employer having their own scorings system.

A fair interview is created through this analytical process, especially when conducted by a panel interview allowing each interview score(s) to be normed, decreasing the effect of job interview unconscious bias.

An interviewee, to be successful, not only has to gain a higher score than the competition but also needs to achieve enough points to beat the benchmark to be viewed as suitable for the role.

Why is it hard to pass a job interview?

Being a highly skilled and experienced professional should result in a higher than average job interview to job offer ratio.

For many career professionals, their interview identity – how an employer perceives the applicant based on a level of knowledge/experience vs level of confidence formula, results in a less skilled applicant being offered the position they are best suited for.

Even when a candidate’s wealth of sector knowledge is clear on the application form, the lack of self-promotion concludes with an employer’s negative assessment.

To be successful in a job interview requires the interviewer to view the applicant as highly skilled, an expert or someone they cant do without.

So, whats the problem?

The problem that many interviewees face is they simply can’t structure their interview answers (content and delivery) in a way that inspires the interviewer.

This problem has an easy to implement solution: 3 easy to implement ideas that will make your next interviewer want to hire you.

Confident Statement

The first few seconds of a job interview answer are deemed to be very important.

As many career professionals are aware, an initial impression is created by the employer when they first meet the interviewee – hireable or undesirable. This impression affects how the employer views the applicant’s whole job interview.

If a visual impression can have such a huge effect at the interview start, then the opening words of an interview answer can shape how the employers score the question being marker.

Unsure
Hesitant
Confident

Being unsure of what is being asked or blatantly having no idea what a (sector jargon) is, highlights a lack of industry knowledge.

An employer, now aware that the applicant lacks sector experience, is unlikely to hire that candidate. During the Q&A process, they will long for the interview to end, and look forward to the next, hopefully, more suitable interviewee.

Asking for an explanation of a sector terminology, theory, model or working practice creates the interview identity of ‘inexpert’.

Successful interviewees answer questions with a confident statement:

I am highly skilled in this area
This is something I have had to do in all my previous roles
My current managers always come to me with this problem

A confident statement is an opening line, delivered instantly, that simply highlights 1) a level of understanding of the job duties 2) a confident employee 3) sector experience

Employers are reassured when applicants start their answers by confidently confirming they have the required skill being discussed. As a secondary gain, employers are now likely to listen to the whole interview answer, picking up on more of the scoring criteria – scoring high on the interveiw scorecard.

Evidence Equals Expert

A picture is worth a thousand words.

In the main, employers make hiring decisions based on the content of an applicants interview answer. The detail given could possibly be exaggerated, misinterpreted or an out right lie.

Evidence, in the form of a target sheet, references, data sets, media articles or a physical item, is proof of an interviewees expertise.

By using evidence as part of the interview answer backs up any claims of competencies. It also highlights how the applicant is prepared, organised and detailed focus.

Different industry use the ‘evidence’ technique to get a customer to buy. Sweet shops will often hand out free samples; once the quality of the chocolate has been tasted, the customers is now more likely to purchase the product. It is the same in the job interview, the sample evidence is given as proof of ability before the employer buys into the candidate.

To be perceived as being highly skilled, bring evidence to the job interview. Or for virtual job interviews use the share screen function to show online proof of the candidate’s abilities.

Future Focus

Low scoring job applicants when asked a competency based job interview question will often just list skills and duties, other, more high scoring interviewees, gain points by telling stories relating to their past behaviors in the workplace.

But only a few utilise the future projection method.

Employers use the recruitment process to predict the candidates job performance.

What employers really want to know is – what can you do for me?

To end a job interview answer, the successful applicant will take the skill being discussed and explain how they would use their abilities in the employers workplace.

“…once I am employed in your organisation I will use (skill) to (outcome)”

A future focused interview answer allows the employer to visualise how the employee would fit within the company culture and what added value that applicant would bring to the overall team.

The structure of an interview answer.

Using the team work interview question as an example, an applicant using the CEF structure could answer the question by:

Confident statement; “In all my previous roles I have always worked with a team. where I have a reputation of achieving project objectives on time..”

Evidence; “…An example of this was when I worked on X project. During this project, my team was tasked with completing X. The barrier here was (state a problem you had to overcome). As a team we (state solution to the problem) I personally was responsible for (explain actions and steps you took) which resulted in (add positive outcome). The team was able to achieve this outcome because of (add reason IE being well organised used gannt charts and work packages) I actually have a copy of the project plan and gannt charts with me (show evidence)..”

Future focus; “…if I was offered a role working in your company, it would be my organisational and detailed approach that would allow to us collaborate successfully together to achieve project deadlines while ensuring the quality of the project.”

CEF Structure

The CEF structure is highly successful as the employer, through the initial statement, feels confident in the applicants attitude, as only industry experts or highly experienced professionals, would answer so confidently.

Stating you have a skill/experience isn’t enough, and even strong answers can be an exaggeration, so the producing of evidence, literally, shows the employer why you were initially so comfortable in the answering of the interview question.

And by making the answer relevant to the employers company, not only shows a deep understanding of the position being advertised, it can create a positive association between the vision and the applicant.

Job Interview Advice

December 12, 2016January 16, 2023

3 Easy Steps for Creating the Perfect Interview Answer

The Perfect Interview Answer

The way you win a job interview is through your perfect job interview answer.

How you reply – with strength or with weakness, determines the success of your job interview. This article will teach you the 3 steps to make a job interview answer hit the mark

Step 1

Answer with confidence.

The first few seconds of your interview answer determines whether the interviewer will listen or ignore the rest of your answer (well they’ll half listen – still not that good)

To create a buzz and to ensure that the interviewer is interested, state straight away that you can do, or have the desired skill they request. Just state “yes” or “I have a great example of that” if you have what they want they will want to listen to your answer

If you wanted a chocolate bar and I said I know where you can get an apple, you wouldn’t be interested. Instead, if I said I know where you can get chocolate your all ears. Give them what they want straight away

Step 2

Create intrigue and an emotional response

Rather than state just logical facts (if you do this you’ll become part of the grey void that all other applicants merge into) gives an emotional story.

People are emotionally drawn to a story. Adopting this storytelling tactic in the job interview you can create authority by selling your skills, experiences, and qualities through the adventure of a detailed story. Stories create visualizations and what you visualize you feel

Step 3

Sum up at the end

Your story creates rapport – key in today’s job interview, but you need to remind that you have X skill

At the end of your answer simply say “so overall I have X skill” or “so yes, I can say I have been using X in all my roles to full effect”

December 11, 2016

3 Ways to Feel More Powerful in the Job Interview

Yes job interviews are scary and no, its not just you who thinks that.

In fact job interviews are in the top ten most commons fears. But there are ways to feel more confident, to feel more powerful. By creating the feeling of internal power, increasing your job interview self esteem your interview performance will impress and show you at your best.

By creating this positive state you are more likely to sell yourself, build rapport and of course be offered more job positions.

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Create Job Interview Power #1

Interviewees feel inadequate as the compare themselves to a fake but positive perspective of the interviewer. We wrongly believe that the interviewer is this powerful god like person who has your life, your future in their hands.

We search for and find all of our own weaknesses and presume that the interviewer god will know about them. To feel more powerful you need to turn this negative technique on its head. Instead of looking for your on weaknesses, search for theirs. Look for little signs of weakness; a dirty shoe, un-ironed tie, messy desk – anything that makes them human again.

Even compare yourself to this weakened person – my shirt is smart, clean and ironed – this creates a natural aura of power within yourself

Create Job Interview Power #2

Every time you go to a party there is always one person who stands out, a person who grabs the attention of the room, a memorable individual that everyone warms to

It is this same type of person who sticks out and gets offered the job from any job interview

Whats the secret??? Stories! Yes stories.

People are emotional drawn to a story. The likable party goer will have hundreds of stories and anecdotes for any situation. They build up suspense, give a detailed description and end with a bang. By adopting this story telling tactic in the job interview you can create an authority by selling your skills, experiences and qualities through the adventure of a detailed story

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Create Job Interview Power #3

Create a conversation

Because people, generally, are scared in the job interview, they will nervously smile, answer the question in a matter of fact way (no story telling here) and prey for the job interview to end

Instead build both rapport and likability, which increase your chances of receiving a job offer, by asking questions to the job interviewer.

This answer then ask a question technique puts the interviewer on the back foot, helping you to feel more powerful. It also creates a natural conversation that will create a connection between you and the interviewer. Its this connection and gut instinct from the interviewer that will land you the job offer.

Over 50 Job Interview Questions and Answers

Interview Preparation Resources

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June 10, 2016November 27, 2020

A Powerful Linguistic Tool to Help you be more influential in a Job Interview

Last night I watched Derren Brown in his new show “Miracle”

The language Derren Brown uses to influence and persuade is highly powerful and can be used in all different types of situations. But where it is most powerful is in a job interview. Today I will teach you a powerful linguistic tool to help you become more influential in a job interview.

A Fractive Verb is used to presuppose a statement that you want to be taken as a truth. They way you phrase your statement is the difference between the interviewer questioning your statement or accepting it without thinking.

Often, if the interviewer subconsciously questions your statement you will be seen in a a negative light, where as an accepted statement builds on your current positive identity – key for job interview success

As you can tell, this type of linguistic persuasion can be a highly powerful resource to have at your fingertips.

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Linguistic Persuasion – the set up

In a job interview, if you desire, you can state anything! You can lie, make things up and say whatever you want and the interviewer has a choice, to believe you or not to believe you.

In fact, this goes for when you state a truth; sometimes the employer will believe you, other times the employer will disbelieve you.

To win more job offers, you need the interviewer to take what you on face value, without questioning you on any level.

This is where we use a fractive verb.

The fractive verb creates a presupposition that is taken as red. Imagine in an interview, an interviewee states “I’m very successful”

This statement gives the interviewer a choice – I believe you are successful or I don’t think you are a successful person. What is even worse, is that when the interviewer doesn’t believe your statement, they start to think negative about you because “you stated that you are a successful person, and I know you are not, you must be a liar” This is very dangerous ground.

The fractive verb bypasses the interviewers resistance. “are you aware of the successes I have had?” The desired outcome is the same, but the set up creates a different response. By using “aware” a fractive predicate, the interviewer doesn’t question if you are a successful person or not, they just presume that you have been successful.

Other fractive verb set up words include;

knows
aware
realised
learns
regrets

Linguistic Persuasion – hidden meanings

A fractive verb presumes the truth of an embedded sentence or interview answer, that serves as a complement.

If I said to you “John managed to open the door” this presupposes that John had been TRYING to open the door. Compare this to “john opened the door” which has know presuppositions about trying to open a door (but does presume the door in fact had been opened).

In an interview you can use this language pattern to get the interviewer to feel positively about you. Ideally you don’t want the interviewer to think or question your statement, rather you want them to just accept it as truth.

If an interviewer asks that common question “do you have any key strengths?” You could answer with “one of my strengths is…” this presupposes that you have more then one strength.

Compare this to “I think my strengths are..” The statement isn’t as powerful and can leave doubt in the interviewers mind. Notice how with the “one of my strengths is…” the focus is on the word “one” which means that the rest of the sentence is taken as a truth; they hear it but don’t challenge it.

Here are some more examples

know “do you know of the many different ways I can increase your profits?” it is taken as red that you will be able to increase the companies profits, because the employer is thinking of the different ways, which was set as a question
odd “it’s odd how we have clicked on many different levels today, isn’t it?” The interviewer thinks “yes” as they search for the different ways you have clicked today (due to the presumption that you have clicked today)
imagine “imagine how we will collaborate together” presupposes that you will collaborate together.

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June 1, 2016November 27, 2020

Manchester Interview Coach Shares Expert Advice

Job interviews have a bad reputation.

Everyone believes that the interviewer is out to get you, that each interview question has a hidden meaning.

People wrongly believe that the interviewer will be looking down at you, searching for weaknesses and wanting, when they can, to trip you up, to catch you and to find fault with your answer.

In most interviews, the truth is, the interviewer wants to help and encourage you to give the best answer, they search for strengths and ask question to uncover your skills and experience. The interviewer isn’t trying to trip you up , instead they have a desire to help you relax, to allow you to open up and to encouraging you to be yourself.

As an interview coach I want to share my expertise to help you pass your next job interview

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Job Interview Advice 1 Power Play

The interview is seen by some as a power play, with the interviewer being the stronger player, the one with all the power.

The problem with this common perspective is that you the interviewee we naturally feel weak , in this state you will never give the best answer, you will never sell yourself and you truly cant be you (key to any interview success).

To get the feeling of power back, which will help you to relax and act like you normally do, you need to, at the interview start is ask the interviewer questions.

It doesn’t matter what these questions are “have you been interviewing all day?” “what do you think of the weather today?” just ask questions as this will do two things. One it will get you in the flow of talking and when the interviewer answers, you will feel more relaxed. And two, you will come across as a confident person.

Job Interview Advice 2 Describe how you feel

When asked an interview question it is really easy to fall into the logical answer game, where the interviewee gives only facts.

There is a time and place for this type of answer in all job interviews, but you have to balance this out with an emotional answer.

Most employers recruit candidates based on that “gut feeling” and people know enthusiastic and passionate colleagues make the best workers. By expressing how positive you felt when you achieved X, you will make emotional connections with the interview panel, winning you some extra points

Job Interview Advice 3 Give the employer a gift

I know this sounds weird, and I don’t mean a present or thank you card.

Throughout the interview you need to show how you will add value to the organisation. When answering a key question give the interviewer a gift by sharing your expertise. This could be sharing a new sector tender opportunity, giving real advice on increasing profit/decreasing overheads – maybe you have a successful system that the employer could easily implement.

It doesn’t matter what the gift is, what’s important is that the interviewer can see that you will add value to their organisation.

May 31, 2015November 30, 2020

3 Rules to Maximize Your Job Interview

The best candidate doesn’t get the job.

Just because you have the experience, qualifications and skills required for the advertised role is the reason why you get offered the position.

Your ability to stand out in the job interview is key to securing more job offers.

To be offered more job positions you need to follow these 3 rules

Job Interview Rule 1 – Having a Unique Selling Point

People wrongly believe that because they have 10 years experience and several industry qualifications, along with a great work ethic that they should be guaranteed the position.

But everyone offered to interview has met the job criteria, which means to stand out you need a unique selling point

Re-read the job spec and record which key skill, duty or quality is the most desirable by the employer (think about skills that you have that others don’t)
Find evidence from past employment/projects where this key skill, duty or quality was used by yourself to successfully achieve a major achievement
During the job interview discuss the key skill, duty or quality – discuss both past successes and how you will you use this skill, duty or quality once employed

Job Interview Rule 2 – Perfection Through Practice

To be an expert in anything takes repetition and practice.

We rarely attend interviews and as with any new experience or skill, we sometimes fluke it but often we make many mistakes. The key rule to interview success is practice, practice and practice

Read the job spec and turn each desired criteria into an interview question
Record an answer per question and when you can add your unique selling point to the answer
Rehearse both the questions and answers over and over again until you discuss your unique selling point without having to refer to your notes

Job Interview Rule 3 – Reflect, Record and Redesign

To become an interview expert, which means that you can successfully pass interviews that offer higher salaries you need to learn from each job interview.

After each interview reflect and record each interview question and answer
Rate each question and answer between 1-10
With answer that rate below 7 redesign the interview answer

May 24, 2014December 10, 2020

How to Answer the Interview Question What are you looking for in a job?

How to Answer the Interview Question “What are you looking for in a job?”

Explanation of the Question:

Think about the main job duties, skills and qualities needed for this position, which of these would you enjoy?

Job Satisfaction, Team Work, Variety, Seeing the end result from your work, Helping others, Etc.

This way you are being honest while discussing relevant duties and qualities. Don’t say the obvious:

Example Interview Answer

“This job” As you will quickly lose credibility and the interviewer may doubt other answers to the interview questions.

“It’s important for me to see the end result from my work; I like to know that I have done a good job and that my customers are satisfied”

April 25, 2014December 10, 2020

Job Interview Questions for a Mental Health Worker

Job Interview Question 1: Tell me about your experience as a mental health worker
Job Interview Question 2: Why do you want to work in the mental health profession?
Job Interview Question 3: Tell me about a time when you have supported someone?

Job Interview Question 4: Have you ever gone out of your way to help somebody?
Job Interview Question 5: Tell us about a time when you took somebody’s comments on board to improve yourself?
Job Interview Question 6: What are the key tasks as a mental health worker?

- Job Interview Question 7: What are the biggest risks of this role?

- Job Interview Question 8: Which people are most at risk of developing mental health issues?
- Job Interview Question 9: If a patient made complaints made against colleagues how would you handle the situation?
- Job Interview Question 10: Give me an example of when you dealt with difficult patients?
- Job Interview Question 11: What do you know about safeguarding?
- Job Interview Question 12: Do you have any questions to ask?

March 20, 2013January 1, 2021

How to Answer The Interview Question How Long Are You Planning to Stay With Our Organisation?

Employers spend around 33% of their profits on recruitment and will prefer to employ an applicant who will stay with the company for at least 2-3 years.

In reality, an employer will never really know what will happen in the future and how long an employee will work for one organisation. So why ask the ‘duration’ job interview question?

In most cases, an employer will only ask how long an applicant is likely to stay working for them – sometimes framed as the interview question ‘how long have you worked for your previous organisations?’ because the employer has experienced a high turnover of staff.

This interview question is common with contract work, project work, and for low paid or low skilled roles.

How to answer the interview question.

The interviewer with the ‘how long do you plan on staying with our company?’ interveiw question is concerned with staff retention.

Therefore the interveiw answer must reassure the employer to score high marks as part of a structured job interview.

How to reassure the interviewer.

One way to reassure the interviewer, to score high on the interview scorecard, is to explain how you have researched their organisation including the values and the company vision, or how you know friends who are employees of the company and who talk positively about the company culture, which has resulted in you wanting to make a career out of working for this particular company.

What you are doing with this interveiw tactic is saying – ‘I don’t just want any job, I want a career with your company.’

Another similar approach is the ‘matching’ technique. Here an applicant can talk about their personal values, what motivates them as an individual and which type of environment they work well in. And matching this to what the interviewer stated at the interview start (In most job interviews, the interviewer will kick off the job interview by discussing the job role, the team and the company culture)

Here you are showing how this organisation is the ideal workplace for your temperament.

A final interview technique is to express dislike.

This approach may sound dangerous, but in fact, it has the opposite result – desire.

When asked about duration, the interviewee can talk about how they dislike job hunting, moving from one company to the next having to learn new processes and procedures, and how they only applied for this role as it is their preferred employer.

Applicants can evidence how they are loyal to a company by explaining how they have worked for their previous employer for the past 10-20 or 30 years.

This approach is saying if you recruit me I will be a loyal employee.