Q. How do I succeed at interview?
I seem to keep letting myself down at interviews. I have had five interviews in four months – everywhere from the local council to recruitment agents – but all have been either been a straight no or I haven’t heard from them since. I’ve listened to all the generic advice – prepare thoroughly, arrive on time, make eye contact, take copies of your CV etc – but frankly I need to know exactly what I’m doing wrong.
G.D., Bristol
A.
Dear G.D.,
There’s a lot going right here: you’re getting interviews. I suspect what’s going wrong is that you need to better understand who you are going to see. Different interviewers want very different things.
Recruitment Consultants
Recruitment consultants work on behalf of the employer. It’s their job to weed out inappropriate candidates and to compile a shortlist of candidates to send to their client (the employer) as soon as possible. Remember two things: 1) the recruiter is working to a strict deadline, and 2) the recruiter is evaluating if you fit the brief and if they think that the client will like you. Make their job easy by making yourself readily available for interview and ensure that they can tick all the job requirements quickly and easily. Recruitment consultants won’t risk putting you on a shortlist if they think you might pull out at a later stage so always be 100% positive about the role.
Public Sector Interviews
For public sector roles, there’ll be a fixed, openly-communicated timetable and a very structured process in the form of competency-based interviews. There’s no advantage to getting your application in early or being the first person interviewed. Competency-based interviews require a different mindset. Forget your CV; it’s all about providing evidence supporting a long list of ‘competencies’ specific to the job. These include hard skills (e.g. qualifications) as well as soft skills (e.g. multicultural sensitivity, flexibility and leadership).You must provide evidence for each and every competency. Find out what the required competencies are and have a prepared example for each one. Use the STAR technique – Situation, Task, Action, Result.
Large Corporations
Get your tailored CV and cover letter in there fast (either through a recruiter or directly) so that your application is one of the first they see. If they see someone good, large corporations will often fast track them through the process. You’re likely to have two or more interviews – the first with Human Resources, the second with a line manager. HR will have read your CV in detail and have a set of standard interview questions. Quite often, the line manager won’t have had time to prepare so the second interview may be less structured. You might be asked to go through your CV again – do it enthusiastically and know the information you want to communicate. Never underestimate your CV as a support tool – if it’s good, it can answer any question the interviewer throws at you.
Small to Medium Enterprises (SMEs)
SME interviews are unpredictable – be ready for anything. You might be expecting to meet the Operations Manager but the MD could also pop in for a chat. You might get a test dropped on you at the last minute. You might even end up being offered a job at the first interview. You’re more likely to be interviewed by line managers, so technical skills and team fit are critical. It’s your job to build trust quickly and create a rapport. SMEs tend to hire on instinct, so if your personality wins them over then you’re a shoo-in.
Of course, there’s a lot more to interview success but I don’t have room to cover it all here. To really get an edge in interviews, you’ll need to join Workthing+ – find out more here.
Yours,
TCI
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Dear G.D.,
There’s a lot going right here: you’re getting interviews. I suspect what’s going wrong is that you need to better understand who you are going to see. Different interviewers want very different things.
Recruitment Consultants
Recruitment consultants work on behalf of the employer. It’s their job to weed out inappropriate candidates and to compile a shortlist of candidates to send to their client (the employer) as soon as possible. Remember two things: 1) the recruiter is working to a strict deadline, and 2) the recruiter is evaluating if you fit the brief and if they think that the client will like you. Make their job easy by making yourself readily available for interview and ensure that they can tick all the job requirements quickly and easily. Recruitment consultants won’t risk putting you on a shortlist if they think you might pull out at a later stage so always be 100% positive about the role.
Public Sector Interviews
For public sector roles, there’ll be a fixed, openly-communicated timetable and a very structured process in the form of competency-based interviews. There’s no advantage to getting your application in early or being the first person interviewed. Competency-based interviews require a different mindset. Forget your CV; it’s all about providing evidence supporting a long list of ‘competencies’ specific to the job. These include hard skills (e.g. qualifications) as well as soft skills (e.g. multicultural sensitivity, flexibility and leadership).You must provide evidence for each and every competency. Find out what the required competencies are and have a prepared example for each one. Use the STAR technique – Situation, Task, Action, Result.
Large Corporations
Get your tailored CV and cover letter in there fast (either through a recruiter or directly) so that your application is one of the first they see. If they see someone good, large corporations will often fast track them through the process. You’re likely to have two or more interviews – the first with Human Resources, the second with a line manager. HR will have read your CV in detail and have a set of standard interview questions. Quite often, the line manager won’t have had time to prepare so the second interview may be less structured. You might be asked to go through your CV again – do it enthusiastically and know the information you want to communicate. Never underestimate your CV as a support tool – if it’s good, it can answer any question the interviewer throws at you.
Small to Medium Enterprises (SMEs)
SME interviews are unpredictable – be ready for anything. You might be expecting to meet the Operations Manager but the MD could also pop in for a chat. You might get a test dropped on you at the last minute. You might even end up being offered a job at the first interview. You’re more likely to be interviewed by line managers, so technical skills and team fit are critical. It’s your job to build trust quickly and create a rapport. SMEs tend to hire on instinct, so if your personality wins them over then you’re a shoo-in.
Of course, there’s a lot more to interview success but I don’t have room to cover it all here. To really get an edge in interviews, you’ll need to join Workthing+ – find out more here.
Yours,
TCI
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Click here to subscribe to my weekly newsletters.
I recently got a job offer from a small to medium enterprise (SME).
Everything you said (in your last newsletter) about being interviewed by SMEs actually applied and I felt like I was reading my exact story, down to the offer. Wow.
Regards,
E.C.
Posted by: E.C. | 07/09/2009 at 02:09 PM