Interview Techniques

Interview Techniques

Prepare before the interview
Self Assessment

You must be able to answer the difficult question, "why should I hire you?" comfortably, not with a lot of fluff, but with information about yourself. Before the interview, begin to do a positive self-assessment with specific emphasis on:
Your Educational Background
Your Work Experience
Your Campus Experience
Your CareerInterests
Your Personal Characteristics and Skills
Your Job Criteria


Employer Research:

You must know something about the employer and the position opening. Briefly, you should go into the interview knowing:
About the career field
8. growth history
9. recent problems/pending issues
10. probable directions
About the organization
12. products, services,and philosophy
13. earnings and growth record
14. location of work sites
About the job
16. job title and description
17. necessary background, skills, and training
18. career ladders


The Day of the Interview

Dress appropriately.
Be sure to arrive on time.
Shake hands firmly and introduce yourself.
Maintain good eye contact throughout theinterview.
Be yourself and be sincere.
Be enthusiastic and confident about yourself.
Communicate with the interviewer; answer questions with complete, informative sentences and give specific examples to support your statements.
Highlight your strengths, not your weaknesses.
Ask questions
Be sure to write a thank you letter to the employer or employers you visited.


During the InterviewEmployers may use one style of interviewing or a mixture of styles. If you are interviewed
by a panel or group of interviewers, each member of the group may use a different style
of interviewing. Although there are several styles of interviewing the five most commonly used are:
Behavioural
This style of interviewing is becoming very popular with interviewers. It is based on the
ideathat the best predictor of future performance is how you may have handled
a similar set of circumstances in the past. The interviewer is looking for a detailed explanation of how and why you dealt with a particular situation. The interviewer is
likely to question your response for additional details to try to get a vivid picture of your behaviour.

How Can I Prepare For A BehaviouralInterview?

Analyse the type of positions for which you are applying. Try to get an actual job description. What skills are required by the employers?
Analyse your own background. What skills do you have (content, functional and adaptive)
that relate to your job objective?
Identify examples from your past experience where you demonstrated those skills. How can you "tell a story" about youruse of particular skills or knowledge? Concentrate on developing complete PAR answers and remember that a good story has a beginning, middle and an end.
Wherever possible, quantify your results. Numbers illustrate your level of authority and responsibility.
Be prepared to provide examples of when results did not turn out as you planned. What did you do then?
Before starting the interviewprocess, identify two to three of your top selling points and how you will convey these points (with demonstrated PAR stories) during the interview.
Once employed, keep a personal achievement diary to help document demonstrated performance.


Sample of Behavioural Interview Questions

Describe a situation in which you were able to persuade others to see things your way.
Give me an example of anincident when you used good judgement to solve a problem.
Tell me about an important goal that you had set in the past and how you were able to reach it.
Give me a specific example of a time when you conformed to a policy with which you did not agree.
Tell me about a time when you were able to successfully work with someone that you did not like (or visa versa).
Directed
This style...