Preparing for an interview
Congratulations you have overcome the first hurdle and have managed to secure that all important interview. Take a moment to pat yourself on the back. Now move swiftly on. This is the time to prepare thoroughly and ensure that you make a good first impression.
The candidate
Step one - keep your nerves in check. Nerves are always an issue at first stage interviews. By ensuring that you have prepared well your confidence should prevail. Practice running through questions before hand and even write out answers that you can memorise. This will ensure that you leave nothing out.
Step two - Know your CV inside and out. There is no reason that you should have any issue remembering the information. After all this is your career! Be able to discuss the dates of every company you worked at and the reasons why you moved on. Always be positive and never focus on negative reasons for leaving a company.
Step three - Be able to speak knowledgeably about tasks that you undertook with previous employers and have examples to reinforce your points. This gives you an opportunity to shine so ensure that you use strong examples. Never sell yourself short – an interview is all about self promotion and selling yourself in a positive light. Just remember to never come across as being arrogant.
Step four - Carry out research into the company that they are interviewing with. It is amazing how many people fail to do this. Often a favourite question of interviewers, not being about to respond in an informative manner can throw off the whole interview and is often hard to recover from.
Step five - Make sure to have an interesting question to ask at the end of the interview. This can be about the culture of the company, what the role entails or even what their expectations are of the person they are considering for the role. At cer Financial we meet and technically career appraise every candidate before they are submitted for a role. Once called for an interview our technically trained consultants provide an hour long interview skills master class with candidates ensuring that they are fully prepared for the interview.
The Interviewer
Now if you’re a recruiter remember to always ask open questions. Start the interview with an ice breaker perhaps about the candidate’s hobbies and interests. This will put the candidate at ease and allow their personality to shine through.
Ask open ended questions and give the interviewee a chance to respond. Try not to ask multiple questions i.e. “Tell me about a time you did this and what the outcome was?”
If you are interviewing a number of candidates for the same position, try and ask the same questions. This will allow for a comparison on work experience and establish who is the most suitable for the role. As the candidate’s personality begins to emerge throughout the interview, you will be able to gauge culturally if they are the best person for the job.
Give the candidate an opportunity to ask questions at the end of the interview. This will provide an opportunity to sell the company that you work for and highlight all the perks of working with that company.
At cer The Specialist Recruitment Group we can help with interview master classes. These are in depth sessions that provide guidance for someone who is just starting out in the recruitment industry or someone who just needs a little refresher course.
