Archive for the ‘How to Succeed In Job Interviews’ Category

As candidates become more and more skilled at handling traditional job interviews, more employers are looking for additional ways of supplementing interviews. One of the ways they do this is by asking candidates to do a 10-15 minute presentation.

For many professional people this can be a challenge. Yet in truth there are some really good reasons why employers ask candidates to job interview presentations.

Reason 1: Test Knowledge

Sometimes employers will just want to know what level of knowledge you have on a specific area of the job and the presentation allows them to assess this.

Reason 2: Cover One Of The Big Areas Of The Job

Perhaps there is an element of the job into which employers want to go in much more detail.

Reason 3: To Get A Candidate’s Perspective On An Issue

There may be something out to consultation from say government which will impact on the organisation if they become law. Asking the candidate to present will elicit their thoughts.

Reason 4: To See How They Respond To A Brief

Think about it; you will be getting briefed on things and asked to respond all of the time if you get the job.

Reason 5: To See If You Can Clearly Communicate Your Thoughts

Professional people are often trying to make the complex simple. Getting someone to explain something technically complex to a lay person is a great way of seeing if they can communicate.

Reason 6: To See How Thoroughly They Prepare

Employers can determine pretty quickly how thorough someone has been from what they present.

Reason 7: To See How They Perform Under Pressure

The chances are, giving the interview presentation will be a walk in the park compared to doing the job but it still gives a sense of how people will perform under pressure.

Reason 8: To See How They Deal With Being Put On The Spot

You might be asked to turn up 30 minutes ahead of the interview and be asked to do a short presentation or analysis on something you have just been given to see how you handle being put on the spot.

Reason 9: To See How Persuasive You Are

In a job that requires you to get the support of others, your ability to persuade others will matter a lot.

Reason 10: To See How You Interact

In other words, how you connect with others.

The Bottom Line: Interview presentations are becoming more and more common. Key to your success is not just focusing on the presentation but also understanding why you are being asked to do it.

Duncan Brodie helps professional people to fulfil their career potential so that they get the rewards and recognition they desire. Sign up for his free audio masterclass at www.goalsandachievements.co.uk.

If we think about it, job interviews are really strange. The employer is making a major investment decision, often on the basis of a few hours interaction with candidates.

As the candidate, you want to go into the interview giving yourself the best chance of success and key to that is knowing what employers want. So what is it employers want from candidates in job interviews?

Evidence That You Have Prepared

You can learn an awful lot, both positive and negative, by the way a candidate prepares for an interview. Employers will want to know that you have done your homework. How they test this is by asking you what you know about the company, the industry or sector.

Clarity About The Contribution You Can Make

Other than for the most basic level jobs, employers will want to know what you will contribute if appointed. It could be skills, attributes, experience or knowledge. What ever it is, you need to be able to articulate your contribution.

Transferable Skills

You might be doing a brilliant job where you are at the moment but if you have been in your current post for a period of time, employers will want re-assurance that your skills are transferable.

Enthusiasm

Let’s face it, if you cannot get yourself enthused about the interview you are unlikely to create the right impression. Enthusiasm demonstrates to a potential employer that this job really interests you.

Confidence That You Will Fit In

In 99.9% of cases you are going to be joining a team that already exists. As you progress to more senior levels the extent to which you are going to fit in to an existing team becomes hugely important.

Adaptability And Flexibility

Just about every sector needs people who can adapt and be flexible. Change might not be something you get enthusiastic about but it is part and parcel of successful organisations these days.

The Bottom Line: Interviews are tough for both employers and candidates so give yourself the best chance of success by following these simple but important tips.

Duncan Brodie helps professional people to fulfil their career potential so that they get the rewards and recognition they desire. Sign up for his free audio masterclass at www.goalsandachievements.co.uk.

A job interview is still one of the most common approaches to deciding which candidate is successful and is appointed.  Sometimes it can feel like it is a bit of a lottery but there are things you can do to impress at job interviews and stand out from the crowd.  So how can you impress at job interviews?

Be Prepared

Many people wrongly assume that all that matters is how you do on the day of an interview itself.  Sadly just like in sports people don’t succeed or fail based on what they do in the interview room.  It’s the preparation that counts and really makes the difference.  Employers can see which candidates have researched the job, the company and prepared for tricky questions.  As a general rule I suggest you should spend 5 to 7 times the length of the interview on preparation.

Be Able To Say Why You Want To Work For An Organisation

This is almost a guaranteed question and is used not just to get an answer but also to test whether you really know anything about the organisation.  Make sure you are able to articulate 3 to 5 reasons why you want to work with a particular organisation.

Be Able To Say Why You Want The Role You Are Applying For

Again a bit of a banker of a question and one that if you answer well will set you apart from the vast majority of candidates.

Be Able To Explain Why You Want To Leave Your Current Role

If you are already in a job or maybe even have had several jobs already, you want to be able to clearly explain why you want to leave your current role.  It’s important not to show that you are completely fed up with the organisation or your boss even if in reality that is the case.  Look to find the positives for moving on.

Be Able To Demonstrate What You Can Contribute

The chances are that most candidates will be able to do the job.  This becomes even more the case at the more senior levels.  Therefore what employers want to know is what it is that you can contribute that other candidates might not be able to offer.

Be Willing To Blow Your Own Trumpet

Employers cannot give you credit for things that you don’t tell them.  Sometimes candidates worry that they are selling themselves too hard.  the reality is that if you are not selling yourself and what you offer then someone else will be.

The Bottom Line: Job interviews are stressful and challenging and at the same time a little thought and effort can make a huge difference to the impact that you have in job interviews.

Duncan Brodie of Goals and Achievements helps professional people achieve more career success.  He invites you to sign up for his free audio masterclass at http://www.goalsandachievements.co.uk/careers-main.html

Interviews are still one of the most important aspects of recruitment and selection.  At the end of the day, your success comes down to you being able to demonstrate that you are the right person for the role.  There are 5 key things which I believe you need to demonstrate to increase your chances of success.  So what are those 5 key things?

1. The Right Experience

Employers want to know that you have acquired sufficient experience to step into a role and do a good job from day one.  Of course you are unlikely to have every bit of experience exactly as set out in the job description but you can probably demonstrate something similar.  For example, just imagine part of the experience they are looking for is project management.  You might not have run a business project but maybe you have organised a big event at your kid’s school.  All of that experience is relevant so don’t be afraid to talk about it.  You had to plan, organise, delegate, build relationships, stay within budget and monitor progress – the very same things you would have to do in managing a business project.

2. A Track Record of Delivering Results

Candidates for jobs often spend a lot of time talking about their responsibilities rather than the results they have achieved.  Results are what set you apart from the other candidates.  Potential areas you can talk about are introduction of a new way of working, automating a manual process, growing income from a service or product area you were leading, turning around a poor performing team to name just a few.  Before any interview stand back and reflect on what you have achieved.

3. Potential To Grow and Develop

Recruiting and retaining people is a major expense for most businesses.  At management levels you might be spending as much as 30% of the salary on recruitment consultants and then there is the ongoing cost of training and development and the salary each month.  An employer making a recruitment decision is probably seeing it as along term investment and so will be looking at your potential to grow with the organisation.  The type of questions you ask or the ways in which you approach your research for the position are really simple ways of demonstrating your potential.  The poorly prepared candidate will do the minimum and ask about pay and benefits.  The candidate with potential will go out of their way to find out as much as they can about the organisation and ask about promotion prospects.

4. You Will Fit In

One of the areas that will matter to any recruiter is whether you are good fit for them.  What this means is will others be able and willing to work with, have you got the type of attributes and behaviours that the company is looking for.  Researching the company in advance of the interview and maybe even asking for an informal chat can be a good way of finding out whether you and the organisation might be a good fit.

5. Confidence And Self Belief

The final area that you need demonstrate is that you are confident.  Most of us are at least a little nervous when it comes to interviews and you might not be at your best.  Confidence is about being assured, believing that you have something to offer.  The way in which you respond to questions, interact with the interviewer and introduce yourself when you first arrive all help demonstrate your confidence.

At the end of the day there are no guarantees on who will get the job but by demonstrating all of the above you can greatly increase your chances of success.

Duncan Brodie of Goals and Achievements helps professional people achieve more career success.  You can sign up for his free audio masterclass at http://www.goalsandachievements.co.uk/careers-main.html

When it comes to recruiting staff interviews are by far still one of the most common ways of deciding who to appoint.  In most recruitment situations the employer is going to have a choice of who to appoint.

Obviously you would like to be the person who is appointed and in my experience there are 3 key questions that unless you can answer is going to result in you not getting the job.

What Do You Know About Our Organisation

10-15 years ago it was much harder to get information about an organisation than it is today.  Organisations these have web-sites, LinkedIn accounts, twitter accounts, press releases, are listed in trade websites and so much more.  As a result information has never been so freely available.

If you have not done your research or homework you give the impression that you are someone who is lazy, does the minimum, won’t plan ahead, does not really care to name just a few.

How keen would you be to recruit that person if you were the recruiter rather than the candidate?

Why Do You Want This Job

While the reality is that you might have been made redundant and you need to get an income this is not likely to make you stand out in a positive way.  If you have done your research you will have learned about the values, style, aspirations and senior people in the organisation.  Use this research to say why you are excited and enthusiastic about getting the role.

Why Are You The Best Candidate

The reality is that you know nothing about the other candidates most of the time.  The reason for asking the question is to give you the opportunity to sell yourself as the logical choice for the role.  Surprisingly few candidates have a good answer to this question even though it is almost guaranteed in some form or other for most roles.

The Bottom Line:  You can expect to be asked many questions in a job interview but unless you can give a great response to these questions you greatly reduce your chances of success.

Duncan Brodie of Goals and Achievements helps professionals to achieve more career success.  He invites you to sign up for his free audio masterclass at http://www.goalsandachievements.co.uk/careers-main.html

If you are a professional who is seeking to secure a leadership role there might be the temptation to rely totally on your technical expertise.  Yet in truth, if you are applying for a senior level role, your technical competence will almost be taken for granted.  So if it is not your technical competence that you need to demonstrate what is it?

Self awareness

Being aware of what you do best and what needs developing is essential for success as a leader.  In addition, you need to be aware of how your behaviours and style impact on others as your ability to influence is a huge contributor to the results you achieve.

What makes you different from everyone else?

If all of the candidates can do the technical aspects of the job to a broadly similar level, what is it that you bring to the table that sets you apart from everyone else?  Spending time thinking about the 3-5 things that you believe are unique about you is time well invested.

You are a team player

Chances are, unless it is a start up company is that you will be joining an already established team.  Those recruiting need to be comfortable that you are going to successfully integrate into the team and build relationships with colleagues.

Strategic thinking

As part of the leadership team you are no longer just the expert in a particular discipline.  You need to be able to see the bigger picture and maybe even break down some prejudices that you have about other professional groups. Remember that a big part of your role is to drive the organisation forward so the ability to think creatively and come up with innovations and ideas is vital.

Long term potential

Few people will be able to tick all of the boxes in terms of skills, experience and attributes but you need to be able to show that you have long term potential to grow and develop.

You will be a good ambassador for the organisation

You need to be able to represent the organisation well internally and even externally, particularly if you are working in a public body.

Bottom Line – Breaking through the career glass ceiling is less about technical competence and more about your ability to inspire and influence others.  So where do you need to develop to achieve your professional potential?

You have done the hard work of completing the application form or CV and you find out that you have the interview for a job you are keen to land.  Often when it comes to the interview stage people perform well below their best.  Yes nerves are a factor and everyone has them. 

So how can you excel in interviews?  Here are my 8 top tips.

1. Be prepared.  So often candidates turn up for interviews ill prepared.  They have not found out about the company, its issues and challenges and plans for the future.  Take the time to do this and you will be off to a flying start

2. Think about possible questions that might be asked.  Strange as it may seem, by spending a couple of hours jotting down possible questions and answers you can probably be prepared for about 50% of the questions that are asked.  You might not get the exact question but most likely will get a variation on the theme

3. Listen effectively.  If you are going to give a good answer you need to listen to the question being asked.  Doing so will enable you to give a powerful and structured answer to the question

4. Be succinct.  When you are answering questions, what you are aiming to do is give the interviewer confidence that you know what you are talking about- not to give a verbal thesis.  For example, imagine the interviewer asks you what are the greatest challenges in managing a team?  You could talk for ever. Instead try delegating effectively, keeping people motivated and balancing time spent managing and doing.  If the interviewer wants more they will ask

5. Be honest.  A typical question is what are your weaknesses?  Don’t under any circumstances say you don’t have any.  At the same time don’t shoot yourself in the foot.  Try something like I see weaknesses as opportunities for development.  Some of the areas I am working on right now are….

6. Remember it is a two way process.  Candidates often forget that the interview is as much about them finding out if this is a company and people they could work with as it is the interviewer finding out if you could do the job and fit in

7. Have 2 or 3 good questions to ask them.  Good interviewers will always give candidates the chance to ask questions.  Poorly prepared candidates will ask about pay, holidays, benefits.  Candidates who excel will ask about what it is like to work there, how the company will contribute to their development, future plans for the business and individuals over the next few years

8. Ask for feedback.  Whether you get the job or not ask for feedback on what they liked about you and what was missing.  Good employers will take the time to give feedback

At the end of the day, what makes you stand out are the small but important things.  So pay attention to them and go forth and excel in your next interview.

If you are to have any chance of standing out at job interviews you need to be prepared.  As a minimum make sure that you:

1. Do some background research into the organisation you are being interviewed by.
2. Understand the key challenges facing the organisation or the industry in which it operates.
3. Have two or three really strong questions to ask the interviewers about the business and progression opportunities.

With information so freely available these days there really is no reason not to be prepared for a job interview.  So start setting yourself up for success at job interviews.

Selection interviews are still the most common way of appointing new staff.  If you are the candidate, your objective is to persuade those hiring that you are the best person for the job.  Having been interviewed many times myself and interviewed loads of applicants, I believe that there are 5 things that you must be able to demonstrate in job interviews:

1. Experience so that you can step into the role and make an impact from day one.  Remember you are unlikely to be able to show experience in every aspect of the job but look for areas where you have something similar to what is required.
2. Results and achievements.  Too often candidates focus on talking about their responsibilities rather than what they have delivered in terms of results.
3. Potential.   Recruiting someone is expensive so it is important to demonstrate that you have the potential to grow and progress within the organisation.
4. Fit.  Employers want to know that you can get on with others and work successfully as part of a team.
5. Confidence.  At interviews we are all nervous.  Being confident is about knowing and believing that you have something to offer.  The way you interact during the interview and handle challenging questions demonstrates confidence.

Job interviews are not always predictable but I believe that you can increase your chances of success by focusing on the above areas.