Not everyone, especially those appearing for their first interviews, realizes how competitive the job market is.
You need to make the best impact with your presentation of your credentials and how you can add value to the organization that is interviewing you.
Apart from being up to date with information about the business sector and the company itself, you need to come up with a really persuasive argument regarding reasons why you should be hired.
While you can expect all candidates to be smartly turned out with resumes elegantly word-processed, you can make a mark by making a concise PowerPoint presentation about your profile and skills.
Why Is Making A PowerPoint Presentation More Effective?
Interviewers are looking for a whole host of attributes when they are screening job applicants.
A PowerPoint presentation allows candidates demonstrate their domain knowledge, communication abilities, public speaking skills and above all their ability to convince the audience of their conviction in themselves.
In fact, many corporations are nowadays asking job candidates to make presentations rather than engaging in the conventional Q&A across the table.
The advantage for job applicants with making PowerPoint presentations is that they can structure the presentation in the manner that best suits them and also come prepared well-rehearsed and refined with all the glitches eliminated.
A Great Tool for Demonstration of Creative Abilities
A PowerPoint presentation is all the more great for those applying for jobs in the creative fields as they can then incorporate their portfolio in the slides along with music, video or special sound effects as may be relevant.
Testimonials regarding your capabilities can be more convincing and impactful if they have been captured in a video that has been embedded in to the presentation, either directly or through a YouTube link.
You can make use of the many professional PowerPoint templates that are available on the web so that your presentation has a slick and smart appearance.
Structuring the Presentation Right
The golden rule to remember is that you need to make your presentation crisp yet not leave anything vital undiscussed.
Presentations that are too long will invariably bore your audience and are most likely to be terminated before its logical conclusion. It is very unlikely that incomplete presentation will get you the necessary marks for the job.
Try and structure your presentation into distinct chapters that will force your audience to think the way you want them.
There should be a distinct introduction, followed by your vision of where your career should be headed.
Discuss your competencies and buttress your claim to the job with work samples and achievements that can be verified and supported with documentation.
Take time to explain how you can add value to your employer and finish it off with a few but powerful testimonials from people who have credibility with your interviewers.
Tips for Getting It Right
When making a PowerPoint presentation it is very important to ensure clarity of message as things can go awfully awry if you try to cram in all details that is likely to confuse the audience.
Treat the presentation only as a visual aid and resist the temptation to read out the contents of the slides.
It helps to know if there is a time limit but even if this cannot be ascertained allow yourself no more than five minutes.
It thus becomes vital for you to get your content under control and rehearse till such time you can make a lucid presentation without sounding like a TV newscaster.
Make sure that the presentation has been properly proofread and there are no spelling or grammatical mistakes.
Prepare yourself for equipment failure and ensure you can still make a good presentation without being able to show the PowerPoint slides. Carry a few copies on CDs or pen drives that you can distribute to your interviewers for easy reference.
Author bio:
Samantha Peters is the head of the HR department of a prominent multinational operating in the packaged food business sector. Her advice to aspiring job candidates is to make smart presentation using professional PowerPoint templates.
