Tag: job interview questions

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Yr11 Work Placements are they worth it?

Can a work placement support your career ambitions?

Most pupils in yr11 have the chance to gain a work placement in an industry of their choice. The idea here is that a 2-week work placement is enough time to gain an insight into a specific job role. The pupils can use this experience to help them decide if their desired career path is a suitable choice.

In many schools a career lead has the responsibility of organising the work placement for the full year group. This means finding around 100 employers willing to take on 2-3 pupils for a two-week period. Pupils are matched to employers based on the pupil’s career ambitions.

During the 2-week work placement the pupil will undertake a range of duties to help them understand how a business works. Each employer will match each pupil with a mentor (an experienced member of staff who can explain the different areas of the business.) At the end of each week the employer will complete a review, allowing the pupil to reflect on their career choice.

When I undertook my work placement, my career goal was to work in retail management. The school career lead, very excitedly, explained that she had found me the ‘perfect’ placement; a retail assistant in a mini market. Originally, I was excited to undertake the work placement. I wanted to learn about retail management and starting in a small mini market would allow me to see all sides of a retail business.

Instead of learning retail managerial techniques I was tasked to take out the rubbish, make cups of tea for the full-time staff members and to clean shelves and mop floors. The mundane duties meant that the work placement was having a negative effect on my motivation to gain a career in retail management.

A couple of days into the work placement I was shopping with my family in a large supermarket. I was observing one of the floor managers directing a team of employees to create a new display. When the manager saw me watching them, he asked me: “is there was anything I can help you with?” I explained that I was hoping to work in retail management one day and that I was currently in a work placement in a mini market completing mundane duties. As I was about to leave, I asked if he would be willing to let me finish my work placement within his store, allowing me to learn retail management skills. To my surprise he agreed, and I spent the next 10 days understanding the supply chain line, sales psychology, rotating stock and how to create a reliable and motivated workforce.

The work placement that yr11 pupils can access can either be highly beneficial or a complete waste of time. To get the most out of a work placement I would highly recommend sourcing your own employer. Teachers do I good job at organising a large amount of work placements, but they don’t have the time to discuss individual pupil needs with every employer. By sourcing your own work placement, you can meet with an employer and discuss what it is you want to gain from the two-week placement.

Job Interview Advice

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The psychology of job interviews

The job interview is one of the most nerve-racking experiences you have to face. The reason you fear the job interview is down to the psychology of the interview process. In this series of ‘job interview psychology,‘ you will learn 5 psychological processes that are in play, that effect your job interview success, without you even knowing about it.

Job Interview Psychology 2 of 5 – unconscious bias

Everyone is prone to the psychological effect of unconscious bias.

Unconcious job interview bias if the phenomenon of the job interviewer generating a perception of you prior to the interview start. This subconscious process can have, either a negative or positive, effect on the job interview outcome.

Job Interview Psychology

Attribution theory explains how we attribute characteristics to people we don’t know, to assist our internal process of perception, by judging their behavior based on the references of people we do know – you act like Mrs X so you must have similar strengths and flaws.

It is these perception disorders, that all humans form, that affects the job interview outcome. You can attend two job interviews for the same position, in two identical organizations, give the same answers to the same job interview questions, and be up against the same competition (who give the same answers to the same job interview questions) only to be offered one position and to be declined the second. This is because people’s perception of the world is different; it is created from individual experiences, beliefs, and emotional associations.

What is difficult to combat is that these snap judgments are made at the subconscious level, instantly.

Be-aware of the invisible filters

Unconscious interview bias is the process of the interviewer’s brain creating quick judgments of you, the interviewee, prior to you being asked any job interview question. All your following answers, conversations, and even your body language will be filtered through this unconscious bias filter; if you are associated positively, your job interview answers are filtered through a ‘positive filter’ but if you are associated negatively, then it is these filters that your job interview answers will be filtered through.

Remember this, most people, including yourself, are unaware of the filers and therefore their bias that is in play

In an unconscious bias study, by Moss-Racusin, a number of science facilities in higher educational institutes (HEIs) were asked to evaluate the application materials of an undergraduate science student who had applied for a science laboratory manager position. The participants were then allocated either a female or male applicant and asked to give their opinion on the student’s competencies: the application details remained the same and only the gender of the ‘applicant’ had changed. The participants themselves were of mixed gender

Source: https://www.pnas.org/content/pnas/109/41/16474/F1.large.jpg

The results showed that the applicants perceived gender had an effect on the science facility participants’ unconscious bias; males were considered more competent and were more likely to be hired than a female with the same application and therefore the same skills, knowledge, experience and qualifications.

The participants were also more likely to invest time in mentoring males and to give them a higher starting salary

Source: https://www.pnas.org/content/109/41/16474

Unconscious bias can be positive. Interviewers will have a preferred person preference and will have a natural liking to people who they see they have common ground with. The common ground could include appearance, beliefs, background – this is where the advice to wear your ‘old school tie’ is founded. This natural ‘liking’ creates an affinity bias where the interviewer will be more supportive to one interviewee then another.

If you are nervous in the job interview environment and the interviewer feels an affinity towards you, they are more likely to help you feel at ease by repeating questions in a simplistic way or telling you to take your time. Some will even go as far as giving you hints. This affinity also alters how they see you performing within the team and/or organisation.

To help you pass your next job interview you can use this psychology to your advantage. The halo effect; where fast judgments are made based on one or more criteria (positive or negative) that creates a domino effect – if the initial opinion of an interviewee is positive, the interviewer will see all the applicant’s actions as positive (or less negative). An example of this is when the interviewer has a positive impression of a candidate and when the candidate answers an interview question stating that they don’t have X experience, the interviewer, through the halo effect, no longer deem this as that important (allowing you to score higher on the criteria scoring sheet)

Likeability, which is key to job interview success, can be achieved through some simple and/re extreme measures:

Dressing smart and being on time creates a low-level halo effect – as a reliable employee. But this is pretty basic.

Question the interviewer about their week, weekend or interest and find common ground by stating activities or hobbies you have in common – this creates a ‘natural’ conversation that increases likeability.

You can build subconscious rapport by mimicking the interviewer’s language patterns, gestures and body language. Mirroring another person happens naturally when two people are in rapport. You can switch this around and create rapport by creating a mirror image

Finally, you can become an industry expert. By creating a professional LinkedIn account and adding regular industry-related comments, links, stats, giving your opinion, sharing newsfeeds, and by following industry professionals and companies you are likely to get your future interviewer adding you via the same social media platform months before you apply for a position with their company. By seeing you as an industry expert, prior to a job interview, you will create a powerful halo effect that will help you win more job offers

Interview Pyschology 1 of 5 – rewards and fears

Interview Pyschology 3 of 5 – creating a connection

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The psychology of job interviews part 1 of 5

The job interview is one of the most nerve-racking experiences you have to face. The reason you fear the job interview is down to the psychology of the interview process. In this series of ‘job interview psychology,‘ you will learn 5 psychological processes that are in play, that effect your job interview success, without you even knowing about it.

Job Interview Psychology 1 of 5 – rewards and fears

The psychology of the job interview starts prior to you attending the actual job interview itself.

DOES THIS SOUND LIKE YOU?

Today is the day of your job interview! You scared, nervous because you haven’t prepared. You received your job interview date 2 weeks previously; you had planned to rehearse the job interview question but just never gotten around to it and there’s a psychological reason for this

Job Interview Psychology

Are you a future optimist? Psychologists Arie Kruglanski and Torey Higgins, have found that we have two motivational systems: the “thinking” or “doing” system

We believe we think and then take action. But humans are only skilled at using one of these systems at a time. For job interview preparation we are good at planning what we need to do to be successful at the job interview:

I will research the organisation

I will prepare job interview questions and answers

I will rehearse my interview presentation

This planning creates a positive feeling – you have achieved something and because you have spent time organising your job interview preparation, you allow yourself to complete the actual action of job interview preparation tomorrow – as a reward

The future optimist – you believe this plan is great, and tomorrow you will focus on the action taking. When tomorrow comes, something, more important, takes over so you plan to take action the following – what does an extra 24hrs matter …you have a plan!

Sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system

Another system is also in place that affects your job interview motivation. Within the autonomic nervous system sits the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system. These two systems work in opposite ways; “the sympathetic nervous system (SNS) meditates the body response to arousing circumstances. for example, producing the famed ‘flight pr fight’ stress response” (Robert Sapolsky – Behave; book 2017) The parasympathetic nervous system “PNS is about calm, vegetative states” (Robert Sapolsky – Behave; book 2017)

How do these two systems effect your job interview preparation?

The Sympathetic nervous system speeds up your heart rate, stops your digest process and sends the fight or flight stress signal – we don’t like to feel this way. When you think about a forthcoming job interview your perspective of the situation is ‘life or death’ if I don’t succeed in the job interview I have failed. These thoughts lead to the activation of the SNS.

Whereas, the PNS – parasympathetic nervous system, slows down the heart rate, activates the digestive system and sends out the relaxation signal. This is a state we all like, the state that we all desire be in.

It’s simple; the thought of a job interview sets of the SNS – and we want to avoid this feeling. Moving the ‘thinking about job interview preparation’ task to tomorrow releases the PNS – the state we crave. This leads to you self sabotaging, we have planned so now we can watch TV (releases SNS) and focus on job interview preparation tomorrow (removes PNS)

The Reward System

The final emotion in play is the reward system. The brain’s reward is via the release of dopamine – the happy chemical. When you receive the job interview offer from an organisation, you receive a big dollop of dopamine. If you have a strong application and receive regular job interview dates, the amount of dopamine decreases with each job interview offer. Constant success reduces dopamine releases.

The dopamine system if fired of in anticipation of, rather then achieving, a task (unless the achievement of a task doesn’t result in a reward, then we get very angry IE we think we will be successful in a job interview and are then told we have been unsuccessful)

The job interview request comes into your in-box; dopamine release. Now you have to prepare for the job interview; If you feel confident you will expect a positive outcome (where you will receive another dopamine release and a job offer) but the level of dopamine reduces as you prepare for the job interview (taking action doesn’t release as much dopamine as the anticipation of a reward) and surprisingly the dopamine release is less when you are offered the job compared to the release of dopamine you received from being invited to the job interview (unless this situation is rare for you)

If you fear the job interview, the dopamine receptors are blocked and you become stressed. Because you desire dopamine, you have learned where you can get this from; the thought of a chocolate cake, as an example. So instead of job preparation activities (that make you feel stressed because this is a fearful activity for you), you eat cake, waste precious time, but don’t care because you have your chocolaty hit of dopamine.

To be successful in the job interview you need to be proactive in job interview preparation. You need to evolve your mind to reduce job interview fear and increase job interview excitement.

In the next article, you will learn about job interview subconscious bias and how to make these work in your favor

Interview Pyschology 2 of 5 – Unconscious bias

Job Interview Advice

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How to ace the job interview 10 Q&As

There’s a love-hate relationship with job interviews. We love that we have the chance to prove ourselves to a new employer, and hopefully get a new position with a big new salary…but we hate the job interview process; its scary, horrific, terrifying!!!

This series of 10 job interview questions and answers will teach you how to pass your next job interview by explaining how to answer each tricky job interview question

10 Job Interview Questions and Answers

A job interview is a scary place. We want to feel confident during a job interview, knowing that this persona will help us secure a job offer.

The easiest and best way to increase your job interview confidence is by having the interview answers, or a template in which you can insert your personal experiences, to the top 10 job interview questions that you will be asked as part of the organisations recruitment process

10 Answers to 10 Job Interview Questions

Click each link to uncover the reason why this question has been asked in the job interview, and to discover the desired job interview answer

Job Interview Questions 1:

Why do you want to work for this organisation?

99% of job interviews ask the opening question ‘why do you want to work for this organisation?’ or ‘tell me about yourself?‘

The opening interview answer sets the tone of the interview. If an employer sees potential in an applicant, from their opening answer, they will listen more intently, subconsciously encourage the applicant to do well (the halo effect) and having liking towards that person.

In fact, the opening interview answer helps to shape the applicants job interview identity.

Job Interview Question: why do you want to work for this organisation?

Job Interview Questions 2:

What will you do in the first month of the job?

The situational question, ‘what would you do in the first month of the job?’ is designed to check competencies.

An applicant who confidently states clearly the business-as-usual tasks, as well as highlighting a high level of sector knowledge, puts the interviewer at ease, with them thinking ‘this person knows what they are talking about’.

Remember, the goal of the recruitment process is to predict the job performance of each job applicant.

Job Interview Question: What will you do in the first month of the job?

Job Interview Question 3:

What motivates you?

More and more, organisations are recruiting employees who have similar values to the company and fit in well with the company culture.

Hiring a team that will work well together increases staff retention, which increase profits and output.

This strength-based interview question, among others are highly common in professional job interviews.

Job Interview Question: what motivates you?

Job Interview Question 4:

What salary are you seeking?

Salary questions are often asked in a second or third round of job interviews.

Techniques such as baseline theory can help to boost an applicants salary.

Applicants must state their salary expectations clearly and confidently. If an employer has invited an candidate to a second or third interview round, they like the applicants skill set and see value in hiring them.

Job Interview Question: What salary are you seeking?

Job Interview Question 5:

Why did you leave your last job?

Often a hard question to answer.

Reframing techniques help to shift a potential negative outlook into a positive one.

For any negatively framed interview question, applicants must prepare strong high-scoring interview answers.

Job Interview Question: why did you leave your last job

Job Interview Questions 6:

Who wouldn’t you work with?

In the structured job interview, each interview question is marked against a specific set of criteria.

Employers, therefore, don’t want to waste an interview question. Therefore, each question asked has a purpose.

Tricky questions are asked, sometimes, to check resistance to stress, but other times to review a skillset.

The who wouldn’t you work with question can be answered with a generalisation or a focus on skills and qualities.

Job Interview Question: Who wouldn’t you work with?

Job Interview Question 7:

What is your greatest achievement?

Open questions are the easiest to answer in a recruitment process.

The open questions gives the applicant a license to talk about something they deem to be important. Be careful to follow rule one of a successful job interview outcome, and make each answer relevant to the job criteria.

Use this opportunity to showcase your strengths, abilities and unique selling point.

Job Interview Question: What is your greatest achievement

Job Interview Question 8:

Did you get on with your last manager?

As already mentioned, company culture interview questions are asked in recruitment processes.

The angle of the interview questions makes a difference. Focus the answer on what you gained from the last manager, what they taught you, rather then if you liked them or not.

Job Interview Question: did you get on with your last manager?

Job Interview Question 9:

Are you willing to work overtime?

Interview questions are created based on the duties of the job role.

If asked about overtime, as an example, the employer is looking for an employee who would work overtime – or they wouldn’t have asked the question.

Honesty is the best policy. If you don’t fit in with the company culture it is unlikely that you would enjoy working for that organisation.

Job Interview Question: are you willing to work overtime?

Job Interview Question 10:

Is there anything you would like to ask me?

Yes is the answer!

Each interviewee must attend a job interview armed with potential questions to ask the employer.

This is expected. Click below for a list of potential questions to ask.

Job Interview Question: Is there anything you would like to ask me?

Job Interview Advice

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Job Interview Question: Is there anything you would like to ask me?

There’s a love-hate relationship with job interviews. We love that we have the chance to prove ourselves to a new employer, and hopefully get a new position with a big new salary…but we hate the job interview process; its scary, horrific, terrifying!!!

This series of job interview articles will teach you how to pass your next job interview by explaining how to answer each tricky job interview question

How to Answer “do you have any questions for me?”

The job interview is coming to an end; the interviewer has asked around 10 job interview questions designed to test you on your industry knowledge, sector-specific qualifications, your skillset and ability, how you deal with job-related problems, and to see if you are the right fit for the company culture and team

The final question asked for all job roles in all industries in every organization is the most commonly asked question “do you have any questions?”

How to Answer the Interview Question

Are you one of those interviewees who waste this amazing opportunity?

Having a chance to ask the employer, well, anything, is a golden egg. If you are following, more importantly, implementing the advanced interview techniques on this blog, then you are going to offered multiple job opportunities.

So how will you decide which job offer to accept? The salary? Well, a higher salary is appealing but often the job role, level of reasonability and the company culture and team are, for most people, more important.

The reason so many job applicants waste this golden opportunity is because they ask a couple of standard questions because they have to. You have been invited to the job interview because the employers like what they read on your application. It’s now your turn to find out if you like what the company has to offer – remember you are likely to work here for 35hrs per week, 52 weeks of the year for, on average, 3-5 years – make sure you are happy with your choice

These following job interview questions you can ask the employer will give you an insight into their leadership style, company values, company culture and how they view their employees (as an inconvenience or a valued commodity)

Job Interview Question 1 – Duration

The first question is a two-parter; “how long have you worked for the organization?” and “what has made you stay?” If the interview panel are all recently recruited I would dig into this a bit more “what is the average time someone stays with the organisation for?” This question is designed to help you understand the culture. If you accept a role in a company where staff retention is poor there’s probably a reason for it!!

The second part of this interview question “what has made you stay” will give you an understanding of the company’s benefits; CPD, bonuses, the team/culture – are these things that appeal to you?

Job Interview Question 2 – a day in the life of

You want to ask about the manager’s day “what is a typical day for you like?”. The reason for this question is that you will get an understanding of their management style. If they answer along the lines of “its busy, always lots going on, it can get really crazy..” It’s unlikely that they have an organized approach, so you need to decide if you can work in this type of environment. If, for example, they reply with “a third of my time is spent planning, a third in meetings and a third supporting the team to achieve the objective” then they are likely to have a planned and organized management approach. Also note, that managers who talk about supporting staff are most likely to be people focus and a manager who states they do a lot of cross-checking can, sometimes, be micromanagers.

Job Interview Question 3 – values

The company culture has one of the biggest impacts on staff motivation. There are a couple of ways to gather this information “how does the company live its values?” “what has the organisation been working on in the last 3 months to achieve the company vision?” “what it’s your favorite thing about working here?” “How does the organisation support employees?” Here, you want to ask questions about the company culture that interest and motivate you. The answers should help you answer the question – do I want to work here?

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Job Interview Question: What will you do in the first month of the job?

There’s a love-hate relationship with job interviews. We love that we have the chance to prove ourselves to a new employer, and hopefully get a new position with a big new salary…but we hate the job interview process; its scary, horrific, terrifying!!!

This series of job interview articles will teach you how to pass your next job interview by explaining how to answer each tricky job interview question

How to Answer “What will you do in the first month of the job?”

This job interview question comes in many forms; what will you achieve in the first 3 months of accepting the position? How would your first week look? What would your priorities in the first few months of starting the role?

It doesn’t matter on the sentence structure, what matters is the underlying reason for being asked this question and how you should present your job interview answer

How to Answer the Interview Question

This job interview question is asked in managerial roles and positions where the employer expects you to get on with the task in hand.

The employer isn’t looking to handhold you in this company, so you need to give a professional answer that explains the process you will follow.

A good way to look at this job interview question is through the perspective of a project manager – with your position being the project

In project management, you receive a project brief – the job description and/or job advert (these two documents explain the role and what the employer expects from you – your objectives)

Once you have a project brief you can split the objectives into work packages – these are the individual task you need to achieve (in a job role this could include; increasing customer engagement or increasing manufacturing production, managing of staff or working within a team, generating workable ideas/project management, etc)

With the details in mind, you now look at the potential risk (in a job role this could include; decline in orders, machine defects, uncooperative team members, unforeseen external events such as the coronavirus)

And finally, a solution(s) to the identified risk(s) This is where you can discuss your unique selling point, allowing you to stand out from the crowd

Let me put this together for you.

So, you are asked the job interview question what will you do in the first month of starting the position?

You need to cover objectives, individual task, risk and solutions.

Most applicants will say something pretty boring like “I’d get to know the team, read the processes and procedures and start working towards my main objective”

Instead, impress the interviewer using the project management model: “as far as I can see my main objective is X. To achieve the objective I will (task – give some detail here) The biggest risk includes X. A proactive approach to this risk is (add solution)”

Here you have shown you understand the company vision/the job positions goals/objectives, and that you have an awareness of the biggest threats to achieving these goals as well as showing that you are a proactive problem-solver.

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Job Interview Question: What salary are you seeking?

There’s a love-hate relationship with job interviews. We love that we have the chance to prove ourselves to a new employer, and hopefully get a new position with a big new salary…but we hate the job interview process; its scary, horrific, terrifying!!!

This series of job interview articles will teach you how to pass your next job interview by explaining how to answer each tricky job interview question

How to Answer “What salary are you seeking?”

This has to be one of the most sensitive but most important job interview questions to be asked

Before preparing for your next job interview you need to first understand the implications this job interview question has and the silly and innocent mistakes people make that reduce their potential salary

To gain the best salary offer you can use a simple psychology interview technique and increase your annual income

How to Answer the Interview Question

First let me start with the poor advice that you will read on the web

Delay Tactic – the advice here is to delay this question to the interview end, giving you time to highlight your skills, knowledge and unique selling point before talking about the salary (if you like me you will offer me more money!)

Stupid advice really; if the interviewer asks you about your ideal salary at the interview start (most interviewers ask this question at the interview end) you cant say “can I answer this later as I want to tell you about my experience first so you will offer me more money!” If you are asked a question, you have to answer it – job interview etiquette lesson 1!!!!

Ask the interviewer first – The common advice that is thrown around regarding your salary, which is totally wrong, is to throw the salary question back at the interviewer “what is the salary range for this position?” This shows that you lack confidence, and the interviewer will simply offer you a lower salary

Give a salary range – many interviewees will offer up a range “between £50000-£60000” This is one of the most stupid mistakes you can. The interviewer knows your salary range – your ideal is £60K but you are willing to accept £50K so the interviewer’s first offer will be around £50K knowing that the only reason you wouldn’t accept is only when you have been offered another higher salary. If this is the case they can then increase the salary offer

Also, be careful if you use the salary range technique as some interviewers will be cheeky and first start the negotiations by offering a salary slightly lower then your baseline, in this example, of £50k

To get the highest salary offer depends on two key factors:

One – who sets the initially salary (referred to as the baseline)

Two – the salary limit the company will commit to

There are 3 types of salary negotiations; set salary, flexible range, and open roof salary

The set salary is for positions where you have no leverage, it doesn’t matter on your skill base, experience or unique selling point the salary is set – you either take it or leave it. If this is you – I’m sorry, this whole article has been a bit pointless

The set salary is common in most low to medium-skilled jobs

Flexible range salary – in many medium-skilled and low-level management positions the salary on offer will be within a range and you can negotiate within these fixed boundaries

The interviewer will be stuck within this range and it is unlikely that you will get anything more than the highest offer (which you will gain using the technique below)

For these types of positions you need to do your research; check the salary offer on the job advert or if there isn’t one you can check the average salary for this position through checking the salary on similar roles or through a salary checker (many versions of this online)

Open roof salary – in some positions; CEO’s, directors, stockbrokers the salary can be open-ended depending on what value you will bring to the organization. How you present yourself within the job interview plus the technique below will dramatically change your salary

Salary Negotiation

The power of salary negotiation comes down to a technique called baseline theory. The baseline is the starting point for negotiations. Whoever sets the baseline salary offer is in a position of power as all other offers are subconsciously made in comparison to the first set of figures

Let’s say the employer sets the baseline at £50,000, your counteroffer is based on this initial offer – you won’t go lower (because that would be stupid) but you won’t go to high in comparison to the baseline as this would feel awkward. Your counteroffer is £60,000 and you meet somewhere around £55,000

Compare this example to one where the interviewee sets the initial baseline offer at £70,000. The interviewer will then negotiate with their first counteroffer created through the psychology of a baseline at £60,000 and you meet around the £65,000 area – £10,000 more than when the employer sets the baseline

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Job Interview Question: what motivates you?

There’s a love-hate relationship with job interviews. We love that we have the chance to prove ourselves to a new employer, and hopefully get a new position with a big new salary…but we hate the job interview process; its scary, horrific, terrifying!!!

This series of job interview articles will teach you how to pass your next job interview by explaining how to answer each tricky job interview question

How to Answer “What motivates you?”

Positively framed interview questions are great, as they give you the opportunity to highlight your strengths. But this question traps you into framing the question that doesn’t do you any favors

The generic go-to answer that most applicants use is “To do a good job! To be on time! To get the job done!” You hear these types of answers all the time and they all have 1 problem…..

How to Answer the Interview Question

Each of these job interview answers are about the applicant! Yes, ok I heard some of you gasp. Let me explain;

I know the job interview is about the interviewee. And the job interviewer is asking job interview questions to better understand if you are a good fit for the team, right?

But your job (in the job interview) is to be offered the position. Which means you need to know what type of interview answers will get you the best score

The employer is building a team that fits in with the company culture. Rarely do employers want humans machines to simply act like robots.

It is this company culture and the attached company values which is the clue to how best answer the job interview question “what motivates you?”

First research the company values – what is important to the company? What is their vision for the organisation?

Employers are looking for employees who meet these values and who they see will help achieve their vision and work well within the company culture they have purposely created

Instead of answering this question by stating what is important to you, instead answer the interview question by describing the common interest/passion between you and the organisation

Apple, one of the worlds leading computer company’s mission is “to bringing the best user experience to its customers through its innovative hardware, software, and services.” And in a manifesto dated 2009 Tim Cook set the vision specified as “We believe that we are on the face of the earth to make great products and that’s not changing.”

So you cloud talk about getting the job complete, meeting targets and working as a team, but Apple isn’t interested in you, they are interested in the customer. Apple wants to hire staff who are motivated by the user experience

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A Guide To Writing A Successful Email Asking For An Internship

Using email to ask about an internship is becoming increasingly common. Securing an internship itself, however, has become harder as more graduates and students compete for the same internships. Yet with a carefully considered and personalized email, you stand a good chance of catching the attention of potential employers. 

Preparing To Write Your Email

Before you write the email, check that you have a professional email address. Where possible, avoid unnecessary numbers or symbols and definitely do not use nicknames. You may want to create a new email address for professional purposes. 

Another area to consider is your social media accounts. You may need to adjust the privacy settings on your social media accounts and check that they don’t contain posts with bad language or photos which may not be appropriate for a potential employer to see.

Writing The Email

Follow this structure to create an appropriate and successful email:

  • Subject line – this is the first thing an employer will see so you want it to be noticed. Make it succinct and accurate. If a particular subject line has been requested by the company, use it.
  • Use formal address – start your email with “Dear Mr./Mrs.”. If the person you are addressing has a title, e.g. Dr or Professor, make sure you use it. 
  • Introduce yourself – use the first paragraph to introduce yourself, your status and how you found out about the internship. If you have established a mutual contact, mention this in your email.
  • Qualifications and experience – describe your academic achievements, qualifications and any experience you have that makes you a suitable candidate. Include any information about volunteering or work you have undertaken, as well as any extra-curricular or academic success you have had, such as leading a committee or coaching a team. Explain what you can contribute to the company and how you would be beneficial to them.
  • Reasons for applying – clearly explain your reasons for applying for the internship. Do you need it for course credit or is it primarily for experience? Tell the employer what skills you hope to gain from the internship. Mention what qualities or values the company has that you admire and contribute towards you wanting to work with them.
  • Availability – share your availability, including any potential start and end dates. Make sure you state how many hours per week you will be available to work.
  • Closing your email – it is polite to thank the recipient for having read your email. You should also include a call-to-action at this point, such as suggesting that they call during the week to discuss the available opportunities. Remember to end your email formally with, for example, ‘Yours sincerely’ or ‘Kind regards’. Include your full name and contact details at the end of the email.  

“The key things to remember are to personalize each email and to keep it short and to the point,” explains James Yamada, a career writer at Academized. “If you’re attaching a resume, check that it’s updated. Finally, remember to proofread the email before you send it and double-check for any typos or mistakes. You want to make a good impression!” 

Follow Up Email

After a week, if the company hasn’t contacted you, you can follow up with a friendly reminder email or call them. It can be easier to communicate via the phone, but remember not to overdo it or contact them too soon. 

Summary

Writing these types of emails can be intimidating, but it is worth the effort. Even if you don’t secure the internship, you have made a valuable connection that may benefit you in the future. So, don’t delay! Do your research and send the email that will help you get your internship.

Author Bio:

Bea Potter is a successful writer at UK Writings. She writes about college life, including education and healthy living for students. 

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Job Interview Question: Who wouldn’t you work with?

There’s a love-hate relationship with job interviews. We love that we have the chance to prove ourselves to a new employer, and hopefully get a new position with a big new salary…but we hate the job interview process; its scary, horrific, terrifying!!!

This series of job interview articles will teach you how to pass your next job interview by explaining how to answer each tricky job interview question

How to Answer “Who wouldn’t you work with?”

What a question to be asked in the job interview!

This is a bit of a ‘trap’ so watch out. These types of job interview questions are rare, but if you are asked one of them out of the blue and you haven’t prepared yourself you will be thrown off-balance.

In the job interview, when you are caught of unawares, your stress level rises and you will often blurt out the first thing that pops into your head (and that isn’t always the best way to answer tricky job interview questions)

How to Answer the Interview Question

The interviewer here has framed the question so your answer will be negative (naughty interviewer!) To answer this job interview question simply follow these 3 steps to reframe the interview question allowing you to give a positive response

Step 1 – Start with a positive generalization

As the interview question is framed negatively “who wouldn’t you want to work with?” you need to flip this around “In all my roles I have always gotten on well with all my previous colleagues” This sets out the theme of your answer and seeds your positive character (this question, in essence, is about understanding who you are and what makes you tick)

Step 2 – detail the perfect colleague

Next, describe the type of person you do enjoy working with (focusing on their work ethic) “I always enjoy working with someone who has an eye for detail and ……” by describing the perfect person, the employer will actually associate these traits with you (even though you are saying the positive statement about a fictional person)

Step 3 – if you get pushed, give a solution

Step 1&2 works in most job interviews. But if you are pushed to describe the type of person you wouldn’t want to work with give a generic answer “I would prefer not to work with someone who is lazy or a bad timekeeper..” Many interviewees, who are asked these tricky job interview questions, due to nervousness, will often name someone they didn’t get on with! This is a big no-no

To end this interview question, when pushed to give a negative, finish by explaining what you would do in that situation “…if they were lazy and we had a deadline to meet I would be assertive and professional and asked them to…”

Job Interview Advice