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If you have been successful in gaining an interview for a job, see below some information that may assist.
Prepare
At the interview
Questions / Answers
I always go on the ethos of What? How? Why?
Explain what you have done, how you have done it and why you did it.
By keeping to this, you will be giving examples for each question. This is what the interviewer will be looking for, an example that you can meet the job criteria. If you don't have job experience for the examples asked for, but you do have experience in your personal life, tell them that. This still shows you are capable.
There are some basic questions that I would always ask as an interviewer and these are below, however check out this website as it covers much more questions and answers and is very good. There is also lots of information about applying for jobs in general.
http://www.businessballs.com/intervi...20interviewers
Q. Tell me a bit about yourself.
A. If asked at the beginning of the interview, this gives you the opportunity to relax as you are talking about something you know well – Yourself. This is your opportunity to sell yourself with your skills etc.
Q. Give me an example of how you have worked in a team and how did you fit into that role?
A. Give an example of how you have worked in a team and what you did as an individual to contribute to the team. What were the benefits of this?
Q. Give me an example of how you deal with difficult customers?
A. Give an example of how you have dealt with a difficult customer, explaining how you acknowledged how the customer was feeling and their position, without necessarily agreeing with them. Good sympathetic questioning and listening skills, and a good understanding of the options available are important in order to come to a mutually agreeable solution. A good answer would include a positive result in which the customer went away happy. If you are unable to resolve the issue yourself, you would exlain this to the customer and advise what you are going to do ie pass to a "named" colleague who can resolve. Advise when they should receive a letter or telephone call etc and ask if the customer is happy with this.
Q. What would you do if you had to deal with an angry customer?
A. Explain that you would acknowledge the customer is angry or upset and you will try to help resolve their issue (this will show you are listening to them). You would empathise, understand, and as quickly as possible obtain the customer's trust in your promise to try to resolve the matter. If they remain angry, shouting at you etc, you would explain you are trying to help them and ask them to stop shouting. Then set about finding the facts and resolving it, working within whatever policies and processes are in place. Take responsibility to resolving the issue (if possible and within your remit). If you are unable to resolve and need to pass onto another person, explain to the customer what you are doing and why. You would also give the customer a contact name of whom they can speak to.
Q. Why you want the job?
A. Think about the criteria required and job priorities as being the things you do best and enjoy. Say why you think the company is good, and that you want to work for an organisation like it. Explain how your skills will help the team/company.
Q. Where do you see yourself in 5/10 years time?
A. Explain you would like to be making a more significant contribution to whatever organisation I'm working for. To have developed new skills, abilities. To have become better qualified and to increase the value of what I do for the organisation. Advise you'd like more responsibility, because that's a result of personal growth and progression, and it's important for your personal satisfaction.
Q. What are your strengths?
A. Advise what you strengths are and how you can use them to do the job.
Q. What are your best achievements?
A. Give an example of something you have achieved.
You will be asked questions that are more specific about the job ie if it is an IT role, you may be asked about your IT skills etc. You can establish what questions they may ask by reading the job description and criteria.
After the interview
The interviewer will advise thats the end of the questions and ask if there is anything you would like to ask. Always have one or two questions ready. There are loads of examples on the Business Balls website (link above). However, do not ask about how much you will be paid, how many holidays you get etc as you don't want them to think you are only money orientated.
If you feel you have not spoken about your skills within the interview, you can use this time to advise the panel. You could say something like, "I've not had the opportunity to talk about all my skills and how I feel they will benefit the role, some of these are ....... and cover anything here that you feel is important that you have not already talked about".
The chair should always advise what will happen next, ie when you will be notified, if they don't, ask them when they are likely to be in contact.
After the interview the panel will assess each interviewee and the majority base this on a scoring system. This would work as follows:
3 = Fully meets criteria with no doubts (ie you have given a good example of what, how and why)
2 = Matches criteria fairly well with weakness in a few aspects
1 = Matches criteria in some respects but some important weaknesses
0 = Does not meet specification
There are various ways in which these would work, they could give each question a score, total up and go with the highest scoring candidate or, consider the candidate with the most 3's. Also, there may only consider candidates above a certain score.
If you are not successful if getting the job - always ask for feedback as this will help you in your next interview.
I hope this information is useful to all those attending interviews and best of luck!
Prepare
- Research the company – what do they do and how you will fit into the company.
- Look at the criteria of the job description and think what questions they could ask that shows you meet the criteria.
- Identify where the interview is. If you’ve not been there before or unsure where it is, do a dummy run to ensure you will arrive on time, know where to park, buses etc
- Think about your skills and experience and how this would benefit the role.
At the interview
- Arrive early so you can sit, relax and read the job description whilst your waiting.
- If you are nervous, take deep breadths to help you relax.
- Think positively
- Act confident, even though you may not be.
- Don’t fidget
- Think about your body language ie don’t sit with your arms crossed.
- Always maintain eye contact with the speaker and when answering questions, if you are interviewed by a panel, look at all the panel, not just one.
- If they offer you a glass of water, accept it (this will help if you need to think about an answer during the interview as you can have a sip whilst thinking)
- If you don’t understand the question, ask them to rephrase it.
- If the interviewer isn’t making any notes at all whilst you are talking, you may have misunderstood the question and giving the wrong answer, therefore ask them to repeat the question to ensure you have understood it right.
- Expect approximately 9 - 12 questions.
Questions / Answers
I always go on the ethos of What? How? Why?
Explain what you have done, how you have done it and why you did it.
By keeping to this, you will be giving examples for each question. This is what the interviewer will be looking for, an example that you can meet the job criteria. If you don't have job experience for the examples asked for, but you do have experience in your personal life, tell them that. This still shows you are capable.
There are some basic questions that I would always ask as an interviewer and these are below, however check out this website as it covers much more questions and answers and is very good. There is also lots of information about applying for jobs in general.
http://www.businessballs.com/intervi...20interviewers
Q. Tell me a bit about yourself.
A. If asked at the beginning of the interview, this gives you the opportunity to relax as you are talking about something you know well – Yourself. This is your opportunity to sell yourself with your skills etc.
Q. Give me an example of how you have worked in a team and how did you fit into that role?
A. Give an example of how you have worked in a team and what you did as an individual to contribute to the team. What were the benefits of this?
Q. Give me an example of how you deal with difficult customers?
A. Give an example of how you have dealt with a difficult customer, explaining how you acknowledged how the customer was feeling and their position, without necessarily agreeing with them. Good sympathetic questioning and listening skills, and a good understanding of the options available are important in order to come to a mutually agreeable solution. A good answer would include a positive result in which the customer went away happy. If you are unable to resolve the issue yourself, you would exlain this to the customer and advise what you are going to do ie pass to a "named" colleague who can resolve. Advise when they should receive a letter or telephone call etc and ask if the customer is happy with this.
Q. What would you do if you had to deal with an angry customer?
A. Explain that you would acknowledge the customer is angry or upset and you will try to help resolve their issue (this will show you are listening to them). You would empathise, understand, and as quickly as possible obtain the customer's trust in your promise to try to resolve the matter. If they remain angry, shouting at you etc, you would explain you are trying to help them and ask them to stop shouting. Then set about finding the facts and resolving it, working within whatever policies and processes are in place. Take responsibility to resolving the issue (if possible and within your remit). If you are unable to resolve and need to pass onto another person, explain to the customer what you are doing and why. You would also give the customer a contact name of whom they can speak to.
Q. Why you want the job?
A. Think about the criteria required and job priorities as being the things you do best and enjoy. Say why you think the company is good, and that you want to work for an organisation like it. Explain how your skills will help the team/company.
Q. Where do you see yourself in 5/10 years time?
A. Explain you would like to be making a more significant contribution to whatever organisation I'm working for. To have developed new skills, abilities. To have become better qualified and to increase the value of what I do for the organisation. Advise you'd like more responsibility, because that's a result of personal growth and progression, and it's important for your personal satisfaction.
Q. What are your strengths?
A. Advise what you strengths are and how you can use them to do the job.
Q. What are your best achievements?
A. Give an example of something you have achieved.
You will be asked questions that are more specific about the job ie if it is an IT role, you may be asked about your IT skills etc. You can establish what questions they may ask by reading the job description and criteria.
After the interview
The interviewer will advise thats the end of the questions and ask if there is anything you would like to ask. Always have one or two questions ready. There are loads of examples on the Business Balls website (link above). However, do not ask about how much you will be paid, how many holidays you get etc as you don't want them to think you are only money orientated.
If you feel you have not spoken about your skills within the interview, you can use this time to advise the panel. You could say something like, "I've not had the opportunity to talk about all my skills and how I feel they will benefit the role, some of these are ....... and cover anything here that you feel is important that you have not already talked about".
The chair should always advise what will happen next, ie when you will be notified, if they don't, ask them when they are likely to be in contact.
After the interview the panel will assess each interviewee and the majority base this on a scoring system. This would work as follows:
3 = Fully meets criteria with no doubts (ie you have given a good example of what, how and why)
2 = Matches criteria fairly well with weakness in a few aspects
1 = Matches criteria in some respects but some important weaknesses
0 = Does not meet specification
There are various ways in which these would work, they could give each question a score, total up and go with the highest scoring candidate or, consider the candidate with the most 3's. Also, there may only consider candidates above a certain score.
If you are not successful if getting the job - always ask for feedback as this will help you in your next interview.
I hope this information is useful to all those attending interviews and best of luck!
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