Job Interviews    

General Interview Tips | Job Interview Questions | Questions to Ask | Conducting an Interview

Introduction - following article outlines useful general interview tips, typical job interview questions and answers, questions to ask and employer's tips for conducting an interview...

General Interview Tips - whether you are going to your first interview or, as an older person, have experienced many interviews in your career, it is always worth going back to basics. The more preparation and effort you put into planning for the interview beforehand, the less stressful it will seem on the day, and the more confident you will feel...

• Learn About the Company - the more you know that your potential future employer, the more confident you will be it is the right position for you.  Interviewers were probably asking what you know about the company.  They will want to know how much time you spent preparing for the interview, or what practically did to prepare for the meeting. Some basic research from the companies website or their annual report will provide you with an overview of business strategy, selling channels, size and organisational structure, and plans and vision of the future.  Alternatively, if it's a small business employer, with limited liability status, you can download their annual return from the companies house website.

• Review Your CV or Job Application Form - the interviewer will want you to expand upon some of the information you have submitted already in your curriculum vitae or job application form.  Therefore, be prepared to expand upon the key factual information you have submitted.  Practice explaining this information out loud to a friend or family member, as if they were the interviewer. At first, try and be as descriptive as possible to remove the feeling of being tongue tied.  After a number of repeated attempts, you will begin to feel more confident in your answers.  Avoid waffling at all costs, and try and distil your explanations to clear how, why, who, where and what, type answers.

• Getting There - if you late for the interview, you will start on the back foot and may have even lost the job before you have started.  Make sure you plan your route, by printing off a map and address of where you were going. Include the interviewer name and telephone number. Always give yourself some extra time in case of unforeseen delays. If your car does break down, or the train is delayed, at least you will have the option of phoning ahead to explain that you will be late and the reason why.  The interviewer will note you rang in good time, and most interviewers will be sympathetic of transportation delays.

• Dress Smartly and Appropriately - depending on the type of job and the typical working environment, always arrive well turned out.  It demonstrates that you are proud of your appearance, professional and businesslike, and respectful of the interview process.

Job Interview Questions - when answering job interview questions, always answer truthfully and do not embellish the truth, as interviewers will usually sense something is not quite right.  If you are a generally a quiet or shy or more negative person, ensure you strike a fair balance, between conveying your personality honestly, and not putting off the interviewer.  Likewise, employers hate arrogant, over confident candidates, who do not admit or recognise their own weaknesses.  Remember, everybody has something to learn and improve upon - including the interviewer.  With this in mind, most interviewers will have a checklist of questions they would like to ask all the candidates, applying for the position.  While it is impossible to predict all of those questions in advance, there are many obvious and predictable questions, which you can prepare satisfactory answers too.  They are as follows:-

• Why do you want this job? - this is usually one of the first questions you can expect to be asked.  Try not to emphasise why you are possibly desperate to 'move away' from your current position.  In other words, do not labour on about how fed up you are with your current job, or that it doesn't  pay you enough money, or that the commute is a nightmare, or your boss is unpleasant. Instead, concentrate on the positive aspects of 'moving towards' the position advertised.  Emphasise what a new role could mean that you and your career. If you are genuinely interested in either gaining experience, stepping up the career ladder, bettering your skills, working for a better employer, etc, then let the interviewer know it!.  Tell them how excited you are about the opportunity.

• What are your major strengths and weaknesses? - think about factual and quantifiable examples of your previous achievements in your employment history, that are relevant to the job you are applying for.  Do not focus on strengths that not directly related to the skills required to do the job advertised.  When asked about your weaknesses, never say your not sure or that your weaknesses are the ' XYZ'.  Instead, confidently admit saying something like 'the areas where I know I have room for improvement are 'XYZ'.  Turn your weaknesses into positive opportunities, by demonstrating you are willing to learn new skills, and take on new challenges.. to improve yourself.   Spend more time talking about the strengths than your areas for improvement.

• Where do you see yourself in five years? - regardless of whether he you are offered the job or whether you decide to accept an offer, you should have a clear idea of where your career path is in five years time.  The interviewer is seeking to understand where you see yourself within their organisation.  They may typically avoid short term answers, such as 'make as much money as possible as quickly as possible'. Employers have to spend a lot of time and money recruiting, training and retraining good people.  They want to feel comfortable that your ambitions are to progress within the company, over a long period of time.  Small business owners are particularly interested in avoiding high staff turnover rates and unnecessary retraining costs, due to employees leaving after a short period of time.

• How much do you know about our company? - Most interviewers will ask you what you know about the company, to test whether or not you have done some preparation prior to the interview.  Depending upon the size of the company and its legal status, you may be able to obtain a company report. Alternatively, in detail, including there about us and products and services sections.  make sure you can only describe what the company does, who its customers are and what its general business strategy is.  Practice this in a short sentence and be prepared to expand upon your key points if quizzed by the interviewer, on the day.

• Why do you want to work for this company? - Emphasise the opportunity to expand your skills and experience, and link your answer directly to the markets in which the company operates. Avoid selfish or introverted answers such as a 'to make more money' or ' to work less hours', as interviewers will be put off.

• Tell me about your interests outside of work? - If you're being interviewed by your potential future boss, you need to try and establish some basic rapport, and feel comfortable that you will get along with each other in a working relationship. People like people when they are like themselves.  Finding out the bit about outside interests and hobbies will generate possible rapport and demonstrate a more rounded individual outlook on life. You may not want to end up working for a stressed out workaholic.  Likewise, it is probable that you'll be working as part of a team with individual personalities and characters that may conflict.

• What level of salary are you looking for now? - Be prepared to answer this question confidently and clearly clearly and with a reasonable justification for your asking price. To do this, you will need to consider your total remuneration package at your previous employer, as well as comparing the differences between your previous position and the job position being discussed.  You may wish to answer the question by using your total benefits package as a benchmark.  This should include adding up all your flexible benefits such as company car, pension contribution, health care, dental, etc, on top of your base salary to provide a total remuneration figure.  It is probable that during a salary negotiation, the interviewer will ask you what your current or previous package was, in order to start the negotiation process off.  Compare your previous position with the job being advertised, in terms of the level of responsibility, hours required, travel and flexibility, the size of targets or scale of objectives, and career opportunity potential.

• Do you have any questions for me? - Interviews are supposed to be an interactive discussion, in which both parties extract information from the other.  By preparing a list of questions, it demonstrates that you are serious about wanting the position and need clarification on potential final details, should an offer being made...

Questions to Ask - Failure to prepare any questions may give the impression that you are either disorganised, have not prepared, or perhaps are not as serious as other candidates.  It is your chance to interrogate them to make sure that it really is the right career move to you.  In particular, the interviewer may have neglected to provide information regarding the position, its remuneration package, roles and responsibilities and where the position is in context to the rest of the organisation.  Therefore, the main questions to ask as follows:-

• What will be my job role and responsibilities?

• Who I report to and what support when I receive, from other members of the team?

• Could we discuss the remuneration package, including any benefits?

• What status and position would you expect the successful candidate, to have aspired too, in three years time?

• How are my objectives and targets established and what input to have in the target setting process?

• When will you be able to let me know whether or not you're interested in asking me too a second interview, or making an offer?

• Is there any office relocation or long distance travelling associated with the job role?

Conducting an Interview as an Employer - as an employer, it is essential you follow all the legal guidelines and good codes of practice, to ensure the recruitment process is successful.  As a small business employer, some of these rules and regulations may be unfamiliar. As such, it is your responsibility to investigate UK employment law, to understand the impact upon your overall recruitment process and your individual interview conduct.   In particular, you should use the same decision criteria for all candidates. Keep written records of conversations and job application forms and resumes. Candidates will be also be worried if they finish the interview with the feeling that it was not professional handled and well-organised.

You will need to construct a written interview plan, to prepare for each of the meetings with candidates. This may involve welcoming each candidate, helping them to refreshments and explaining what will happen during the interview, so their expectations are immediately settled.  It would be sensible to provide a short summary of the company and details of the position advertised, as well as the skills and experience of the successful candidate.  Now that you have set the scene, you can go through your pre-prepared list of interview questions (see above), to identify a shortlist of suitable candidates for the position.

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