# Telling the interviewers what they want to hear
# Responding positively to negative questions
# How to open up closed questions
# Dealing with illegal questions with finesse
Skilled interviewers know that they must put candidates at their ease and get them to talk about how they have used their skills and experience in the past. Unfortunately, many interviewers have never been trained and, because they don’t know any better, may end up asking some fairly crazy questions.
HANDLING QUESTIONS DESIGNED TO EXPLORE HOW YOU THINK
Some questions can’t possibly tell the interviewer anything about your ability to do the job, but obviously the interviewer thinks that it is a good question. You have no choice really but to have a shot at responding briefly to the question, then trying to turn the question to your advantage to show off some skill.
What was the last book you read?
Few interviewers will expect you to have read a business book. Just be ready to discuss the plot or contents of a book that you have read. Ideally, the book should have improved you in at least some small way. If you can, try to show how the book has benefits for your working life. I read a book that talks about the plight of the servant classes in turn-of-the-century China. It’s a very humbling description of the effects of poverty and injustice.
I’m reading a book at the moment on emotional intelligence, which is about how people can build more successful relationships with other people. I’m learning quite a lot about understanding other people’s perspectives and improving my listening skills with
colleagues. Don’t be caught lying. If you are going to say that you have read a key business book, then be ready to answer technical questions about the content of the webpage.
Who in your life has inspired you?
As with many of these questions, the person you name is perhaps less important than the reasons you give for identifying that person. My tutor at university had a really big part to play in my personal development. I’d never been switched on to my studies at school, but my tutor helped me to understand that I was good at something. She gave me a lot of encouragement about my academic work and helped me to volunteer for more activities
within the department, which really helped me to grow in confidence. She was a great influence and we still exchange Christmas cards and the occasional email.
What was the last news story that caught your eye?
Interviewers sometimes like to know that candidates keep up to date with current affairs. Whatever story you choose to mention, try to relate it to the job you are being interviewed for. I was just reading about the big banking merger which will create a new financial services giant with over 140,000 employees. I can imagine that will be a big opportunity for an IT contracting business such as yours. Make it a habit to buy a quality newspaper or read up on the newspaper’s website, and scan the top handful of stories on the day of any interview.
What was the last film you saw?
It does not matter what the last film you saw was. Just be prepared to talk briefly about the plot and why you saw it. I saw ‘Action Movie 4’, which was a big budget adventure movie.
I watch all sorts of things from independent French films to romantic comedies, but on this occasion I wanted something escapist to watch.
See this pencil I’m holding? Sell it to me
This is a common question and rarely asked of salespeople. You could be asked to sell just about anything that the interviewer has within reach, from a lamp to the chairs you are both sitting on. The interviewer is trying to put you on the spot, testing how you respond to the sorts of unexpected pressures that can crop up at work, as well as your ability to communicate and sell ideas. Think of the interviewer as a potential customer for the object that you are being asked to sell, and follow the following three steps:
1. Ask the interviewer about his or her needs and exposure to objects of this sort. For example, if you were selling a chair: How would you rate the chairs around your house or in the office? Do you need to sit at a desk for many hours of the day?
2.Talk about key features of the object. For example, a chair may be comfortable. A pen may be filled with red ink.
3. Discuss some of the key benefits of the object. A comfortable chair could help the interviewer to work for longer without getting backache. A red ink pen could help him to correct documents more easily without confusing the corrections with the original text.
If you were an animal, what would you be?
The interviewer has probably read a ‘pop psychology’ book claiming that candidates can be rated based on the types of animals they would describe themselves as. This is a silly question as there is no link between job performance and types of animals. Unfortunately, you need to play along with this amateur Freud. Select a suitably noble animal such as a lion, eagle, wolf, etc. and go on to relate how its characteristics relate to your ability to do the job. Resist the temptation to choose an animal with comical or sinister qualities such as
a sloth or a snake. I’d be an elephant because I can cope with a heavy workload. I’d be a Labrador because I pick up skills quickly and I’m good around other people There are endless variations on this question. I have also heard an interviewer ask ‘If you were a type of vehicle, what would you be?’ Again, think about certain cars that are known for their reliability, or speed, etc.
Tell me a story
Ideally, you should tell a story about your career, including examples of the skills that the interviewer is looking for. Perhaps first ask, ‘Can I tell you the story of my career?’ However, if the interviewer insists that you tell a story about something outside of work, try to tell a story about something that you have achieved, whether it is learning a musical instrument or designing an extension for your house. I decided five years ago that I was getting a bit out of shape so I decided to get fit. I joined a local gym and started an exercise programme. I was very unfit to begin with and I used to ache after coming back from my routines, but I was determined to stick with it. I made sure that I’d go at least once every weekend and once
during the week and possibly twice if I could manage it. After about six months, I’d lost a bit of weight and discovered that I had a lot more energy. I’ve kept up the exercising ever since.
Alternatively, try to tell the interviewer the story of how you triumphed against adversity in some way, perhaps while you were growing up. Make sure the story has a happy ending.
If you could meet anyone living or dead, who would it be and why?
Pick someone who has characteristics or skills that would be desirable in the job you are applying for, such as a notable business leader. However, resist citing the really well known business gurus such as Tom Peters or Warren Bennis, as that could make you sound clichéd. Politicians can also be risky choices if you do not know the political leanings of your
interviewer. Also steer clear of poets, humanitarians, or artists, unless you can argue that they have traits that you would use for this particular job. I would like to meet Sir Peter Alexander, who was the chief executive of Matazar, the European retailer. The firm grew from 5 shops to 80 shops and saw sales grow by over 1000 per cent in 6 years. I’d love to
pick his brains about his vision for the retail industry.
Who do you admire and why?
Think about the skills or competencies that the interviewing organization is looking for. Perhaps you could talk about a tutor or previous boss who was a good role model for one of those skills. Giving an example of a manager that you have worked for will also give the interviewer the impression that you are respectful of those who are senior to you.
My previous manager was a really good role model. She was on the fast track to partnership at the firm, but almost invariably managed to squeeze her workload into a 9am to 6pm day. She was very focused on her work during the day, which allowed her to have a good work-life balance too. I’d like to believe I’ve learnt some of her tricks for managing her workload and getting more
done during the day.
What kind of manager would you like to work for?
Your answer depends on what you know about the organisation. So make sure you do some research on how you are likely to be managed. For example, if you think that the organisation is driven by strict rules and procedures, you might say: I would like to have a manager who will give me clear instructions and expect me to be able to deliver good results.
If the organisation is known for its creativity and giving employees a great deal of autonomy, a candidate might say: I’d like to work for manager who will listen to my ideas and give
me the authority and responsibility to do a good job.
How many cars are there in Australia?
Management consultancies and investment banks, in particular, like to ask questions that may require you to ‘guesstimate’ an answer. Typical questions might ask you to estimate the size of a market. For example, ‘How many mobile phones are there in China?’ or ‘How many litres of orange juice are consumed in France each year?’ On the face of it, these would seem impossible to answer, as you are not going to have the facts to hand. However, the interviewer is actually interested in two key skills:
1. Your capacity to make estimates, apply rules of thumb, and extrapolate from information that you do possess when no definitive data is available.
2.How quickly you can make mental calculations. The interviewer is not expecting you to have the actual answers. They are more interested in hearing your thought processes on tackling the question. So one critical tip, which the interviewers often forget to mention, is to talk aloud as you work out the answer to the problem. Start by breaking down the question into the facts that you would need to estimate. For example, in order to estimate the answer, you need to know how many people are in Australia. Then you would need to work
out the ratio of people to cars in the country. A candidate’s answer might go along the lines of the following: I have no idea of the exact population of Australia. I know that it is
a huge country, but it is much less densely populated than most European countries. I know that the population of the UK is less than 60 million people, so perhaps Australia has 20 million inhabitants give or take a few million? Now, not everyone has a car. People may live in family units, so even though there may be 20 million people living in Australia, we
probably have only about 7 million households, because on average maybe three people live in each household. Not every household has a car though, so let’s say that only one in two households has a car. Obviously, some households have more than one car but there are
lots of people who travel only on public transport. So of the 7 million households, I’d say there were about 3.5 million cars in Australia. Now, your estimates may have a significant margin of error attached to them. But as long as they are sensible and not completely ridiculous you can demonstrate your ability to break a problem down and make rapid
mental calculations.
Why are supermarket own-brand cans of baked beans cheaper than the
leading make of branded baked beans?
No technical knowledge about food production is actually needed to answer the question as it is trying to ascertain the candidate’s ability to make sensible assumptions and to break down an apparently complicated problem. In such a situation, the interviewer is looking for your ability to: _ Apply logic to break a complex problem into a number of more easily
solved component problems. _ Gather and analyse information. _ Make suggestions while thinking on your feet. If the question involves multiple points and sub-questions, ask
whether the interviewer would mind you jotting down some of the key points on a sheet of paper to act as a reminder. A candidate’s answer might go as follows: Well, I assume that own-brand baked beans are cheaper because they cost less to produce. So why don’t we break down the cost of different cans of beans into their constituent parts. Thinking about the constituent parts, there is the basic cost of the beans themselves. Perhaps the branded company can buy beans more cheaply, because they buy in bigger quantities and can get
them in bulk. The branded-beans company would also probably be able to buy tin cans more cheaply, again because they buy in greater quantities. However, those two facts would suggest that the branded beans should be cheaper, so that’s not the answer. Another part of the cost is the distribution of the tins of beans but I can’t see why there would be a significant difference in cost there either. Aha – I’ve got it. Supermarkets never advertise their baked
beans on the television, whereas the branded company has to spend much more on marketing and advertising. So that’s why supermarkets can sell their beans more cheaply.
And there is the answer. Remember that succeeding at case study interviews is about breaking down a problem, and then making some quick estimates and mental calculations.
You are in a room with three light switches, each of which controls one of
three light bulbs in an adjacent room. You must determine which switch
controls which bulb. But I’m afraid you may flick only two switches and
may enter the adjacent room only once. How would you go about
determining which switch controls which bulb?
Some interviewers like to pose riddles, quandaries, or brainteasers to test candidates’ ability to ‘think out of the box’. These are unlikely to have a right or wrong answer. In fact there may be many possible solutions. The only tip here is to let your imagination run wild. I’d flick one switch on, wait for ten minutes and flick it back off. Then I’d turn one of the other light switches on before going in the room. By feeling which light bulb is still warm, I could identify
which one I flicked on for ten minutes. I’d knock a hole in the wall so that I could see which switch controls which bulb. I’d phone a friend and ask them to stand next door to see which
bulb comes on. I’d take off my belt and place the shiny metal buckle strategically so that I could see in its reflection which switch works each bulb. Don’t discount any answer. What’s more important is to come up with a creative solution and not to sit in silence looking confused.
DEFLECTING NEGATIVE QUESTIONS WITH A POSITIVE APPROACH
In the bad old days of interviewing, quite a few interviewers used to think that giving candidates a hard time and deliberately putting them under stress was a good idea. By doing so, they hoped to expose personality flaws in weaker candidates. Luckily, most interviewers now know better, although there may still be one or two interviewers who haven’t heard
that stress interviews are out. If you are faced with an aggressive interviewer, you must keep your composure. Responding with anger will only escalate the situation. Remember that you want to be offered a job, so you need to hide your irritation. Be calm, take your time, and focus on answering the question. Some questions start by making a negative statement about you, and invite you to fight your way uphill to impress the interviewer. Because
these questions can be convoluted, you should take a few seconds to ensure that you have understood the question properly before responding.
I don’t understand why you think you are the right person for this job
You might want to ask the interviewer why he or she thinks so: ‘Can I ask why you think that?’ or ‘Could you be a bit more specific please? What exactly are your doubts?’
Then try to make a short statement about why you think you are the right person for the job.
I’m disappointed that you think that. I think that I am the right person for the job for three reasons. Firstly, I have a track record of delivering exceptional customer service, which is something that my last boss will attest to. Secondly, I’ve been told by various colleagues that I have a better understanding of this particular technology than some of the people who work for the company that invented the technology. And finally, I’m incredibly determined and I can give you a couple of examples of how I’ve persisted to deliver results for the team.
Why do you think that you are better than the other candidates?
The question asserts that you think you are better than the other candidates and you need to correct that assertion. Use this question as an opportunity to summarise again what you believe are your key strengths. I haven’t met the other candidates, so I can talk only about myself. What I hope I have done is to impress you with my track record of results. In particular, I think I have three main strengths, which are…
Do you like regular hours and routine working patterns?
Be sure to tell the interviewer what you think they need to hear. Tailor your response to what you know about the organisation. Is it the sort of organisation where the work may be very repetitive and predictable or incredibly varied?
Yes, I like to get comfortable with a job so that I can do it well. No, I like to have new challenges and variety that will keep me from getting bored but also improve my skill set. And that’s why I am interested in this job.
Do you mind paperwork and other bureaucratic practices?
The interviewer might be trying to hint that the job will involve a lot of administrative work. Good research about the demands of the job will help you to decide on the right answer to give. I don’t mind it. I realise that doing things properly and having a good paper trail are important parts of the job.
Have you ever broken rules to get a job done?
Be careful here, as there is a critical difference between breaking a rule once to achieve a benefit to the organisation and breaking rules on multiple occasions because you find rules restrictive. When answering, explain that you broke a rule only because there was an opportunity or challenge to which you had to react quickly and the organisation would have lost out if you had not broken the rules. I have broken the rules but only because the rule was stopping me from achieving what I knew my boss wanted. I had been asked to get quotes from three companies on the costs of printing a brochure that we needed for the end of the week. I am supposed to get her to sign off expenditure over £1000, but she had been
called into a meeting. The cheapest quote came in at about £1200 but I gave them the go-ahead anyway, because otherwise we would not have had the brochures done by the end of the week.
All of us have personality defects – what is yours?
A personality defect is a very strong term and it would be prudent to avoid admitting to having any. However, you should not try to imply that you are perfect, so go on to talk about one of your minor weaknesses. I wouldn’t say that I have anything as strong as a personality
defect. However, I do have areas that I know I could improve on.
For example...
You don’t have much experience of X – how will you cope in this job?
The ‘X’ could represent just about any skill. The interviewer may have spotted from your CV that you don’t have much experience with a particular system, tool, method of working, software package, etc. that this organisation uses. Your response must reassure the interviewer that you at least have similar experience and that you learn fast. I’ve used several other similar design programmes. When I first joined my current company, I hadn’t had any experience of the Design 200 software but I found that it was sufficiently similar to other packages that I was able to get up to speed with it very quickly. I had to work a bit harder and for slightly longer hours than the rest of the team for a few weeks, but the fact that I’d not used the programme before certainly didn’t impact upon my work performance.
Do you take work home with you in the evenings or at weekends?
This is a question that tries to trap you into admitting that you are ineffective during the day and need to catch up in the evenings and at weekends. I very rarely find the need to. I prefer to get it all done in the office because you have everything that you need to hand and you can bounce ideas off colleagues.
Why did you not achieve more in your last job?
The interviewer may be trying to provoke you into reacting emotionally. Try to talk about what you did achieve rather than focusing on what you did not achieve. I don’t see achievement as solely measured by promotion up the hierarchy. It has been more important to me to be given challenging work and to be learning new skills. However, I am now ready to move on because I do feel that I could be given more responsibility as well as new challenges.
Quite frankly, I don’t think you have enough experience of…
If the interviewer expresses a concern about a skill or experience that you do actually have but he or she just does not know about, you should give an example to make it clear to the interviewer that you do possess it. However, if you do not have the required skill or experience, you would need to emphasise your willingness and ability to learn. Give an example of a related skill that you picked up very quickly.It’s true that I haven’t much experience of running workshops.But when I joined my current company, I had never given a
performance appraisal either. But I asked personnel to send me on a course and I did some reading and talking to other team leaders about it. By the end of the year, I got an award for being one of the top 10 per cent of team leaders in the company. So I do learn quickly.
How do you think your experience has prepared you to take on more
responsibility?
A good response should talk about the opportunities you have already had in your current or previous jobs to take on more responsibility. I’ve actually already had some experience of managing a restaurant. When a shift manager was sometimes unable to come to work, I was usually the one who assumed responsibility for the team. So I’d be the point of contact if customers had any complaints. I’d be the one who would order more stock, take the
cash bags to the bank, and lock up the premises last thing at night. Over the last six months alone, I’ve probably spent at least a dozen days taking on the full range of managerial responsibilities
.
Aren’t you over qualified (or have too much experience) for this job?
The employer may be worried that you might get bored of the job and move on quickly. If you agree that you are overqualified, you could try explaining that you are looking for a better work-life balance. There may have been too much travel or the hours were too long in your previous or current job. Perhaps you have family or other personal commitments that mean you want to have some stability in your working life for a few years. Or you could try arguing that you want to join a smaller company where you can feel that you have a greater impact on what goes on. Whatever you say, make sure you can state your case convincingly to
explain how you will still be committed to the job, that you’re not burnt out and looking for an opportunity to slacken off entirely. I realise on paper that this may look like a step down from being a manager to one of the team. But I’ve come to the conclusion that I prefer the day-to-day business of graphic design to having to manage a team. I get much more enjoyment out of doing it than managing others who are doing it and that’s why I’m currently looking for jobs only as a designer rather than a design manager.
Have you ever been fired?
The best answer would be to say, ‘No’. However, if you cannot, then you will need to have good reasons why it happened. Finish by reassuring the interviewer that it was a one-time situation that will never again occur. I had a major difference of opinion with my boss. I felt that some of his practices were misleading. For example, when customers rang in with complaints, he encouraged us to lie to cover up why we hadn’t got the right products to them on time. We clashed on quite a few occasions and eventually my boss asked me to leave.
However, I’ve worked for four other bosses in my career so far and I could ask any of those other bosses for a reference and they would tell you how good I am in a team. I joined the company because I thought I would be working on lots of big, strategic projects. However, when I joined, I discovered that the job actually involved a lot of dealing with the detail and
administration. I really should have resigned but unfortunately I let it affect my motivation. As a consequence, I was asked to leave. However, I learnt my lesson and now am much more careful to understand the demands of the jobs I apply for. This job, for instance, is exactly the kind of job that would play to my strengths because it would allow me to concentrate on those broad, big picture issues.
What keeps you up at night?
In reality, most people have a combination of both personal and professional worries. However, you may want to downplay the extent to which you agonise over work-related issues. I don’t think anything keeps me up at night, to be honest. I have concerns, obviously, but for the most part I feel that I am in control of my life. At work, I want to do a good job and feel that people respect me for my work. But I wouldn’t say that these trouble me overly.
How would you rate me as an interviewer?
It would be dangerous to express your honest opinion if the interviewer is boring you or asking the wrong sorts of questions. Be diplomatic and constructive if you want to make any small criticisms. I’d rate you as a good interviewer because you’ve asked me some
fairly challenging questions that have made me work hard and really think about the answers. But at the same time you have also given me a chance to talk about my skills and experience. So yes, all round it’s been a good performance on your part.
OPENING UP CLOSED QUESTIONS
Technically, you could get away with answering only ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ to closed questions. However, you will give the interviewer a much clearer picture of your skills and fit with the organisation if you continue by giving an example to explain your ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ answer.
Do you ever have any doubts about your ability to do the job?
Insecurity is a deeply unattractive trait in potential employees. Who wants to work with someone who needs constant reassurance? However, be careful not to sound arrogant in your response. Of course there are moments when I feel tired and frustrated. But I
can honestly say that for 99 per cent of the time, I get a real kick out of the variety, the pace, and having challenging deadlines. Keeping busy and learning new things is how I know I’m still alive.
.
Do you regard it as a weakness to lose your temper?
A ‘Yes’ could imply that no one should ever lose his or her temper. But a ‘No’ could imply that you lose your temper regularly. I can’t think of an occasion when I have personally lost my temper at work. However, I recognise that we’re all only human: it could happen to me in the future. So I try to be patient and understanding of the reasons why someone else may be angry. Consider as an alternative explaining that you sometimes feel frustrated but somehow manage to bite your tongue or otherwise calm yourself to avoid taking it out on people at work.
When was the last time you felt frustrated at work?
Try to avoid saying that you feel frustrated by other people. Perhaps talk about how some system or process at work stops you from achieving organisational goals more effectively.
I don’t really get frustrated by much. Although I do sometimes think that if we didn’t have to submit all budget applications through head office, we could save a lot of time. Having said that, I appreciate that head office wants to make sure that we are not overspending. But it is slightly frustrating that we can’t meet customers’ requests a little more quickly. However, if an interviewer insists on an example of when you last felt frustrated by another person, give a response that shows you might have felt slightly frustrated, but in no way let it affect your working relationship or your ability to do the job. I have a colleague who speaks and laughs incredibly loudly. Sometimes when we’re on the telephone with customers, I know that the customer can hear her. I don’t want the customer to think that we’re being unprofessional so I’m constantly telling my colleague to quieten down, politely of course. Various colleagues and I have mentioned it to her probably several dozen times, but she soon forgets to be quiet and becomes loud again.
Do you mind travelling much?
If you do mind having to travel, I would recommend that you keep your mouth shut until you have been offered the job and have the opportunity to negotiate exactly how much you will have to travel. But simply answering ‘No’ is not enough. It is part of the job and I am used to it. I find that I can catch up with my reading on trains. One of the reasons I’m looking to join you is the prospect of international travel. I want to experience different cultures and
learn about the different ways in which business is conducted elsewhere, so I’m really looking forward to travelling quite a bit.
Good morning. Would you like a hot drink before we start?
Not a trick question. If you would like to, then do accept a drink, as you may be talking for a few hours and need to moisten your mouth and throat. But rather than have your interviewer ask you whether you would like a drink, whether you would like milk, and how many sugars you take, simply answer the question fully in one go. For example: White coffee, two sugars, please Just a glass of water – from a tap would be fine for me, thank you.
NAVIGATING THE MINEFIELD OF ILLEGAL QUESTIONS
Legal guidelines in the last few years have specifically prohibited certain questions that have no relevance to a candidate’s ability to do the job. In theory, interviewers should not ask you about your age, ethnicity, marital status, children or childcare arrangements, birth place, your parents’ or partner’s occupation, your sexuality, membership of a trade union,
hobbies and interests outside of work, or religious beliefs. However, interviewers rarely ask illegal questions deliberately. They are more likely to be acting out of ignorance. Your choice of answer depends on how much you want the job. You may legally be entitled to refuse to
answer the question, but you could possibly embarrass the interviewer and reduce your chances of getting the job. Would you really want to try to prove discrimination in a court of law?
Consider how much you want the job. How you deal with illegal interview questions is ultimately up to you. But if you really want the job, you may want to swallow your pride and answer the question anyway.
Are you married?
Of course you want to say, ‘None of your bloody business!’ But remember that the interviewer probably doesn’t realise that he or she is asking an illegal question.
Yes, I’m married. But my other half and I have completely independent careers so please don’t think that my marital status would in any way affect my ability to do the job.
No, I’m not married. But when or if I ever get married, I can guarantee that it won’t affect my work as my career is incredibly important to me.
What happens when you decide to have children?
Interviewers sometimes assume (incorrectly) that all women want to have children and that children would automatically have an adverse effect on their motivation or ability to work.
Actually, I have no plans of having children. I don’t see myself needing children to be fulfilled.
I don’t plan on having children for at least five more years, because I have certain career goals that I would like to achieve before I’m 35. I have no current plans to have children. In any case, I wouldn’t want a family to slow my career down. I’ve decided that I want to be a partner in a firm within five years.
Are you pregnant at the moment?
While you do not legally have to disclose the answer to this question, you may want to answer truthfully anyway. An employer could make your life very difficult for you if you lied when you knew that you were expecting a child. I hope you don’t mind, but I’d rather not answer that question. Please don’t take this the wrong way, but I’m afraid I don’t quite
see the relevance to my ability to do the job. Yes, I am pregnant. But I hope you will be able to treat me as just another candidate and allow me to demonstrate precisely why I have the right skills for this job.
Does your husband/wife/family mind you being away from home?
The fact that you are married should not affect your willingness to travel. However, avoid getting into a lengthy debate about it and just answer the question in a positive fashion.
I have always travelled extensively as part of my work – in fact I enjoy it – so my marital status really shouldn’t be a cause for concern for you. I’m not married, so this isn’t a problem.
What hobbies and interests do you have outside of work?
In theory, an interviewer should not ask you about what you do outside of your work. The legal guidelines say that it shouldn’t matter whether you spend all of your leisure time slouched in front of the television or working with charities. The only thing that should matter is your ability to do the job. However, if you do want to answer the question, try to pick activities that imply you are the kind of person this organisation would want to hire. For example, if the role requires lots of team working, then talking about solitary pursuits such as playing the guitar or going on country walks by yourself could give the wrong impression.
Avoid talking about your family excessively as this may give the interviewer the impression that you may not be willing to work long hours when necessary. Mentioning activities to do with your faith or religion has unfortunately also been known to turn some interviewers off.
Quite a few of my colleagues at work are also my friends outside of work. So we like to have the occasional drink/meal out/game of football together. I’m a keen photographer. I find that looking for interesting photos to take gives me a fresh outlook on life, something that probably helps me to stay more open-minded about opportunities at work too.
Do you play any competitive sports?
Some interviewers believe that candidates who play team sports are also more likely to be good team players in the workplace. But even if you do not play a team sport, it is still better to talk about some form of exercise that you engage in than nothing at all. Some interviewers worry that people who enjoy sitting around doing nothing in their leisure time might also sit around doing nothing in their work time too. I play five-a-side football at the weekends. I find that it helps me to think about the strengths and weaknesses of different people and it helps me to be a better team player. I don’t play any competitive sports, but I do go jogging at least
twice a week. I find that regular exercise gives me more energy in my life and my work.
Do you have any problems with relocating?
If relocation is necessary for the job, you should hopefully already have picked this up in your research. However, if the question comes as a complete shock to you in the interview, try to respond in a way that allows you to play for time. I didn’t realise that relocation would be required for this job, but I have to say that I am very keen to join the company from what I
have seen and heard about it so far. So, depending on the right package, relocation would not be a problem.
This job requires you to work on a Saturday/Sunday – does that cause any
conflict with your religion?
Hopefully you will already have ascertained from your research before the interview that you might have to work on certain days. So if you decided to press ahead with the interview, you should be able to simply say: Not at all.
Does your religion mean you will need to take more holidays than other
employees?
If you must take certain religious holidays, explain that you will take these as part of your annual leave entitlement. No. There will be times of the year that I might ideally like to take
off. But I’ll follow the company’s guidelines on the matter and apply for time off just like any other employee.
Do you mind if I ask what your partner does for a living?
Perhaps the interviewer wants to know whether your partner has a demanding job that might cause problems with childcare. Or perhaps the interviewer is alluding to your sexuality. In either case, this is an illegal question although you may still wish to answer it, albeit in a tangential fashion. My partner has a demanding career in the airline industry. But I am my own person so what I hope to impress upon you is my ability to do the job on my own merits.
Remember that illegal questions are more often asked out of ignorance on the interviewer’s part than a deliberate desire to cause offence. In deciding how you will respond to the question, ask yourself, How badly do I want the job?
IN SUMMARY
# Remember that there are many untrained, unskilled interviewers who can ask questions that bear little relation to the job. However, put up with their sometimes strange questions by smiling and trying to turn them to your advantage.
# Aim to give short examples that showcase one of your skills or a personal quality in every answer you give.
# Control your emotions or any anger you may feel when you are asked an illegal question. In the vast majority of cases, the interviewer is asking the question out of ignorance, so you must tread carefully in order not to make them feel uncomfortable.
Talking about your personal qualities during Interview
# Talking in general terms about yourself
# Demonstrating your ability to get work done
# Dealing with hypothetical questions
You can’t blame interviewers for asking lots of questions. There’s a lot at stake for them. They want to make sure they can hire someone who is right for the job, who will be able to do the job well and help both the team and the broader organisation to succeed. They don’t want to end up hiring someone who will turn out to be a slacker, a bungling idiot, or a
clever rocket scientist with no people skills.
This page deals with the many questions that interviewers may ask you about your skills, your personality, and your motivations. As you read this chapter, remember to keep making notes as to how you would answer each question.
DESCRIBING YOURSELF IN POSITIVE TERMS
Responding to questions that ask you to rate yourself or to evaluate yourself as others see you need to be handled with some subtlety. When talking about what you bring to an employer, there is a fine line between confidence and arrogance, so tread carefully. Similarly, when talking about your negative points and weaknesses, very little separates being sufficiently honest with being foolishly candid.
What is your greatest strength?
From your analysis of the job advert, you should by now have identified the key skills that are required for this particular role. So answering the question should be easy. If you can, talk about how one of your strengths is one of the key skills they are looking for. Remember to offer a brief example of how you have used your strength at work in order to hammer your point home. I’m good at keeping calm when others are getting stressed. For example, a customer rang our team saying that an order had got lost along the way. Some of my colleagues were getting panicky about what to do so I called a meeting and we brainstormed ideas. We decided to hire a pick-up van that afternoon to drive a replacement batch of our product to the customer ourselves. I think that my greatest strength is my ability to take in complex company financial information, build a spreadsheet to analyse its profitability, and make a decision very quickly as to whether the company would be a good venture or not. Recently I did that for an Eastern European business that my boss was thinking about buying
and I completed the financial valuation of it in a single weekend.
What is your greatest weakness?
If you are asked about your strengths, you will be asked about your weaknesses or development needs. However, candidates who are unable to come up with any weaknesses at all are often viewed with suspicion. Are you claiming to be superhumanly perfect? Rather than say you have no weaknesses, which interviewers are more likely to interpret as arrogance on your part, choose a couple of minor weaknesses that are unrelated to your ability to do the job. For example, if your job is only to implement other people’s ideas, you could say that you aren’t very good at coming up with your own ideas. I know that I can get frustrated very quickly when people don’t make decisions. However, now that I am aware of it, I try to remember that colleagues may need time to think something through before giving me an answer.
.
I like to be quite autonomous in my work. Years ago, I had a very controlling boss who wanted to sit down with me and tell me exactly how to do every little task. But that’s not happened in my last few jobs and from what I understand of this role, I’m going to be working quite independently, so I know it’s not going to be a problem here either. But don’t try to turn your weaknesses into strengths. Two examples that seem to come up are ‘One of my weaknesses is that I’m a bit of a perfectionist. I tend to spend longer than necessary making sure that things are perfect’ and ‘you might say I don’t suffer fools gladly. I can’t tolerate poor quality or lack of effort from other people’. These sounds too rehearsed and imply that the candidate lacks any self-awareness. If you mention any weaknesses that could affect your ability to do the job, be ready to describe what actions you are taking to improve or develop yourself.
What is your greatest area for development?
There are many euphemisms for weaknesses. So be ready to answer the same question under different guises.
What are your development needs with respect to this role?
What is your greatest area of under-strength?
What are your three biggest strengths and three biggest weaknesses?
This is just a variation on the basic strengths and weaknesses questions. It pays to plan to have at least three or four strengths up your sleeve and a similar number of weaknesses, in case the interviewer insists on a certain number.
How would your colleagues/team/boss describe you?
Although you may be tempted to present a rounded picture of how your colleagues see you, you should try to get away with treating this question as if you had been asked, ‘What would your colleagues say are your strengths?’ There is no benefit in mentioning weaknesses unless the interviewer specifically asks for them. Simply talk about two or three of the key skills that are required of the job.
For example, a gym instructor being interviewed for a job at a health club might say. I think my colleagues would say that I am very client-focused. I don’t just stand around, waiting for members of the gym to come and ask me questions. I move around the gym, observing how they are getting on, chatting and offering advice. In fact, when the members of the gym were asked to rate the five instructors in the gym, I got a 4.5 rating out of 5. If you can, try to back up your claims with any objective evidence that you may have on how colleagues have described you, such as from an appraisal or from a 360-degree feedback report.
What would your friends say your biggest fault is?
The trick here is to pick a weakness that applies only to your personal life and could never interfere with your work life. I suppose they might say that I’m a bit of an impulse shopper.
I really like technology and gadgets. I like to understand how they work so I end up buying toys for myself that I don’t really need.
How would your rate yourself as…?
You could be asked to rate yourself as a team player, a researcher, a leader, or just about anything else. Obviously you need to start by saying that you are a very good team player, researcher, leader, etc. Don’t let modesty get in the way of making a good impression on the interviewer. But the secret is to then back up your assertion with a short example that
demonstrates that you are as good as you say.
Be careful not to make extravagant claims about yourself unless you have evidence to support it, such as having won an award, being specifically praised by a colleague, or having received the biggest bonus amongst your peer group. I’d say that I was one of the best technicians in our company. For example, we get a set of ratings in our annual appraisal. I was the only technician to get awarded the top ranking in four out of the six skill categories and the second best ranking in the remaining two. I’d rate myself as a good leader because I work hard at developing the capability of the people who work for me. Just a few months
ago, one of my team was promoted. She used to be very shy but I spent a lot of time coaching her and building her confidence in meetings, and now she’s going to work in our New York office.
What unique skills would you bring to our company?
A tricky question, as the interviewer is effectively asking you what you have that the other candidates do not have. If you know that you have some technical skills that very few candidates have, this is your opportunity to talk about them. However, if you are not sure that you have any skills that are unique to you, you could try a different approach.
Talk about the fact that you possess a combination of skills and determination that, taken together, are unique. I’m good with technology, but I think what makes me different is
that I’m also a people-person. I’m not the kind of person who likes to sit in a room and just work on technical problems all day. I like to get out in front of customers and understand their problems and see how I can solve them.
TALKING ABOUT YOUR ABILITY TO GET WORK DONE
At the end of the day, an interviewer is most interested in whether you can deliver results. Can you complete projects, deal with daily tasks, work with other people and on your own?
For example, teams are supposed to create something that is greater than the sum of their parts. But can you show the interviewer that you are able to navigate the minefield of disagreements, politics and outright arguments that happen in most teams? On the other hand, although employers appreciate the ability to work with other people, it goes without saying that you also need to demonstrate that you are able to work on your own without continual guidance and reassurance.
Would you say that you have good influencing skills?
Of course say, ‘Yes.’ However, it is very difficult to convince an interviewer of your influencing skills if you speak about them only in abstract terms. So continue by providing an example of how you influenced someone as proof of your skill. Yes. For example there was a situation a few months ago when the head of my department said that we didn’t have enough money to upgrade our systems. I took it upon myself to write a business case about the benefits of the upgrade and I organised a meeting with the department head. He was initially quite sceptical, but when I explained it to him, he understood that the new system was
actually going to save us quite a lot of time and make us money in a period of only 18 months.
Are you a good team player?
Of course you’re a great team player, but give an example to demonstrate how you helped the team to achieve its goals. Yes, I’m a good team player because I try to create a good working atmosphere. For example, there was an occasion when two of the team, weren’t getting on. The situation was getting worse and worse and they were barely on speaking terms. Eventually I spoke to each of them individually and arranged for the three of us to go
out together for lunch. I encouraged the two of them to talk through their issues and they now at least understand each other’s perspectives and can be civil enough to work together. I try to be a good team player by checking on the workloads of other people and ensuring that everyone’s happy. Recently I noticed that one of my colleagues, was a lot quieter than usual. I took her aside and found out that her uncle had just died. She had just found out on the telephone and she was really upset. I suggested that she ask our boss for the rest of the day off and I offered to finish the few phone calls that she was supposed to be handling for the rest of the day.
What role do you tend to play within a team?
Before you answer this question, try to think about the kind of role that you might need to assume if you were to be taken on by the employer. Don’t try to tell every employer that you tend to be the leader if they are looking only for followers. I tend to be the one who gets things done. I enjoy working with people who can come up with ideas. But when they come up with new ideas all the time, it’s up to me to turn those ideas into reality. I’m good at following through, delivering what I promise to do, and having good attention to detail. Otherwise our team would have lots of great ideas but no implementation of them. I think I probably have the best analytical skills of the team. So when we come up with a new idea, I often find myself being the one who goes away to research it and come up with a costing.
Try to relate the role you tend to play within a team to the role that you think the employer may need you to play within their team.
What kind of people do you get on best with?
The interviewer may be trying to decide whether you will fit in with the existing team. Avoid ruling yourself out of the running by being too specific about the kinds of people you get on with. That’s a tough question because I’m the kind of person who gets on with everyone. One of my best friends at work is an ex-policeman who is about 20 years older than me and we work really well together. He’s a good friend outside of work too. Another of my close friends at work is a young single mother with two kids and we always have a laugh while we get on with our work.
What kind of people do you tend not to get on with?
Try to understand the culture of the organisation that you are joining. The answer you should give if you are applying for a job at a local library may be different from the one you give for an application to a large aggressive investment bank. I get a bit frustrated when I’m dealing with people who say ‘I don’t know’ all of the time. I like to work with bright, energetic people
who have suggestions to make and aren’t afraid to speak their mind. I’m less likely to become close personal friends with people who are loud, overconfident, arrogant and abrasive. But even though I have occasionally encountered people like that, I bite my tongue. I realise that I’m in a support role and I need to offer my professional services to anyone who needs my help. It just means I’m unlikely to bond with them on a personal level.
How good are you at handling conflict?
Give an example of how you have handled a tricky situation with tact and diplomacy.
I’m good at defusing conflict. For instance, when I took on my current role, I had to go meet a customer who was very angry about a problem that she had experienced with the customer
service manager who had handled her account before I joined the business. I met with her, let her vent her frustrations on me until she calmed down and then I established exactly what she wanted me to do about the situation. That was six months ago and now
she’s incredibly happy with the service we provide and has increased the size of her orders by nearly 50 per cent. I try to avoid conflict if I can. But a couple of months ago, one of
my colleagues John, thought I was ignoring him because I was simply too busy to return his phone calls. Another colleague told me about the problem so I took John out for a coffee and we talked it through. I apologised for not appearing to want to help with the report that he wanted me to do for him and explained that I’d been spending a lot of time at our other location. It was a good conversation though and we patched things up.
Do you enjoy speaking in front of other people?
The job you are applying for may not require that you stand up and give formal presentations in front of hundreds of people. But many jobs may require you to give short talks or informal updates to members of your team or department. Yes, I quite like speaking my mind in front of others. I got a lot of practice at college because we used to give 10-minute presentations to the other people in our class on our thoughts about the essay topic of the week.
How do you respond to personal criticism?
You need to show the interviewer that you can take constructive criticism without taking offence or reacting defensively to it. As long as the criticism is fair and constructive, I try to listen to it, thank them for their candid feedback, and modify my future behaviour accordingly.
Can you describe a situation in which you were criticised?
This is a natural follow-up to the previous question. Avoid giving an example that involves lateness, absenteeism or aggressive behaviour, as these can signal to the interviewer that you are a troublesome employee. Better examples are to do with skills, such as presentation or computing skills, that you may have lacked at one point in your career, but which you
have since worked on and had some success in improving. I never thought it was terribly important to understand budgets and how the business made money. But my boss suggested that I sit down with the finance manager regularly, which was really
instrumental at helping me to navigate a profit and loss account. It was hard at first but I now have a good grasp of how different costs can affect our profit margins.
How will you cope working with people from different backgrounds to yours?
You may have heard a lot of employers talk about the need for people to respect diversity in cultural, ethnic, gender, and other differences. So variations on this question could ask you how you work with people from ‘very different educational backgrounds’, ‘different cultures’, or ‘different countries’. Whatever form the question takes, the best way to answer this
is to provide an example to show that you can work with people who are very different from yourself. If you can, try also to emphasise that you not only had a good working relationship but also became good friends. Use whatever example you have. Even if you have not worked with people from different countries or cultures, perhaps your boss was much younger than you, a colleague was a single parent with a very different view on life from yours, or you worked alongside a team of scientists, actuaries, or lecturers who were
all much more highly qualified than you were. When I transferred to our head office, I found myself working with a lot of the sales and marketing people. I have to say that I thought they didn’t really respect the people who worked in the field and didn’t take my views seriously. But I worked hard to earn their respect and invested a lot of time meeting with them on a
one-to-one basis. It probably took me a good six months, but now I’m pleased to say that they treat me as an equal.
How do you respond to authority?
If an interviewer is asking you this question, it might be because the organisation is quite hierarchical: each employee knows their level and there might be rules on how you deal with people who are more senior than yourself. I have no problem at all with authority. I like to know what my reporting line is and I realise that a big part of my job is satisfying
the demands that my line manager will make of me. If I were to be offered this job, I would really appreciate sitting down with my manager to establish how he or she likes to be communicated with, and how I should deal with problems should I encounter them.
What was the greatest failing of your boss?
Speaking ill of your previous boss could reflect badly on you so resist the temptation to talk at length about his or her faults. Try deflecting the question by emphasising the good qualities of your boss.
I can’t say that there is much wrong with my boss. She has a lot
of experience and has coached me in many ways, especially in my
ability to present confidently in front of large groups of people.
If an interviewer pursues the matter and asks for a weakness, be
sure to finish off your response by talking about how you
compensated for their weakness.
I wouldn’t say that this is a major fault; it’s more of a minor quibble. My current boss can be quite forgetful. Often, you can tell him something and he can forget it even in the same day. So I have learned not to rely on him to remember times and dates of meetings. Instead, I always send him an email and send a copy to his secretary, so that she can politely manage his schedule. Then reinforce the fact that you had a good relationship with your boss
by finishing ith another positive statement. ‘But this relatively minor weakness was far outweighed by the fact that she gave me a lot of responsibility’ or ‘But I don’t want to blow this weakness out of proportion, as he also taught me a lot about project management and
writing press releases’.
Do you prefer to work on your own or with other people?
You do not want to give the impression that you are capable of one but not the other. However, the ‘right’ answer depends on the nature of the job. Before the interview, you should have established whether you would be spending most of your time working on your own or in a team with other people. As such, your answer should depend very much on the
situation. I’m quite willing to work on my own when necessary. Once I understand a task, I can soldier on until it is done. However, I prefer to work with a team as I like to bounce ideas off other people and it makes the work more stimulating.. I’m happy to work with other people when I need to. I think I listen to what other people have to say and can make a contribution to group discussions too. However, I am applying for this job because
I enjoy working by myself. I like having the freedom to think about a problem and come up with solutions on my own.
Would you say that you are reliable?
Of course you should say that you are reliable. However, you need to be able to give a response that makes you stand out from the other candidates. Employers worry about lateness, absenteeism from work, and forgetfulness. As a consequence, punctuality, dependability and a willingness to work overtime to meet deadlines are valued traits.
There used to be five of us running the helpdesk. We were supposed to open at 9.00am for queries, but we also provided early cover from 7.30am. I’m proud to say that in the two-and-a-half years I worked there, I didn’t miss any of my early shifts. I always either turned up or managed to swap my shift with someone else beforehand.
Can you work under pressure?
Before answering this question, you need to decide how much pressure you think the job entails. For example, a journalist for a daily newspaper, a financial trader, or an air traffic controller might respond by saying: I positively thrive on pressure. I couldn’t do a job where I had to sit and watch the clock ticking by every day. I like to know that each day is going to be very different, with its own set of decisions to make and problems to solve. However, if you are applying for a job where you would expect there to be more order in your day and less moment-to-moment pressure, you might want to talk a bit about how you plan and organise in order to avoid last minute crunches. I sit down and look at my workload at the start of each week in order to work out which tasks I need to do on which days. I use a Gantt chart to keep up to date with projects that I am working on However, when things do occasionally go wrong, I resolve myself to the fact that it might be a late night in the office.
How do you unwind and deal with stress?
This differs from the previous question, because it is asking you how you deal with the tension that can result from tight deadlines and tough days at work. However, bear in mind that what is socially acceptable in one organisation may be deemed inappropriate by another firm. For example, an aggressive sales team might snigger at candidates who profess to meditating or enjoying quiet reading. Of course such attitudes are not fair, but I’m afraid that interviewers can be prejudiced as much as anyone. This is where your research into the culture and prevailing attitudes of the company will help you. Avoid talking about relaxing by having a glass of wine. An uptight interviewer may view this in a negative light. I don’t really get stressed. But I do like to go out with the rest of the team. They’re great people and our culture has always been about working hard and playing hard together. I play squash at least once or twice a week, which really helps me to unwind and get ready for another day at work.
How do you cope with disappointment?
Show that you can recover from setbacks, dust yourself off, and carry on regardless. Interviewers want to hire people who are persistent and possess tenacity and determination. I don’t take anything personally. My view is that you have to knock on 100 doors to find the one that will open. For instance, when my boss didn’t like an idea of mine that related to the way we send out invoices, I kept going back to the drawing board to refine my ideas and to ask other people across the organisation for help in tweaking them. I went back to my boss three times before she agreed to try my new invoicing method. If I get offered the job, I’m
sure she’ll mention what a success that was in the reference she gives me.
How do you deal with failure?
Again, in answering this question, try to show that you have a positive approach to your work. I don’t really think in terms of failure. I think that failing to achieve something the first time around shows that only your approach was wrong. So I see failure as useful feedback for how something should work.
Do you pay attention to detail?
This is a slightly silly question as you are hardly likely to say, ‘No’. Think about the kind of situations where you are likely to need to pay close attention to detail if you were to be offered the job. Try to construct an example of how you used your skill with detail in a similar situation in the past. We send out a lot of letters to customers and it’s common practice
to proofread them before they go out. I probably get asked more often than most to proofread the work of other people because I’m known for having good spelling and grammar. I can seem to spot a mistake a mile away!
How much experience do you have of managing budgets?
Given that most organisations are looking to keep costs low, this is an opportunity for you to shine if you have had such experience. In your response, talk about the biggest budget that you have managed and be specific about how you handled it. I was the budget holder for our department. We had a cost budget of £95,000 per annum. I allowed my team to spend at their discretion up to a £150 limit. But for anything over that, they had to come to see me. If they wanted approval for anything over £1,000, I insisted that they write a business case to justify the spend.
How are you with new technology?
If you are applying for a technical job, then be prepared to talk about the technical wizardry that you can extract from your systems: special functions you can use, macros that you have written, speed dials that you have devised, or shortcuts that you regularly employ.
However, most employers are more interested in basic computer literacy. In particular, employers worry that older candidates may struggle with even the basics of using a computer or other systems such as voicemail. I can deal fairly easily with most of the essential functions of the XYZ package. Just last week I created a database of our clients’
details which I used to send out a mail merge document. I learn quickly. For example, I had never built a spreadsheet until I joined my last company and now I can build simple financial
models to keep track of our monthly sales against budget. If you have experience of particular software programmes that might be important in the role you’re applying for, be ready to talk about the sorts of tasks that you can do with them too.
How is your absenteeism / attendance record?
You will have to be honest here, as this is something that many employers check when they ask for references. If you have had a problem, then give a good reason to explain why it occurred at the time and why it will not happen again. I did have to take several months off, due to a back injury while doing DIY about two years ago. But I got back to full health over a
year ago and I have not had any problems since and it’s something that my references will confirm too.
How is your time keeping?
No employer wants to hire someone who is going to turn up late for work and meetings all of the time. I’m someone who is very careful about time. I hate being late so I always find myself leaving a lot of time to get to meetings and so on. I invariably find myself arriving a lot earlier than I need to.
Ours is a long-hours culture – is that a problem for you?
This may be a trick question. What they call long hours might not be what you consider to be long (or vice versa). This is the kind of trick that you should be prepared for by researching and reading up on the company. However, if you’re not sure what constitutes long hours in the mind of the interviewer, ask the question,’What exactly do you call long hours?’ Then tailor your answer accordingly. I understand that this is a demanding job that I am applying for But I really do thrive on the challenge of this sort of work, so I am willing to put in whatever hours it takes to get the work done. If you have worked similarly long hours in the past, you should definitely cite this experience as well.
# Demonstrating your ability to get work done
# Dealing with hypothetical questions
You can’t blame interviewers for asking lots of questions. There’s a lot at stake for them. They want to make sure they can hire someone who is right for the job, who will be able to do the job well and help both the team and the broader organisation to succeed. They don’t want to end up hiring someone who will turn out to be a slacker, a bungling idiot, or a
clever rocket scientist with no people skills.
This page deals with the many questions that interviewers may ask you about your skills, your personality, and your motivations. As you read this chapter, remember to keep making notes as to how you would answer each question.
DESCRIBING YOURSELF IN POSITIVE TERMS
Responding to questions that ask you to rate yourself or to evaluate yourself as others see you need to be handled with some subtlety. When talking about what you bring to an employer, there is a fine line between confidence and arrogance, so tread carefully. Similarly, when talking about your negative points and weaknesses, very little separates being sufficiently honest with being foolishly candid.
What is your greatest strength?
From your analysis of the job advert, you should by now have identified the key skills that are required for this particular role. So answering the question should be easy. If you can, talk about how one of your strengths is one of the key skills they are looking for. Remember to offer a brief example of how you have used your strength at work in order to hammer your point home. I’m good at keeping calm when others are getting stressed. For example, a customer rang our team saying that an order had got lost along the way. Some of my colleagues were getting panicky about what to do so I called a meeting and we brainstormed ideas. We decided to hire a pick-up van that afternoon to drive a replacement batch of our product to the customer ourselves. I think that my greatest strength is my ability to take in complex company financial information, build a spreadsheet to analyse its profitability, and make a decision very quickly as to whether the company would be a good venture or not. Recently I did that for an Eastern European business that my boss was thinking about buying
and I completed the financial valuation of it in a single weekend.
What is your greatest weakness?
If you are asked about your strengths, you will be asked about your weaknesses or development needs. However, candidates who are unable to come up with any weaknesses at all are often viewed with suspicion. Are you claiming to be superhumanly perfect? Rather than say you have no weaknesses, which interviewers are more likely to interpret as arrogance on your part, choose a couple of minor weaknesses that are unrelated to your ability to do the job. For example, if your job is only to implement other people’s ideas, you could say that you aren’t very good at coming up with your own ideas. I know that I can get frustrated very quickly when people don’t make decisions. However, now that I am aware of it, I try to remember that colleagues may need time to think something through before giving me an answer.
.
I like to be quite autonomous in my work. Years ago, I had a very controlling boss who wanted to sit down with me and tell me exactly how to do every little task. But that’s not happened in my last few jobs and from what I understand of this role, I’m going to be working quite independently, so I know it’s not going to be a problem here either. But don’t try to turn your weaknesses into strengths. Two examples that seem to come up are ‘One of my weaknesses is that I’m a bit of a perfectionist. I tend to spend longer than necessary making sure that things are perfect’ and ‘you might say I don’t suffer fools gladly. I can’t tolerate poor quality or lack of effort from other people’. These sounds too rehearsed and imply that the candidate lacks any self-awareness. If you mention any weaknesses that could affect your ability to do the job, be ready to describe what actions you are taking to improve or develop yourself.
What is your greatest area for development?
There are many euphemisms for weaknesses. So be ready to answer the same question under different guises.
What are your development needs with respect to this role?
What is your greatest area of under-strength?
What are your three biggest strengths and three biggest weaknesses?
This is just a variation on the basic strengths and weaknesses questions. It pays to plan to have at least three or four strengths up your sleeve and a similar number of weaknesses, in case the interviewer insists on a certain number.
How would your colleagues/team/boss describe you?
Although you may be tempted to present a rounded picture of how your colleagues see you, you should try to get away with treating this question as if you had been asked, ‘What would your colleagues say are your strengths?’ There is no benefit in mentioning weaknesses unless the interviewer specifically asks for them. Simply talk about two or three of the key skills that are required of the job.
For example, a gym instructor being interviewed for a job at a health club might say. I think my colleagues would say that I am very client-focused. I don’t just stand around, waiting for members of the gym to come and ask me questions. I move around the gym, observing how they are getting on, chatting and offering advice. In fact, when the members of the gym were asked to rate the five instructors in the gym, I got a 4.5 rating out of 5. If you can, try to back up your claims with any objective evidence that you may have on how colleagues have described you, such as from an appraisal or from a 360-degree feedback report.
What would your friends say your biggest fault is?
The trick here is to pick a weakness that applies only to your personal life and could never interfere with your work life. I suppose they might say that I’m a bit of an impulse shopper.
I really like technology and gadgets. I like to understand how they work so I end up buying toys for myself that I don’t really need.
How would your rate yourself as…?
You could be asked to rate yourself as a team player, a researcher, a leader, or just about anything else. Obviously you need to start by saying that you are a very good team player, researcher, leader, etc. Don’t let modesty get in the way of making a good impression on the interviewer. But the secret is to then back up your assertion with a short example that
demonstrates that you are as good as you say.
Be careful not to make extravagant claims about yourself unless you have evidence to support it, such as having won an award, being specifically praised by a colleague, or having received the biggest bonus amongst your peer group. I’d say that I was one of the best technicians in our company. For example, we get a set of ratings in our annual appraisal. I was the only technician to get awarded the top ranking in four out of the six skill categories and the second best ranking in the remaining two. I’d rate myself as a good leader because I work hard at developing the capability of the people who work for me. Just a few months
ago, one of my team was promoted. She used to be very shy but I spent a lot of time coaching her and building her confidence in meetings, and now she’s going to work in our New York office.
What unique skills would you bring to our company?
A tricky question, as the interviewer is effectively asking you what you have that the other candidates do not have. If you know that you have some technical skills that very few candidates have, this is your opportunity to talk about them. However, if you are not sure that you have any skills that are unique to you, you could try a different approach.
Talk about the fact that you possess a combination of skills and determination that, taken together, are unique. I’m good with technology, but I think what makes me different is
that I’m also a people-person. I’m not the kind of person who likes to sit in a room and just work on technical problems all day. I like to get out in front of customers and understand their problems and see how I can solve them.
TALKING ABOUT YOUR ABILITY TO GET WORK DONE
At the end of the day, an interviewer is most interested in whether you can deliver results. Can you complete projects, deal with daily tasks, work with other people and on your own?
For example, teams are supposed to create something that is greater than the sum of their parts. But can you show the interviewer that you are able to navigate the minefield of disagreements, politics and outright arguments that happen in most teams? On the other hand, although employers appreciate the ability to work with other people, it goes without saying that you also need to demonstrate that you are able to work on your own without continual guidance and reassurance.
Would you say that you have good influencing skills?
Of course say, ‘Yes.’ However, it is very difficult to convince an interviewer of your influencing skills if you speak about them only in abstract terms. So continue by providing an example of how you influenced someone as proof of your skill. Yes. For example there was a situation a few months ago when the head of my department said that we didn’t have enough money to upgrade our systems. I took it upon myself to write a business case about the benefits of the upgrade and I organised a meeting with the department head. He was initially quite sceptical, but when I explained it to him, he understood that the new system was
actually going to save us quite a lot of time and make us money in a period of only 18 months.
Are you a good team player?
Of course you’re a great team player, but give an example to demonstrate how you helped the team to achieve its goals. Yes, I’m a good team player because I try to create a good working atmosphere. For example, there was an occasion when two of the team, weren’t getting on. The situation was getting worse and worse and they were barely on speaking terms. Eventually I spoke to each of them individually and arranged for the three of us to go
out together for lunch. I encouraged the two of them to talk through their issues and they now at least understand each other’s perspectives and can be civil enough to work together. I try to be a good team player by checking on the workloads of other people and ensuring that everyone’s happy. Recently I noticed that one of my colleagues, was a lot quieter than usual. I took her aside and found out that her uncle had just died. She had just found out on the telephone and she was really upset. I suggested that she ask our boss for the rest of the day off and I offered to finish the few phone calls that she was supposed to be handling for the rest of the day.
What role do you tend to play within a team?
Before you answer this question, try to think about the kind of role that you might need to assume if you were to be taken on by the employer. Don’t try to tell every employer that you tend to be the leader if they are looking only for followers. I tend to be the one who gets things done. I enjoy working with people who can come up with ideas. But when they come up with new ideas all the time, it’s up to me to turn those ideas into reality. I’m good at following through, delivering what I promise to do, and having good attention to detail. Otherwise our team would have lots of great ideas but no implementation of them. I think I probably have the best analytical skills of the team. So when we come up with a new idea, I often find myself being the one who goes away to research it and come up with a costing.
Try to relate the role you tend to play within a team to the role that you think the employer may need you to play within their team.
What kind of people do you get on best with?
The interviewer may be trying to decide whether you will fit in with the existing team. Avoid ruling yourself out of the running by being too specific about the kinds of people you get on with. That’s a tough question because I’m the kind of person who gets on with everyone. One of my best friends at work is an ex-policeman who is about 20 years older than me and we work really well together. He’s a good friend outside of work too. Another of my close friends at work is a young single mother with two kids and we always have a laugh while we get on with our work.
What kind of people do you tend not to get on with?
Try to understand the culture of the organisation that you are joining. The answer you should give if you are applying for a job at a local library may be different from the one you give for an application to a large aggressive investment bank. I get a bit frustrated when I’m dealing with people who say ‘I don’t know’ all of the time. I like to work with bright, energetic people
who have suggestions to make and aren’t afraid to speak their mind. I’m less likely to become close personal friends with people who are loud, overconfident, arrogant and abrasive. But even though I have occasionally encountered people like that, I bite my tongue. I realise that I’m in a support role and I need to offer my professional services to anyone who needs my help. It just means I’m unlikely to bond with them on a personal level.
How good are you at handling conflict?
Give an example of how you have handled a tricky situation with tact and diplomacy.
I’m good at defusing conflict. For instance, when I took on my current role, I had to go meet a customer who was very angry about a problem that she had experienced with the customer
service manager who had handled her account before I joined the business. I met with her, let her vent her frustrations on me until she calmed down and then I established exactly what she wanted me to do about the situation. That was six months ago and now
she’s incredibly happy with the service we provide and has increased the size of her orders by nearly 50 per cent. I try to avoid conflict if I can. But a couple of months ago, one of
my colleagues John, thought I was ignoring him because I was simply too busy to return his phone calls. Another colleague told me about the problem so I took John out for a coffee and we talked it through. I apologised for not appearing to want to help with the report that he wanted me to do for him and explained that I’d been spending a lot of time at our other location. It was a good conversation though and we patched things up.
Do you enjoy speaking in front of other people?
The job you are applying for may not require that you stand up and give formal presentations in front of hundreds of people. But many jobs may require you to give short talks or informal updates to members of your team or department. Yes, I quite like speaking my mind in front of others. I got a lot of practice at college because we used to give 10-minute presentations to the other people in our class on our thoughts about the essay topic of the week.
How do you respond to personal criticism?
You need to show the interviewer that you can take constructive criticism without taking offence or reacting defensively to it. As long as the criticism is fair and constructive, I try to listen to it, thank them for their candid feedback, and modify my future behaviour accordingly.
Can you describe a situation in which you were criticised?
This is a natural follow-up to the previous question. Avoid giving an example that involves lateness, absenteeism or aggressive behaviour, as these can signal to the interviewer that you are a troublesome employee. Better examples are to do with skills, such as presentation or computing skills, that you may have lacked at one point in your career, but which you
have since worked on and had some success in improving. I never thought it was terribly important to understand budgets and how the business made money. But my boss suggested that I sit down with the finance manager regularly, which was really
instrumental at helping me to navigate a profit and loss account. It was hard at first but I now have a good grasp of how different costs can affect our profit margins.
How will you cope working with people from different backgrounds to yours?
You may have heard a lot of employers talk about the need for people to respect diversity in cultural, ethnic, gender, and other differences. So variations on this question could ask you how you work with people from ‘very different educational backgrounds’, ‘different cultures’, or ‘different countries’. Whatever form the question takes, the best way to answer this
is to provide an example to show that you can work with people who are very different from yourself. If you can, try also to emphasise that you not only had a good working relationship but also became good friends. Use whatever example you have. Even if you have not worked with people from different countries or cultures, perhaps your boss was much younger than you, a colleague was a single parent with a very different view on life from yours, or you worked alongside a team of scientists, actuaries, or lecturers who were
all much more highly qualified than you were. When I transferred to our head office, I found myself working with a lot of the sales and marketing people. I have to say that I thought they didn’t really respect the people who worked in the field and didn’t take my views seriously. But I worked hard to earn their respect and invested a lot of time meeting with them on a
one-to-one basis. It probably took me a good six months, but now I’m pleased to say that they treat me as an equal.
How do you respond to authority?
If an interviewer is asking you this question, it might be because the organisation is quite hierarchical: each employee knows their level and there might be rules on how you deal with people who are more senior than yourself. I have no problem at all with authority. I like to know what my reporting line is and I realise that a big part of my job is satisfying
the demands that my line manager will make of me. If I were to be offered this job, I would really appreciate sitting down with my manager to establish how he or she likes to be communicated with, and how I should deal with problems should I encounter them.
What was the greatest failing of your boss?
Speaking ill of your previous boss could reflect badly on you so resist the temptation to talk at length about his or her faults. Try deflecting the question by emphasising the good qualities of your boss.
I can’t say that there is much wrong with my boss. She has a lot
of experience and has coached me in many ways, especially in my
ability to present confidently in front of large groups of people.
If an interviewer pursues the matter and asks for a weakness, be
sure to finish off your response by talking about how you
compensated for their weakness.
I wouldn’t say that this is a major fault; it’s more of a minor quibble. My current boss can be quite forgetful. Often, you can tell him something and he can forget it even in the same day. So I have learned not to rely on him to remember times and dates of meetings. Instead, I always send him an email and send a copy to his secretary, so that she can politely manage his schedule. Then reinforce the fact that you had a good relationship with your boss
by finishing ith another positive statement. ‘But this relatively minor weakness was far outweighed by the fact that she gave me a lot of responsibility’ or ‘But I don’t want to blow this weakness out of proportion, as he also taught me a lot about project management and
writing press releases’.
Do you prefer to work on your own or with other people?
You do not want to give the impression that you are capable of one but not the other. However, the ‘right’ answer depends on the nature of the job. Before the interview, you should have established whether you would be spending most of your time working on your own or in a team with other people. As such, your answer should depend very much on the
situation. I’m quite willing to work on my own when necessary. Once I understand a task, I can soldier on until it is done. However, I prefer to work with a team as I like to bounce ideas off other people and it makes the work more stimulating.. I’m happy to work with other people when I need to. I think I listen to what other people have to say and can make a contribution to group discussions too. However, I am applying for this job because
I enjoy working by myself. I like having the freedom to think about a problem and come up with solutions on my own.
Would you say that you are reliable?
Of course you should say that you are reliable. However, you need to be able to give a response that makes you stand out from the other candidates. Employers worry about lateness, absenteeism from work, and forgetfulness. As a consequence, punctuality, dependability and a willingness to work overtime to meet deadlines are valued traits.
There used to be five of us running the helpdesk. We were supposed to open at 9.00am for queries, but we also provided early cover from 7.30am. I’m proud to say that in the two-and-a-half years I worked there, I didn’t miss any of my early shifts. I always either turned up or managed to swap my shift with someone else beforehand.
Can you work under pressure?
Before answering this question, you need to decide how much pressure you think the job entails. For example, a journalist for a daily newspaper, a financial trader, or an air traffic controller might respond by saying: I positively thrive on pressure. I couldn’t do a job where I had to sit and watch the clock ticking by every day. I like to know that each day is going to be very different, with its own set of decisions to make and problems to solve. However, if you are applying for a job where you would expect there to be more order in your day and less moment-to-moment pressure, you might want to talk a bit about how you plan and organise in order to avoid last minute crunches. I sit down and look at my workload at the start of each week in order to work out which tasks I need to do on which days. I use a Gantt chart to keep up to date with projects that I am working on However, when things do occasionally go wrong, I resolve myself to the fact that it might be a late night in the office.
How do you unwind and deal with stress?
This differs from the previous question, because it is asking you how you deal with the tension that can result from tight deadlines and tough days at work. However, bear in mind that what is socially acceptable in one organisation may be deemed inappropriate by another firm. For example, an aggressive sales team might snigger at candidates who profess to meditating or enjoying quiet reading. Of course such attitudes are not fair, but I’m afraid that interviewers can be prejudiced as much as anyone. This is where your research into the culture and prevailing attitudes of the company will help you. Avoid talking about relaxing by having a glass of wine. An uptight interviewer may view this in a negative light. I don’t really get stressed. But I do like to go out with the rest of the team. They’re great people and our culture has always been about working hard and playing hard together. I play squash at least once or twice a week, which really helps me to unwind and get ready for another day at work.
How do you cope with disappointment?
Show that you can recover from setbacks, dust yourself off, and carry on regardless. Interviewers want to hire people who are persistent and possess tenacity and determination. I don’t take anything personally. My view is that you have to knock on 100 doors to find the one that will open. For instance, when my boss didn’t like an idea of mine that related to the way we send out invoices, I kept going back to the drawing board to refine my ideas and to ask other people across the organisation for help in tweaking them. I went back to my boss three times before she agreed to try my new invoicing method. If I get offered the job, I’m
sure she’ll mention what a success that was in the reference she gives me.
How do you deal with failure?
Again, in answering this question, try to show that you have a positive approach to your work. I don’t really think in terms of failure. I think that failing to achieve something the first time around shows that only your approach was wrong. So I see failure as useful feedback for how something should work.
Do you pay attention to detail?
This is a slightly silly question as you are hardly likely to say, ‘No’. Think about the kind of situations where you are likely to need to pay close attention to detail if you were to be offered the job. Try to construct an example of how you used your skill with detail in a similar situation in the past. We send out a lot of letters to customers and it’s common practice
to proofread them before they go out. I probably get asked more often than most to proofread the work of other people because I’m known for having good spelling and grammar. I can seem to spot a mistake a mile away!
How much experience do you have of managing budgets?
Given that most organisations are looking to keep costs low, this is an opportunity for you to shine if you have had such experience. In your response, talk about the biggest budget that you have managed and be specific about how you handled it. I was the budget holder for our department. We had a cost budget of £95,000 per annum. I allowed my team to spend at their discretion up to a £150 limit. But for anything over that, they had to come to see me. If they wanted approval for anything over £1,000, I insisted that they write a business case to justify the spend.
How are you with new technology?
If you are applying for a technical job, then be prepared to talk about the technical wizardry that you can extract from your systems: special functions you can use, macros that you have written, speed dials that you have devised, or shortcuts that you regularly employ.
However, most employers are more interested in basic computer literacy. In particular, employers worry that older candidates may struggle with even the basics of using a computer or other systems such as voicemail. I can deal fairly easily with most of the essential functions of the XYZ package. Just last week I created a database of our clients’
details which I used to send out a mail merge document. I learn quickly. For example, I had never built a spreadsheet until I joined my last company and now I can build simple financial
models to keep track of our monthly sales against budget. If you have experience of particular software programmes that might be important in the role you’re applying for, be ready to talk about the sorts of tasks that you can do with them too.
How is your absenteeism / attendance record?
You will have to be honest here, as this is something that many employers check when they ask for references. If you have had a problem, then give a good reason to explain why it occurred at the time and why it will not happen again. I did have to take several months off, due to a back injury while doing DIY about two years ago. But I got back to full health over a
year ago and I have not had any problems since and it’s something that my references will confirm too.
How is your time keeping?
No employer wants to hire someone who is going to turn up late for work and meetings all of the time. I’m someone who is very careful about time. I hate being late so I always find myself leaving a lot of time to get to meetings and so on. I invariably find myself arriving a lot earlier than I need to.
Ours is a long-hours culture – is that a problem for you?
This may be a trick question. What they call long hours might not be what you consider to be long (or vice versa). This is the kind of trick that you should be prepared for by researching and reading up on the company. However, if you’re not sure what constitutes long hours in the mind of the interviewer, ask the question,’What exactly do you call long hours?’ Then tailor your answer accordingly. I understand that this is a demanding job that I am applying for But I really do thrive on the challenge of this sort of work, so I am willing to put in whatever hours it takes to get the work done. If you have worked similarly long hours in the past, you should definitely cite this experience as well.
How to deal with commonlyasked questions during Interview
Understanding frequently-asked questions
# Explaining why you want the job
# Answering questions about your career and future direction
# Responding to questions about your commitment to the job
# Answering questions about a change of career
Interviewers often recycle the same questions from interview to
interview. That is great news for you as a candidate because you can be
sure that certain questions are likely to crop up again and again in
interviews. Interviewers want to know about the decisions you have
taken to get you where you are in your career, why you are looking for a
new job, and why you believe you should work for them.
In answering these questions, be sure to provide brief examples whenever
possible. Claims can sound like hot air if they are not substantiated with
examples and evidence. Read through this chapter and remember to
start jotting down some notes about how you would answer each
question.
ANSWERING BASIC INTERVIEW QUESTIONS
Interviews often follow a certain path. Most interviewers will ask you
some general questions about yourself and your career choices before
plunging into more difficult questions.
Read through the following questions and be sure you can answer each
one with a sharp, succinct answer that presents your skills and qualities
to best possible effect.
Tell me about yourself
Many interviewers like to begin by asking this question. The open-ended
nature of the question means that you could potentially answer it in any
number of ways. So start by checking how much information the
interviewer wants. ‘Is there any part of my CV that you would like me to
focus on?’ The interviewer’s response should hopefully direct you to the
areas that he or she is most interested in.
If the interviewer does not give you any further guidance, stick to talking
about your recent career. Imagine that the interviewer had actually asked
you the question: ‘Please talk me through your recent career and tell me
two or three ways you think you meet our need for this job.’
Avoid talking about your upbringing, family, interests outside
of work or your goals in life. It’s not wrong to talk about these –
but an employer is unlikely to be impressed by them.
To prepare for this question, look at the job advert for this organisation.
What skills and qualities does the advert talk about? If it says that they
are looking for ‘a head teacher with excellent planning and problemsolving
skills’, then be prepared to talk about your planning and problemsolving
skills in your initial response.
Here is a couple of examples:
As you can see from my CV, I have six years of experience as an
office manager from two companies, the most recent of which has
been for an engineering firm, so I have plenty of experience
working for demanding and highly motivated professionals. In my
current job, I look after all of the office functions, from the
computing, photocopying and telephone systems to managing a
team of three secretaries, to ensure that the engineers get the
support that they need. Shall I go on?
What does your day-to-day job involve?
Rather than giving a blow-by-blow account of what you do in a typical
day, you should be selective in your response. Look again at the job advert
and try to decide on the key activities you will be required to do in the job
and focus on those in your answer.
The two candidates from the previous question might reply by saying:
I start the day by speaking in person with all of the professional
staff to check what their requirements for the day might be. Then I
hold a brief meeting with my team to ensure that no one has a
huge workload while someone else isn’t very busy. Further than
that, it’s very hard to say exactly what else I might be doing. I try to
be responsive to the needs of the professional staff as well as any
issues in my team.
The most important part of my job is to understand the needs of
the line managers. There’s no point me recruiting people that the
line managers don’t need, so I spend about half of my time talking
to line managers and trying to understand their needs. I then
spend the rest of my time meeting candidates and dealing
carefully with the administrative side of recruitment in terms of
sifting CVs and sending out contracts.
Talk me through your career
First, find out how far back in your career the interviewer would like you
to go. ‘Would you like me to start from when I left school, or would you
like me to focus on the years since I completed my degree?’
In any case, this is not an invitation to ramble at length about your career.
Instead, think about how you can summarise why you left or joined each
company that you have worked for. Finish off by talking about why you
want to move again.
I must be honest – I didn’t have a plan when I left school, so my
father suggested I take an engineering apprenticeship in Ultro, a
local firm. I was very quickly promoted to team supervisor. But
after five good years, I felt that I had learnt everything that I could
there, so I moved to Factory Magix, which was a much bigger
company. Now I’ve discovered that I really enjoy marketing, but
Factory Magix has only a small marketing department, which
brings me to this interview with you.
Practise your response to this question and time yourself. You should
avoid speaking for more than two or, at the very most, three minutes.
Have you ever regretted anything about your career?
‘Regret’ is a strong word, so it’s best to avoid confessing that you have had
any serious regrets. If you must make an admission, try to talk about a
decision that happened a long time ago that could in no way reflect badly
on you in this interview.
I don’t regret the course of my career, because I have worked in
some interesting companies and succeeded in my chosen
profession. However, I do sometimes wish that I had taken an
overseas secondment while I was working with Medical Logistics
back in the 90s, when I was young, free and single, to have had the
experience of immersing myself in another culture.
What do you like/enjoy most in your job?
Your tactic for responding to this question should be very similar to that for
dealing with the previous question about your day-to-day job. Again, think
about the main responsibilities in the job that you are being interviewed
for, then incorporate these into your reply.
I wouldn’t be in sales if I didn’t get a buzz out of dealing with
customers. I love meeting prospective customers, asking questions
to figure out their problems, presenting ideas to them, and working
with them to find ways that we can work together.
Ensure your body language and tone of voice convey your enthusiasm
when talking about the things you enjoy.
What motivates you?
Ideally, you should be able to tell the interviewer that you are most
motivated when you are helping your employer to achieve their goals.
If you can, try to give a concrete example of how you succeeded in this.
Consider some of these examples:
I get a real kick out of solving problems. When faced with a
problem, I like to work out options, weigh up the pros and cons, and
then sort out the problem. For example, we recently received a lot
of customer complaints about a new product that we were selling.
I was asked by my boss to sort it out and I reduced the number of
complaints from over 3 or 4 a day to none. I can tell you more
about it if that would be useful.
I like to know that my work is making a difference and to be
surrounded by other bright people who are also committed to the
same goals. For example, in my current role, we launched a new
fund-raising initiative and I got such a buzz from thinking through
how we could make it happen.
I like to make money for the business that I’m working for. Nothing
inspires me more than being given a stretching sales target and
being motivated to achieve it. I’m extremely ambitious and if you
say I have to sell a certain amount I’ll work non-stop to achieve it.
Just last year, I exceeded my target by nearly eight per cent
What do you like least about your current job?
An interviewer will not believe you if you say that you enjoy every single
moment of your job. A good trick is to talk about inefficient systems,
unwieldy processes or bureaucracy. However, when you do give your
example, either allude to the fact that the things that frustrate you are
entirely out of your control or that you have tried to improve the situation
but have good reasons for not being able to change it. Even better if you
can say that the situation is currently being fixed owing to your efforts.
I spend most of my time visiting clients at their offices. However, it
continually irritates me that we don’t have the facility to log on to
the server remotely from our laptop computers. I have tried to
convince the IT manager that we need to upgrade our system, but
he says that we won’t have the budget until next year.
The paperwork can be very time-consuming, but I realise that it’s a
necessary evil. I’ve learnt to just lock myself in my office for half a
day a week to get it out of the way.
How do you think you’d be spending your time if we offered you the job?
Look at the job advert as well as other sources of information such as a
job description or details on the organisation’s website so you can
paraphrase to the employer the kinds of duties you would be performing.
To finish your response, perhaps reiterate how excited you feel about the
prospect of doing the job.
My understanding is that I’d be working in shifts at the call centre,
taking calls from customers and trying to answer their questions
by looking up the answers on your computer system. I read on your
website that on average we will have to respond to anywhere
between 15 and 30 calls an hour. But as I like dealing with people
and I like computers, I think it should be a great job.
How is your performance measured?
Be as specific as possible in your answer. Talking about specifics makes
you more believable. Candidates who are unable to talk about
performance measurement may appear sloppy.
We have daily call targets. We have to handle at least 120 inbound
calls from customers and make at least 30 outbound calls to
customers a day. Our individual performance is compared against
that of others in the call centre and my performance is consistently
better than around 60 to 70 per cent of the other people.
I am currently measured on my ability to improve the gross margin
for the products that I look after. The margin was 9 per cent when i arrived, and I was targeted with improving it to 12.5 per cent by January of the next year. However, I actually exceeded my target by improving the margin to 13.2 per cent - which was primarily through revenue growth as opposed to cost cutting.
In answering this question, be ready also for the likely follow-up
question, ‘And how are you performing against those measures?’
How would you describe your current company?
Some interviewers have it in their minds that a candidate who knocks a
current or previous employer could be a troublemaker. It may not be fair
or right, but if you want the job, you should ideally be able to give the
impression that you enjoy working at your current company, but that
there are just one or two aspects of your interviewer’s organisation that
are even more attractive.
I work with some great people – they are very talented and
committed to doing good work. But it’s such a large international
business that I don’t feel that I make a difference, that’s why I’m
looking to join a smaller company where I can more quickly work
my way up to becoming a partner.
What have you done recently to develop yourself?
Employers value employees who continually look to improve themselves.
Ideally, try to talk about a course you are (or have taken) or a project that
is expanding your skills.
I’ve just started a diploma course in marketing and sales
management. It will take me two years to complete, but I’m
confident that it will allow me to be more effective in what I do.
I recently volunteered to work as part of a new product
development team. We are interviewing customers and suppliers
to identify what other products we could be manufacturing, so I
am getting a lot of exposure to customers that I wouldn’t normally
meet in my day-to-day role in the back office.
If you are struggling to talk about a course or project, you could probably
mention a book that you are reading to improve your skills at work, or
perhaps talk about some endeavour you are pursuing outside of work
that will develop some transferable skill that will benefit you in your work.
I’ve just started reading a book on Total Quality Management,
which I hope will help me to boost productivity in the team.
I’m currently spending one Saturday a month working with a
support group for the long-term unemployed. It is giving me a
great deal of exposure to people with different backgrounds, which
I hope will help me to understand and manage my team more
effectively too.
What kind of salary are you after?
Avoid talking about this in a first interview, as you don’t want to price
yourself out of the market. Nor do you want to mention a salary that is
far lower than they might be willing to pay, as that could compromise
your ability to ask for more later on.
I’m looking for a challenging role that will give me the opportunity
to work on new projects, so the salary is only part of what I’m
looking for.
However, if the interviewer persists and asks you a second time, you may
need to give them a rough idea, but again, without pricing yourself out of
the market. Try something along the lines of.
I’d be looking in the region of £24,000 to £28,000, but as I said, the
exact package is less important to me than finding a challenging
job role. So I’d rather hold off on giving you an exact figure until I
find out more about the role.
There is more advice on how to negotiate salary in Chapter 12.
Avoid at all costs mentioning too high a salary. To get the job,
you must convince the employer that you are interested in the
challenge rather than just a big fat pay cheque.
How much are you earning at the moment?
This is a more difficult question to deflect than ‘What kind of salary are
you after?’ because the interviewer is asking you a direct question.
Give your precise salary but then, if you know that your current salary is
somewhat higher than the organisation may be able to pay, reiterate that
you are most interested in finding the right organisation to join rather
than the same kind of pay.
I currently earn £37,000 basic plus bonuses. However, I understand
that the salary here may be initially lower, but I’m prepared to
negotiate as this role would give me the opportunity to do the bits
of my job that I love the most.
May we check your references?
It is natural to be concerned about having your references checked if your
current employer does not know that you are looking for a job
I’d be happy for you to check my references eventually, but could I
please ask you to wait for the moment? My employer doesn’t
know that I am currently looking for a job, so I’d rather wait until I
had a firm job offer on the table before alerting them.
If you wanted to hammer home your best points, you could finish off by
telling the interviewer what you think your references might say,
‘However, I know that my boss would tell you that…’ and so on.
Make sure that your references will be positive. Choose them
carefully and check that your referees are happy to speak in
unreservedly positive terms about you (see also Chapter 11).
TALKING ABOUT WHY YOU WANT THIS JOB
Interviewers are frequently interested to hear about the decisions that
you have made in your career. Why did you take a certain job? And why
didn’t you take certain jobs?
Why are you looking for another job?
Three of the best reasons to mention in responding to this question are
wanting to seek more challenge, greater job security, or greater rewards.
I’ve had a great time with my company. But I have ambitions and
realise that I can do more. I want to feel more stretched and so this
new, bigger role is exactly what I feel I need.
I’m looking to join a more successful and stable company. My
current organisation is always on the verge of a cash flow crisis.
But I get the sense that a successful company such as yours will be
able to invest in product development, which is the area that
excites me the most.
I know that I can make a significant contribution to my employer.
So rather than just earning a salary, I would like to be able to take
an equity stake in a growing business
Try to avoid saying that you left a previous employer owing to any sort of
personal conflict. For example, that you did not get on with your boss or
that the company failed to give you the promotion that you wanted.
Such comments could reflect badly on you. The interviewer may start to
wonder whether you were in part to blame for not getting on with your
boss or not being offered a promotion.
Focus on the positive reasons you want to join a new company
rather than the negative reasons you want to leave another one.
If you must mention negative reasons, avoid dwelling on them.
Why do you want to leave your current employer?
This is just a variation of the last question. Again, remember to emphasise
the positive qualities of the interviewing organisation as opposed to
whingeing about negative aspects of your current employment situation.
For example, mentioning that your current commuting time is too long
makes you sound like a moaner, so try to talk about something else.
I wouldn’t say that I’m trying to get away at all. I enjoy the work
and I have a great group of people around me. However, I’ve been
there for nearly three years now and I feel that I’ve learnt most
of what I’ll be able to get out of that business. When I read about
this position with your company, I was excited by the prospect of
working for a larger business with more scope for
my personal career development.
How would you describe your ideal job?
Don’t fall into the trap of talking about what you would expect from an
employer such as the salary and benefits. Instead, talk about what you
could contribute to the organisation.
I enjoy passing on my expertise to the people around me. I know
that I can move upwards in my career only by developing the
people in my team to be my successor
My ideal job is one in which I have lots of autonomy in how I can
meet organisational objectives. From what I’ve read about this job,
you’re looking for someone who can take on a lot of responsibility
very quickly, and that sounds like a fantastic opportunity to me.
What do you know about our organisation?
This question should never be a problem if you have done your research
(see Chapter 1). While this may seem like a straightforward factual
question, the interviewer is really looking to gauge how much research
you have done on the organisation as an indicator of how seriously you
want to work for them.
I’ve read everything I could about the organisation. I’ve also visited
some of your branches across the city. I went to your big flagship
branch to get a feel of how you deal with your corporate
customers. I visited a few of your smaller branches to see how you
deal with local customers too.
My understanding from speaking to people in the industry is that your
company is experiencing a squeeze on profit margins due to increased
competition from aggressive American entrants into the market.
However, I have experience of having grown sales and profits in my
current job by over 20 per cent for three years running, so I am
confident that I would be able to make a contribution to the business.
I’ve had a look on your website and was most interested to read
that you’re launching a new model of the Z500 range next year. I
also had a look at the city business library but couldn’t find much
written about your company, so I’d be intrigued to learn more
about your growth plans and the new products you are planning
for the next couple of years.
What do you think of our organisation?
Your answer to this question should both demonstrate what you know
about the organisation and tell the interviewer why you want to work there
I read on your website that you put all of your trainees on an
intensive five-day training programme. I think that kind of
commitment to training and development must be indicative of
the importance you place in your people, so I thought that this is
the kind of company I need to be working for.
As a major insurance company, you have always had a high
profile and I have admired your print and television advertising
campaigns for some time. I even once got a quote from one of
your customer service assistants on the cost of taking out
household insurance with you and I remember thinking that the
assistant was very friendly and helpful. The feeling I get is that
customer service is a very big part of what you do, which is great
as customer service is the bit of my job that I get the most
enjoyment from.
I did a six-week placement here when I was at school and I was
impressed by how much fun people seemed to be having. The
people here are of course very professional, but I get the feeling
that they would almost do the work for free. So I’ve always
thought that this would be a great place to work.
What would you do differently if you were in charge of our organisation?
This kind of question implies that the interviewer is looking for an
intelligent answer that shows you can make comments that are
constructively critical as opposed to simply entirely complimentary.
Be careful of being overly negative. To make your criticism easier
to swallow, try to offer up some positive comments first.
There’s not a lot I’d do differently. The organisation has obviously
been incredibly successful over the last 20 years since the founder
started the business. I can’t really say that I’d change anything, but
I have to say that I’ve not noticed your organisation being
mentioned in the press as much as some of your competitors. It
may be because you’ve deliberately decided not to do as much
publicity, but if I was in charge I think that’s one thing I’d want to
look at.
Are you familiar with our products/services/work?
Again, good research on your part will allow you to answer this kind of
question well. Remember if possible, to buy or try an organisation’s
products or services so you can speak of them first-hand, rather than
purely by having read about them.
I’ve been reading as much as I can about your current range of
medicines and drugs. I’ve also been reading about your pipeline of
new drugs and I was impressed to read in the trade press a lot of
interest in your new drug for malaria that is nearing the end of its
clinical trials at the moment.
I’ve spent quite a lot of time over the last few months visiting some
of your showrooms. I went to your flagship showroom in the west
part of the city just last week, explained that I was applying for a
job with you, and got to speak to a couple of the sales team. They
were really helpful in talking me through the new models that you
have coming out at the moment. So yes, I’d say I’m very familiar
with your cars.
Why do you want to work for us?
Think about how the organisation likes to present itself to the outside
world. How does this one company believe it stands out? Select a few of
these unique characteristics about the organisation and incorporate
them into your reply.
Many companies, for instance, believe themselves to have a good
reputation or to be leaders in their field. Or the organisation may think
that its employees are a breed-apart from the rest
I think your business has managed to develop leading edge
products that other companies go on to copy. I’ve been very
impressed by the quality of thinking of all of the employees that I
have met so far.
What attracts you most about working for us?
This is merely a variation on the previous question. Choose the key
feature that you think differentiates the organisation from its
competitors.
I think the fact that you’re one of the oldest and most established
businesses in this sector with a track record of having delivered
business-to-business website solutions for nearly ten years says
something about the quality of the management team.
There was a survey of the most environmentally responsible
construction businesses in the country last year and you were the
only construction firm to be in the top 20 in this part of the
country. When I read that in my research, I decided that yours is
the firm I most want to work for.
What do you think of our website?
This question requires a bit of judgement on your part. Some
interviewers may simply be looking for a bit of flattery. I’ve known
interviewers who were very proud of their websites who wanted only to
hear positive comments. On the other hand, other interviewers may want
to ascertain whether you can offer up constructive criticism. The best way
to prepare for this question is to prepare both some positive comments
and a constructively critical comment, then to judge on the day when
you’re in front of an interviewer how critical you should be.
I found it very easy to navigate and it took me only several clicks to
find my way to the section on recruiting administrative staff. I also
noticed that the web designers had made the colours very striking
so that older customers or people with poorer eyesight can still
read it clearly. However, I don’t know if it’s because my computer
is a bit older or not, but I did find that some of the graphics took
quite a few seconds longer to download than some of your
competitors. But that’s a very minor criticism compared with
the usefulness and accessibility of the information on there.
What do you think of our recruitment brochure?
As with the previous question, try to be positive about their recruitment
documents and be as constructive with your criticism as possible.
A lot of thought had obviously gone into the brochure. What I
found most useful was the profiles of different people who have
joined the organisation. It was useful to see that joining one
particular department doesn’t mean that I’ll be working there
forever. I also thought that it really showed off the socially
responsible side of your organisation too, which just makes me
want to work for you even more.
What worries or concerns do you have about this job?
The best tactic for dealing with this question is to deflect the question,
certainly until after you have been made a firm offer. Once you have been
offered the job, you could always go back to the employer to find out
more about the job (see also Chapter 12 on understanding the culture of
the organisation and the nature of the work).
I don’t have any concerns or worries about the job. But I would like
to understand more about the monthly targets you would like me
to achieve in the role and what support you’d be able to offer to
support me in achieving them.
What other jobs are you applying for?
Interviewers most like to hear that candidates are motivated to work in a
particular field or to work in a particular role. They worry that candidates
who are applying for too wide a range of unrelated jobs, such as a sales
representative for a pharmaceuticals firm as well as a creative job for an
advertising agency, don’t know what they want to do and therefore might
not stick at the job.
I’ve applied for several other jobs but these are all in hi-tech
businesses. Technology is my big passion and that’s where I’m
determined to work.
How many other jobs are you applying for?
As with the previous question, be careful about announcing too large a
number. An employer ideally wants to hear that you are focused on a
particular role or type of organisation rather than that you are applying
for every job in existence.
I’ve applied for jobs with the top 50 accountancy firms because I’m
determined to get my business grounding through an accountancy
firm.
As I’ve decided that I want to work only for a top-flight graduate
trainee programme, I’m applying to about a dozen companies,
mostly in fast-moving consumer goods and retail. What all of these
companies have in common is they are all leaders in their fields with
good brands and reputations for developing good managers.
How does this job compare with other jobs you are applying for?
In the past, interviewers could get a bit uppity when candidates admitted
to having applied to more than just their company. However, in today’s
more mobile economy, most employers recognise that good candidates
do shop around, but a bit of a compliment about the company that is
interviewing you would not go amiss, just don’t overdo it.
I have to say that the people at the other firms were also very
bright. But, even though this is obviously only my second interview
with you, I prefer what I have heard so far about your incentive
scheme.
If a competitor offered you a job right now, would you accept?
Asking this question allows interviewers to understand a little bit more
about your planning and decision-making skills. In your response, be sure
to impress upon the interviewers that you do not make rash decisions.
I would have to weigh up the pros and cons of exactly what they
are offering. The most important factor for me is getting a good
training programme and having a boss who will develop and
mentor me. Having said that, I’ve liked the people I’ve met here
and have been impressed by what I’ve read about the career path
so I’d rather work here, given the chance.
Have you received any other job offers?
Honesty is the best policy for dealing with a straightforward question
such as this.
No. I started applying for jobs only a couple of months ago so
companies are just beginning to get back to me to invite me to
interviews.
I’ve received an offer to work in the same role but for a smaller
company with a less impressive brand than yours.
Avoid the temptation of lying to make yourself look as if you are
in demand. Your tactic could backfire as an interviewer may feel
less guilty about rejecting you, thinking you have other offers to
fall back on.
How would you rate us against our competitors?
Your research will highlight key differences between this organisation and
its competitors. However, don’t expect the differences to be written down
anywhere for you to be able to learn and paraphrase. You may need to do
quite a lot of reading and come to your own opinions as to how this
organisation is different from its competitors.
I see your bank as being amongst the top tier of international
banks. So I see you competing against some of the big American
banks as opposed to having any true competitors here in the UK.
As you are the only truly international bank based in the UK, I can
honestly say that this is the only business I want to work for.
You have an excellent reputation in the marketplace. Even compared
with other firms such as Young Samson & Chalmers, I think that you
are recognised by your clients as being truly leading edge.
Avoid at all costs telling the interviewer how much better one of
their competitors is. That may prompt the response: ‘So why not
go work for them then?’
What do you know about our industry/sector?
This question tries to ascertain how much reading and research you have
done. While most candidates will have done some basic reading about
the organisation, only the more exceptional candidates will have read
about the organisation’s broader industry and sector to understand
market trends.
I know that margins in the retail sector have been quite low in recent
years and that there’s a lot of pressure to move manufacturing out to
China and other Asian countries in order to keep costs low. I also read
in one publication that there’s a move towards women consumers
spending less money, but on more clothing items every year, which
means that they are looking for greater value rather than to trade up
to more expensive clothing lines.
My understanding is that moves to create an open skies agreement
between the US and Europe means that airlines will now be allowed
to fly between cities with far fewer constraints. While this is good for
the customer, it will probably mean consolidation in the industry.
That should be good news for a large airline such as yourselves with
the financial firepower to buy up other smaller ones.
Would you rather be a big fish in a small pond or a small fish in a big pond?
The employer wants to know whether you would rather work for a small
company or a large employer. Think about what might be relevant to this
particular employer.
The benefits to working in a smaller company might include the following:
A greater sense of ownership in your work.
Being able to see that you are making a visible contribution to the bottom line.
Greater exposure to, and therefore opportunities to learn from, senior management.
A chance to take an equity stake at an earlier stage in your career.
The benefits of working for a larger company could include these:
A better company brand that will look good on your CV.
Better access to structured training programmes.
Opportunities to work in offices elsewhere, perhaps even internationally.
More financial stability and security.
Having worked for two large businesses now, I have to say that I’m
looking forward to working for a smaller one in which I will have a
chance to get to know people by name and forge stronger
relationships with people in the team.
While I’ve enjoyed working for Pendleton & Sons, I’m now looking
specifically to join a larger business that has a structured training
programme and a clear route for upward career progression.
TALKING ABOUT YOUR FUTURE CAREER DIRECTION AND COMMITMENT
Employee turnover costs organisations money. If they decide to offer you
the job, they would like to know that their investment in training you and
getting you efficient would be repaid by a good stint working for them
Where do you see yourself in five years’ time?
Ah, that old chestnut. If most candidates were honest, they would be forced
to admit that they actually have no career plan. Unfortunately, interviewers
like to hear that you have thought about the future. In your research on the
organisation, try to find out what opportunities there might be for you to
learn and grow, or seek other opportunities within the organisation.
If the interviewer could be your future boss, it might be dangerous to say
that you would like their job. However, it is increasingly acceptable for
you to say that you might be ready for the next step in your career. Most
employers would feel that they had got a return on their investment if
you stayed for five years.
I would hope to have completed my professional exams and be on
my way towards becoming a chartered engineer.
I read on your website that your company has grown quite a bit in
the last five years. So if the company continues to grow, I’m sure
there will be opportunities for me to take on more responsibility.
What would you consider a reasonable length of time to stay in a job?
A good response might be to separate the length of time you would stay
in a job from the time you would stay with the organisation.
I would want to feel that I have mastered a role entirely before I
move on. Once I have learnt everything I can about the job, I would
be looking to move into a bigger role with greater responsibilities.
However, I would hope that there would be other opportunities in
the company without the need to look externally.
What do you think you should be earning in three years’ time?
You need to be careful that your ambitions match the ability of the
company to provide you with rises in your salary. Just as an example, a
librarian in a public sector organisation is less likely to be able to double
their salary than a barrister in the same period.
Make sure that your response takes into account what you understand
the market would pay for someone with three more years of experience
than yourself.
My understanding is that the next level up from this role is that of
supervisor. Reading on your website, I saw that the salary is around
£6,000 more a year than for the role I’m applying for. As I hope to be a
supervisor with you by then, that’s the range I’d be aiming for.
But perhaps the best response is to try to deflect the question and move
on to another topic.
I hope that my pay will reflect my contribution to the organisation,
but the most important thing for me is having a variety of different
projects to work on that will keep me employable.
Do you have any personal goals that you have yet to achieve?
Even though the question asks you about personal goals, avoid talking
about goals outside of your work such as wanting to get married, have
children, get fit, and so on, as those could make you appear less than fully
committed to your work. It is always safer to talk about a goal that would
make you more valuable to your employer.
I’m always looking to develop myself and move out of my comfort zone. As I didn’t go to university, I think it would be a good idea to get a professional qualification, so that would be my next step.
Hopefully, if I were to work for you, this organisation might
sponsor me or at least support me in some way.
I would like to move into general management. I’ve had a lot of experience of working behind the bar and waiting on tables. But I’ve had only limited experience of working as a shift manager. So I see the next few years as gaining enough experience of working as
a shift manager and also doing some of the behind-the-scenes administration to allow me to become a general manager.
What are your development objectives for the coming year?
Be careful not to talk about having too many development objectives.
‘Development objectives’ could easily be taken as meaning ‘development needs’, i.e. weaknesses. Instead, parry this question by talking about how this job will stretch you and help you to meet your development objectives for the coming year.
One of my objectives has always been to move into a creative industry. While I’ve enjoyed my time working in the automotive industry, I think that there’s more room for me to grow and develop my skills within the creative industry. So hopefully spending time in this role and getting to grips with the different challenges within your industry will stretch me enough for this year.
You seem to have changed jobs very frequently – why is that?
Employers can worry that you will join and get trained, only to move on again, so you must be ready to give a good reason for each and every one of your job moves. For example, you may have genuinely completed what you set out to do in that company, such as learning a particular skill or turning around a team before moving on to a new challenge. Or, there may have been a common reason for having changed jobs several times.
It’s true that I have dabbled in a variety of jobs, but that was early
on in my career, just after I had graduated. But I think I have now
sorted in my mind what I want out of my career.
My partner’s job at the time meant that we had to relocate a couple of times, which was quite disruptive to my own career. But my partner has since set up a business to run from home, so now I’m keen to join a company where I can get settled.
You left one job after only a year – why?
Always try, if you can, to talk about the positive reasons you decided to join a new organisation rather than the negative reasons you decided to leave your old one.
I took the job at that company fully intending to stay there. However, a previous boss got in touch with me. She had become the creative director within a larger organisation and she asked me to join her team there. So it wasn’t that I was looking to leave it’s just that a better opportunity literally came my way.
My career plan is to become a human resources director in the future. However, I’ve been told that line managers sometimes don’t have much respect for human resources managers who don’t have line experience. So I took that particular job to gain
experience of line managing a team. It was a lateral move to broaden my understanding of non-HR issues, but now I’m looking to move upwards again within HR.
You have been in your current job for only six months – why are you looking to move on again?
If you worked for a particular organisation for significantly less than a
year, you may be pushed to explain that you left because you had learnt
everything there was to learn about the job. However, it’s fine to admit
that a job wasn’t right for you. Be sure to assure the interviewer that you will not make the same mistake with this job. Demonstrate to this interviewer that
you have done your research and are sure this is a job that you will stick with for years to come. I joined my current employer because I thought at the time I wanted to
work for a small company with a family feel to it. However, I learnt that much of what goes on in a small firm is dictated by the two partners who have their own personal interests. They don’t seem that bothered about growing the business and becoming more successful.
But the fact that your organisation has stated publicly and repeatedly that it wants to grow attracts me to you. All I can say is that I’ve learnt my lesson and now intend to stay in my next job for at least three or four years to build up a solid foundation of experience in this field If you have been with one company but taken on a variety of different roles, explain that each role has given you new challenges and that you saw no reason to leave, until now. Effectively, you should be able to argue that you genuinely had, for example, ten years of experience as opposed
to one year of experience repeated ten times. Then continue with your reasons for wanting to work with this new employer.
Yes, I’ve been with this company for 15 years, but I’ve had a hand in
an extraordinary amount of change in that time. Our client base has grown from mainly regional customers, to national and even international customers now, so my responsibilities have grown correspondingly. We have gone through many technological
changes that I’ve had to manage, from incorporating the latest design software into the business, to handling the integration of the several businesses that my organisation has acquired over the years.
It is trickier if you have been in just one job for a long time without having
been promoted. Perhaps your reasons are to do with your family. I didn’t want to take on a managerial role because I wanted to have an active role in bringing up our two young children. But now that they are at secondary school, I’m ready to get my career back on track by taking on new responsibilities. Given that you have stayed in your company for a long time, how will you cope with a new job?
The interviewer is expressing a concern that you may struggle to make the transition to a new environment with fresh faces and different ways of working. Put the interviewer’s fears at rest by providing an example of how you have made some sort of successful transition at work.
I’ve had to deal with a lot of change in my time at this company. Only six months ago, my company made 20 per cent of our team redundant to reduce costs. However, I was chosen to work with HR to restructure the team. Even though it was an uncomfortable
situation for a while, I not only adapted to it, but also helped
others to adjust to it too.
HANDLING QUESTIONS ABOUT CHANGES IN YOUR CAREERDIRECTION
Most interviewers are more used to dealing with fresh young school leavers or graduates than people who have decided to change career later on in life. Such interviewers may simply have less experience of dealing with more mature candidates, so be ready to answer questions as to why you are considering a departure from your current career into a new one.
Why do you want to work in this field?
A good response to this question should demonstrate to the interviewers that you have thought out the pros and cons of this career path rather than that you have stumbled into it without thinking it through.
I’ve always been fascinated by how businesses make money. I did economics at school because I enjoyed understanding questions about pricing and marketing and creating products that make a profit. So I have for many years wanted to work as a business analyst.
Ever since I broke my leg when I was growing up and had to go to hospital to have it set, I have been fascinated by hospital environments. I remember how kind and helpful the nurses were and since then I’ve always wanted to work in nursing. The more I’ve read about it and talked to nurses about the ins and outs of
the job, the more determined I’ve been to pursue this path.
Why do you want to change career?
The fact that you have been invited to interview means that you may have the skills necessary to do the job. The interviewer who asks this question is probably more interested in finding out your motivation and to check that you know what you are getting yourself into.Writing has always been a passion of mine. From the time that I
was at school, I enjoyed critiquing arguments and writing essays. A few years ago I realised that I wasn’t being fulfilled in my work so I decided to go on a journalism course. I got such a huge thrill out of every single assignment and I’ve been working on our internal newsletter ever since. But becoming a full-time journalist is what I feel I need to do now to be happy in my work.
It was by chance a few years ago that my boss asked me to put together the website for our company. So I had to learn to use web design packages and programming language. Building our website was the most fun I’ve had in work for years. Since then, I have been helping friends to build websites to display their wedding and holiday photos. I find that the time goes by very quickly when I’m working on web design projects. Even though applying for this job with you would mean a bit of a pay cut, I know that it’s what I want to do.
When talking about your passion and determination to enter a new profession, make sure you use body language and tone of voice to corroborate your spoken message. How do you feel about starting at the bottom of the career ladder again?
Demonstrate in your response that you have already given this question
some thought and remain totally committed to changing career
direction.
I feel fine about it as I’ve already prepared myself psychologically for it. I don’t have any problem taking orders from people who are going to be much younger than me. The only thing that matters to me is that I can at long last fulfil my ambition of retraining to work with disadvantaged children.
How are you going to cope with the drop in salary?
Again, use your answer to show the interviewers that you have already thought through the financial implications of doing something new. I’ve already read in your recruitment literature about the salary that is on offer and it’s a sum that I can put up with for the moment. Eventually I hope that my added experience will allow
me to make a larger contribution to the organisation and therefore help me to progress quite quickly up the ranks.
Make sure you really can survive and support yourself and/or your family on your new salary. Have you calculated the impact on your finances of taking home less money?
How do we know this change of career won’t just be a passing phase?
Try to construct an answer that shows the time and effort you have already invested in researching your new career choice. I hope that what I’ve already done in the last year should demonstrate how committed I am to becoming a veterinary nurse.
Studying for and passing my Level 2 Certificate for Animal Nursing Assistants while carrying on with my full-time job has obviously been challenging. Plus, I took it upon myself to find two work placements so that I could get some practical experience of working alongside veterinary staff, so I am confident that I have a
solid appreciation of the demands of the job now.
How would you feel if you couldn’t work in this field?
Be positive and demonstrate to the employers that you aren’t willing to give up your goal of working in this new field or profession. It’s not something I’m willing to consider. I’ve already demonstrated my commitment by taking some of the required
courses through home study and I’m going to be ready to take my first exam next month. If I get rejected this time round, I shall have to wait until applications open again next year to try again. But by then I will have gained further exam qualifications, and I will also continue to pursue opportunities to do voluntary work in this area so that I can strengthen my CV.
IN SUMMARY
# Read through the questions in this chapter and think about how you would respond to each of them.
# Tailor your answers so that what you say ties in exactly with the skills that each employer is looking for. The answer you give one organisation may necessarily have to be different from the answer you give another organisation.
# Be ready to talk about the reasons behind each of the career decisions that you have ever made. Be prepared to talk about your career future, remembering that you should try to impress upon the interviewers your willingness to commit for a number of years, too.
# If you’re changing careers entirely, be sure you can assure the interviewer that you have given the matter a lot of consideration and are ready for all of the psychological, practical, and financial aspects of doing so.
# Explaining why you want the job
# Answering questions about your career and future direction
# Responding to questions about your commitment to the job
# Answering questions about a change of career
Interviewers often recycle the same questions from interview to
interview. That is great news for you as a candidate because you can be
sure that certain questions are likely to crop up again and again in
interviews. Interviewers want to know about the decisions you have
taken to get you where you are in your career, why you are looking for a
new job, and why you believe you should work for them.
In answering these questions, be sure to provide brief examples whenever
possible. Claims can sound like hot air if they are not substantiated with
examples and evidence. Read through this chapter and remember to
start jotting down some notes about how you would answer each
question.
ANSWERING BASIC INTERVIEW QUESTIONS
Interviews often follow a certain path. Most interviewers will ask you
some general questions about yourself and your career choices before
plunging into more difficult questions.
Read through the following questions and be sure you can answer each
one with a sharp, succinct answer that presents your skills and qualities
to best possible effect.
Tell me about yourself
Many interviewers like to begin by asking this question. The open-ended
nature of the question means that you could potentially answer it in any
number of ways. So start by checking how much information the
interviewer wants. ‘Is there any part of my CV that you would like me to
focus on?’ The interviewer’s response should hopefully direct you to the
areas that he or she is most interested in.
If the interviewer does not give you any further guidance, stick to talking
about your recent career. Imagine that the interviewer had actually asked
you the question: ‘Please talk me through your recent career and tell me
two or three ways you think you meet our need for this job.’
Avoid talking about your upbringing, family, interests outside
of work or your goals in life. It’s not wrong to talk about these –
but an employer is unlikely to be impressed by them.
To prepare for this question, look at the job advert for this organisation.
What skills and qualities does the advert talk about? If it says that they
are looking for ‘a head teacher with excellent planning and problemsolving
skills’, then be prepared to talk about your planning and problemsolving
skills in your initial response.
Here is a couple of examples:
As you can see from my CV, I have six years of experience as an
office manager from two companies, the most recent of which has
been for an engineering firm, so I have plenty of experience
working for demanding and highly motivated professionals. In my
current job, I look after all of the office functions, from the
computing, photocopying and telephone systems to managing a
team of three secretaries, to ensure that the engineers get the
support that they need. Shall I go on?
What does your day-to-day job involve?
Rather than giving a blow-by-blow account of what you do in a typical
day, you should be selective in your response. Look again at the job advert
and try to decide on the key activities you will be required to do in the job
and focus on those in your answer.
The two candidates from the previous question might reply by saying:
I start the day by speaking in person with all of the professional
staff to check what their requirements for the day might be. Then I
hold a brief meeting with my team to ensure that no one has a
huge workload while someone else isn’t very busy. Further than
that, it’s very hard to say exactly what else I might be doing. I try to
be responsive to the needs of the professional staff as well as any
issues in my team.
The most important part of my job is to understand the needs of
the line managers. There’s no point me recruiting people that the
line managers don’t need, so I spend about half of my time talking
to line managers and trying to understand their needs. I then
spend the rest of my time meeting candidates and dealing
carefully with the administrative side of recruitment in terms of
sifting CVs and sending out contracts.
Talk me through your career
First, find out how far back in your career the interviewer would like you
to go. ‘Would you like me to start from when I left school, or would you
like me to focus on the years since I completed my degree?’
In any case, this is not an invitation to ramble at length about your career.
Instead, think about how you can summarise why you left or joined each
company that you have worked for. Finish off by talking about why you
want to move again.
I must be honest – I didn’t have a plan when I left school, so my
father suggested I take an engineering apprenticeship in Ultro, a
local firm. I was very quickly promoted to team supervisor. But
after five good years, I felt that I had learnt everything that I could
there, so I moved to Factory Magix, which was a much bigger
company. Now I’ve discovered that I really enjoy marketing, but
Factory Magix has only a small marketing department, which
brings me to this interview with you.
Practise your response to this question and time yourself. You should
avoid speaking for more than two or, at the very most, three minutes.
Have you ever regretted anything about your career?
‘Regret’ is a strong word, so it’s best to avoid confessing that you have had
any serious regrets. If you must make an admission, try to talk about a
decision that happened a long time ago that could in no way reflect badly
on you in this interview.
I don’t regret the course of my career, because I have worked in
some interesting companies and succeeded in my chosen
profession. However, I do sometimes wish that I had taken an
overseas secondment while I was working with Medical Logistics
back in the 90s, when I was young, free and single, to have had the
experience of immersing myself in another culture.
What do you like/enjoy most in your job?
Your tactic for responding to this question should be very similar to that for
dealing with the previous question about your day-to-day job. Again, think
about the main responsibilities in the job that you are being interviewed
for, then incorporate these into your reply.
I wouldn’t be in sales if I didn’t get a buzz out of dealing with
customers. I love meeting prospective customers, asking questions
to figure out their problems, presenting ideas to them, and working
with them to find ways that we can work together.
Ensure your body language and tone of voice convey your enthusiasm
when talking about the things you enjoy.
What motivates you?
Ideally, you should be able to tell the interviewer that you are most
motivated when you are helping your employer to achieve their goals.
If you can, try to give a concrete example of how you succeeded in this.
Consider some of these examples:
I get a real kick out of solving problems. When faced with a
problem, I like to work out options, weigh up the pros and cons, and
then sort out the problem. For example, we recently received a lot
of customer complaints about a new product that we were selling.
I was asked by my boss to sort it out and I reduced the number of
complaints from over 3 or 4 a day to none. I can tell you more
about it if that would be useful.
I like to know that my work is making a difference and to be
surrounded by other bright people who are also committed to the
same goals. For example, in my current role, we launched a new
fund-raising initiative and I got such a buzz from thinking through
how we could make it happen.
I like to make money for the business that I’m working for. Nothing
inspires me more than being given a stretching sales target and
being motivated to achieve it. I’m extremely ambitious and if you
say I have to sell a certain amount I’ll work non-stop to achieve it.
Just last year, I exceeded my target by nearly eight per cent
What do you like least about your current job?
An interviewer will not believe you if you say that you enjoy every single
moment of your job. A good trick is to talk about inefficient systems,
unwieldy processes or bureaucracy. However, when you do give your
example, either allude to the fact that the things that frustrate you are
entirely out of your control or that you have tried to improve the situation
but have good reasons for not being able to change it. Even better if you
can say that the situation is currently being fixed owing to your efforts.
I spend most of my time visiting clients at their offices. However, it
continually irritates me that we don’t have the facility to log on to
the server remotely from our laptop computers. I have tried to
convince the IT manager that we need to upgrade our system, but
he says that we won’t have the budget until next year.
The paperwork can be very time-consuming, but I realise that it’s a
necessary evil. I’ve learnt to just lock myself in my office for half a
day a week to get it out of the way.
How do you think you’d be spending your time if we offered you the job?
Look at the job advert as well as other sources of information such as a
job description or details on the organisation’s website so you can
paraphrase to the employer the kinds of duties you would be performing.
To finish your response, perhaps reiterate how excited you feel about the
prospect of doing the job.
My understanding is that I’d be working in shifts at the call centre,
taking calls from customers and trying to answer their questions
by looking up the answers on your computer system. I read on your
website that on average we will have to respond to anywhere
between 15 and 30 calls an hour. But as I like dealing with people
and I like computers, I think it should be a great job.
How is your performance measured?
Be as specific as possible in your answer. Talking about specifics makes
you more believable. Candidates who are unable to talk about
performance measurement may appear sloppy.
We have daily call targets. We have to handle at least 120 inbound
calls from customers and make at least 30 outbound calls to
customers a day. Our individual performance is compared against
that of others in the call centre and my performance is consistently
better than around 60 to 70 per cent of the other people.
I am currently measured on my ability to improve the gross margin
for the products that I look after. The margin was 9 per cent when i arrived, and I was targeted with improving it to 12.5 per cent by January of the next year. However, I actually exceeded my target by improving the margin to 13.2 per cent - which was primarily through revenue growth as opposed to cost cutting.
In answering this question, be ready also for the likely follow-up
question, ‘And how are you performing against those measures?’
How would you describe your current company?
Some interviewers have it in their minds that a candidate who knocks a
current or previous employer could be a troublemaker. It may not be fair
or right, but if you want the job, you should ideally be able to give the
impression that you enjoy working at your current company, but that
there are just one or two aspects of your interviewer’s organisation that
are even more attractive.
I work with some great people – they are very talented and
committed to doing good work. But it’s such a large international
business that I don’t feel that I make a difference, that’s why I’m
looking to join a smaller company where I can more quickly work
my way up to becoming a partner.
What have you done recently to develop yourself?
Employers value employees who continually look to improve themselves.
Ideally, try to talk about a course you are (or have taken) or a project that
is expanding your skills.
I’ve just started a diploma course in marketing and sales
management. It will take me two years to complete, but I’m
confident that it will allow me to be more effective in what I do.
I recently volunteered to work as part of a new product
development team. We are interviewing customers and suppliers
to identify what other products we could be manufacturing, so I
am getting a lot of exposure to customers that I wouldn’t normally
meet in my day-to-day role in the back office.
If you are struggling to talk about a course or project, you could probably
mention a book that you are reading to improve your skills at work, or
perhaps talk about some endeavour you are pursuing outside of work
that will develop some transferable skill that will benefit you in your work.
I’ve just started reading a book on Total Quality Management,
which I hope will help me to boost productivity in the team.
I’m currently spending one Saturday a month working with a
support group for the long-term unemployed. It is giving me a
great deal of exposure to people with different backgrounds, which
I hope will help me to understand and manage my team more
effectively too.
What kind of salary are you after?
Avoid talking about this in a first interview, as you don’t want to price
yourself out of the market. Nor do you want to mention a salary that is
far lower than they might be willing to pay, as that could compromise
your ability to ask for more later on.
I’m looking for a challenging role that will give me the opportunity
to work on new projects, so the salary is only part of what I’m
looking for.
However, if the interviewer persists and asks you a second time, you may
need to give them a rough idea, but again, without pricing yourself out of
the market. Try something along the lines of.
I’d be looking in the region of £24,000 to £28,000, but as I said, the
exact package is less important to me than finding a challenging
job role. So I’d rather hold off on giving you an exact figure until I
find out more about the role.
There is more advice on how to negotiate salary in Chapter 12.
Avoid at all costs mentioning too high a salary. To get the job,
you must convince the employer that you are interested in the
challenge rather than just a big fat pay cheque.
How much are you earning at the moment?
This is a more difficult question to deflect than ‘What kind of salary are
you after?’ because the interviewer is asking you a direct question.
Give your precise salary but then, if you know that your current salary is
somewhat higher than the organisation may be able to pay, reiterate that
you are most interested in finding the right organisation to join rather
than the same kind of pay.
I currently earn £37,000 basic plus bonuses. However, I understand
that the salary here may be initially lower, but I’m prepared to
negotiate as this role would give me the opportunity to do the bits
of my job that I love the most.
May we check your references?
It is natural to be concerned about having your references checked if your
current employer does not know that you are looking for a job
I’d be happy for you to check my references eventually, but could I
please ask you to wait for the moment? My employer doesn’t
know that I am currently looking for a job, so I’d rather wait until I
had a firm job offer on the table before alerting them.
If you wanted to hammer home your best points, you could finish off by
telling the interviewer what you think your references might say,
‘However, I know that my boss would tell you that…’ and so on.
Make sure that your references will be positive. Choose them
carefully and check that your referees are happy to speak in
unreservedly positive terms about you (see also Chapter 11).
TALKING ABOUT WHY YOU WANT THIS JOB
Interviewers are frequently interested to hear about the decisions that
you have made in your career. Why did you take a certain job? And why
didn’t you take certain jobs?
Why are you looking for another job?
Three of the best reasons to mention in responding to this question are
wanting to seek more challenge, greater job security, or greater rewards.
I’ve had a great time with my company. But I have ambitions and
realise that I can do more. I want to feel more stretched and so this
new, bigger role is exactly what I feel I need.
I’m looking to join a more successful and stable company. My
current organisation is always on the verge of a cash flow crisis.
But I get the sense that a successful company such as yours will be
able to invest in product development, which is the area that
excites me the most.
I know that I can make a significant contribution to my employer.
So rather than just earning a salary, I would like to be able to take
an equity stake in a growing business
Try to avoid saying that you left a previous employer owing to any sort of
personal conflict. For example, that you did not get on with your boss or
that the company failed to give you the promotion that you wanted.
Such comments could reflect badly on you. The interviewer may start to
wonder whether you were in part to blame for not getting on with your
boss or not being offered a promotion.
Focus on the positive reasons you want to join a new company
rather than the negative reasons you want to leave another one.
If you must mention negative reasons, avoid dwelling on them.
Why do you want to leave your current employer?
This is just a variation of the last question. Again, remember to emphasise
the positive qualities of the interviewing organisation as opposed to
whingeing about negative aspects of your current employment situation.
For example, mentioning that your current commuting time is too long
makes you sound like a moaner, so try to talk about something else.
I wouldn’t say that I’m trying to get away at all. I enjoy the work
and I have a great group of people around me. However, I’ve been
there for nearly three years now and I feel that I’ve learnt most
of what I’ll be able to get out of that business. When I read about
this position with your company, I was excited by the prospect of
working for a larger business with more scope for
my personal career development.
How would you describe your ideal job?
Don’t fall into the trap of talking about what you would expect from an
employer such as the salary and benefits. Instead, talk about what you
could contribute to the organisation.
I enjoy passing on my expertise to the people around me. I know
that I can move upwards in my career only by developing the
people in my team to be my successor
My ideal job is one in which I have lots of autonomy in how I can
meet organisational objectives. From what I’ve read about this job,
you’re looking for someone who can take on a lot of responsibility
very quickly, and that sounds like a fantastic opportunity to me.
What do you know about our organisation?
This question should never be a problem if you have done your research
(see Chapter 1). While this may seem like a straightforward factual
question, the interviewer is really looking to gauge how much research
you have done on the organisation as an indicator of how seriously you
want to work for them.
I’ve read everything I could about the organisation. I’ve also visited
some of your branches across the city. I went to your big flagship
branch to get a feel of how you deal with your corporate
customers. I visited a few of your smaller branches to see how you
deal with local customers too.
My understanding from speaking to people in the industry is that your
company is experiencing a squeeze on profit margins due to increased
competition from aggressive American entrants into the market.
However, I have experience of having grown sales and profits in my
current job by over 20 per cent for three years running, so I am
confident that I would be able to make a contribution to the business.
I’ve had a look on your website and was most interested to read
that you’re launching a new model of the Z500 range next year. I
also had a look at the city business library but couldn’t find much
written about your company, so I’d be intrigued to learn more
about your growth plans and the new products you are planning
for the next couple of years.
What do you think of our organisation?
Your answer to this question should both demonstrate what you know
about the organisation and tell the interviewer why you want to work there
I read on your website that you put all of your trainees on an
intensive five-day training programme. I think that kind of
commitment to training and development must be indicative of
the importance you place in your people, so I thought that this is
the kind of company I need to be working for.
As a major insurance company, you have always had a high
profile and I have admired your print and television advertising
campaigns for some time. I even once got a quote from one of
your customer service assistants on the cost of taking out
household insurance with you and I remember thinking that the
assistant was very friendly and helpful. The feeling I get is that
customer service is a very big part of what you do, which is great
as customer service is the bit of my job that I get the most
enjoyment from.
I did a six-week placement here when I was at school and I was
impressed by how much fun people seemed to be having. The
people here are of course very professional, but I get the feeling
that they would almost do the work for free. So I’ve always
thought that this would be a great place to work.
What would you do differently if you were in charge of our organisation?
This kind of question implies that the interviewer is looking for an
intelligent answer that shows you can make comments that are
constructively critical as opposed to simply entirely complimentary.
Be careful of being overly negative. To make your criticism easier
to swallow, try to offer up some positive comments first.
There’s not a lot I’d do differently. The organisation has obviously
been incredibly successful over the last 20 years since the founder
started the business. I can’t really say that I’d change anything, but
I have to say that I’ve not noticed your organisation being
mentioned in the press as much as some of your competitors. It
may be because you’ve deliberately decided not to do as much
publicity, but if I was in charge I think that’s one thing I’d want to
look at.
Are you familiar with our products/services/work?
Again, good research on your part will allow you to answer this kind of
question well. Remember if possible, to buy or try an organisation’s
products or services so you can speak of them first-hand, rather than
purely by having read about them.
I’ve been reading as much as I can about your current range of
medicines and drugs. I’ve also been reading about your pipeline of
new drugs and I was impressed to read in the trade press a lot of
interest in your new drug for malaria that is nearing the end of its
clinical trials at the moment.
I’ve spent quite a lot of time over the last few months visiting some
of your showrooms. I went to your flagship showroom in the west
part of the city just last week, explained that I was applying for a
job with you, and got to speak to a couple of the sales team. They
were really helpful in talking me through the new models that you
have coming out at the moment. So yes, I’d say I’m very familiar
with your cars.
Why do you want to work for us?
Think about how the organisation likes to present itself to the outside
world. How does this one company believe it stands out? Select a few of
these unique characteristics about the organisation and incorporate
them into your reply.
Many companies, for instance, believe themselves to have a good
reputation or to be leaders in their field. Or the organisation may think
that its employees are a breed-apart from the rest
I think your business has managed to develop leading edge
products that other companies go on to copy. I’ve been very
impressed by the quality of thinking of all of the employees that I
have met so far.
What attracts you most about working for us?
This is merely a variation on the previous question. Choose the key
feature that you think differentiates the organisation from its
competitors.
I think the fact that you’re one of the oldest and most established
businesses in this sector with a track record of having delivered
business-to-business website solutions for nearly ten years says
something about the quality of the management team.
There was a survey of the most environmentally responsible
construction businesses in the country last year and you were the
only construction firm to be in the top 20 in this part of the
country. When I read that in my research, I decided that yours is
the firm I most want to work for.
What do you think of our website?
This question requires a bit of judgement on your part. Some
interviewers may simply be looking for a bit of flattery. I’ve known
interviewers who were very proud of their websites who wanted only to
hear positive comments. On the other hand, other interviewers may want
to ascertain whether you can offer up constructive criticism. The best way
to prepare for this question is to prepare both some positive comments
and a constructively critical comment, then to judge on the day when
you’re in front of an interviewer how critical you should be.
I found it very easy to navigate and it took me only several clicks to
find my way to the section on recruiting administrative staff. I also
noticed that the web designers had made the colours very striking
so that older customers or people with poorer eyesight can still
read it clearly. However, I don’t know if it’s because my computer
is a bit older or not, but I did find that some of the graphics took
quite a few seconds longer to download than some of your
competitors. But that’s a very minor criticism compared with
the usefulness and accessibility of the information on there.
What do you think of our recruitment brochure?
As with the previous question, try to be positive about their recruitment
documents and be as constructive with your criticism as possible.
A lot of thought had obviously gone into the brochure. What I
found most useful was the profiles of different people who have
joined the organisation. It was useful to see that joining one
particular department doesn’t mean that I’ll be working there
forever. I also thought that it really showed off the socially
responsible side of your organisation too, which just makes me
want to work for you even more.
What worries or concerns do you have about this job?
The best tactic for dealing with this question is to deflect the question,
certainly until after you have been made a firm offer. Once you have been
offered the job, you could always go back to the employer to find out
more about the job (see also Chapter 12 on understanding the culture of
the organisation and the nature of the work).
I don’t have any concerns or worries about the job. But I would like
to understand more about the monthly targets you would like me
to achieve in the role and what support you’d be able to offer to
support me in achieving them.
What other jobs are you applying for?
Interviewers most like to hear that candidates are motivated to work in a
particular field or to work in a particular role. They worry that candidates
who are applying for too wide a range of unrelated jobs, such as a sales
representative for a pharmaceuticals firm as well as a creative job for an
advertising agency, don’t know what they want to do and therefore might
not stick at the job.
I’ve applied for several other jobs but these are all in hi-tech
businesses. Technology is my big passion and that’s where I’m
determined to work.
How many other jobs are you applying for?
As with the previous question, be careful about announcing too large a
number. An employer ideally wants to hear that you are focused on a
particular role or type of organisation rather than that you are applying
for every job in existence.
I’ve applied for jobs with the top 50 accountancy firms because I’m
determined to get my business grounding through an accountancy
firm.
As I’ve decided that I want to work only for a top-flight graduate
trainee programme, I’m applying to about a dozen companies,
mostly in fast-moving consumer goods and retail. What all of these
companies have in common is they are all leaders in their fields with
good brands and reputations for developing good managers.
How does this job compare with other jobs you are applying for?
In the past, interviewers could get a bit uppity when candidates admitted
to having applied to more than just their company. However, in today’s
more mobile economy, most employers recognise that good candidates
do shop around, but a bit of a compliment about the company that is
interviewing you would not go amiss, just don’t overdo it.
I have to say that the people at the other firms were also very
bright. But, even though this is obviously only my second interview
with you, I prefer what I have heard so far about your incentive
scheme.
If a competitor offered you a job right now, would you accept?
Asking this question allows interviewers to understand a little bit more
about your planning and decision-making skills. In your response, be sure
to impress upon the interviewers that you do not make rash decisions.
I would have to weigh up the pros and cons of exactly what they
are offering. The most important factor for me is getting a good
training programme and having a boss who will develop and
mentor me. Having said that, I’ve liked the people I’ve met here
and have been impressed by what I’ve read about the career path
so I’d rather work here, given the chance.
Have you received any other job offers?
Honesty is the best policy for dealing with a straightforward question
such as this.
No. I started applying for jobs only a couple of months ago so
companies are just beginning to get back to me to invite me to
interviews.
I’ve received an offer to work in the same role but for a smaller
company with a less impressive brand than yours.
Avoid the temptation of lying to make yourself look as if you are
in demand. Your tactic could backfire as an interviewer may feel
less guilty about rejecting you, thinking you have other offers to
fall back on.
How would you rate us against our competitors?
Your research will highlight key differences between this organisation and
its competitors. However, don’t expect the differences to be written down
anywhere for you to be able to learn and paraphrase. You may need to do
quite a lot of reading and come to your own opinions as to how this
organisation is different from its competitors.
I see your bank as being amongst the top tier of international
banks. So I see you competing against some of the big American
banks as opposed to having any true competitors here in the UK.
As you are the only truly international bank based in the UK, I can
honestly say that this is the only business I want to work for.
You have an excellent reputation in the marketplace. Even compared
with other firms such as Young Samson & Chalmers, I think that you
are recognised by your clients as being truly leading edge.
Avoid at all costs telling the interviewer how much better one of
their competitors is. That may prompt the response: ‘So why not
go work for them then?’
What do you know about our industry/sector?
This question tries to ascertain how much reading and research you have
done. While most candidates will have done some basic reading about
the organisation, only the more exceptional candidates will have read
about the organisation’s broader industry and sector to understand
market trends.
I know that margins in the retail sector have been quite low in recent
years and that there’s a lot of pressure to move manufacturing out to
China and other Asian countries in order to keep costs low. I also read
in one publication that there’s a move towards women consumers
spending less money, but on more clothing items every year, which
means that they are looking for greater value rather than to trade up
to more expensive clothing lines.
My understanding is that moves to create an open skies agreement
between the US and Europe means that airlines will now be allowed
to fly between cities with far fewer constraints. While this is good for
the customer, it will probably mean consolidation in the industry.
That should be good news for a large airline such as yourselves with
the financial firepower to buy up other smaller ones.
Would you rather be a big fish in a small pond or a small fish in a big pond?
The employer wants to know whether you would rather work for a small
company or a large employer. Think about what might be relevant to this
particular employer.
The benefits to working in a smaller company might include the following:
A greater sense of ownership in your work.
Being able to see that you are making a visible contribution to the bottom line.
Greater exposure to, and therefore opportunities to learn from, senior management.
A chance to take an equity stake at an earlier stage in your career.
The benefits of working for a larger company could include these:
A better company brand that will look good on your CV.
Better access to structured training programmes.
Opportunities to work in offices elsewhere, perhaps even internationally.
More financial stability and security.
Having worked for two large businesses now, I have to say that I’m
looking forward to working for a smaller one in which I will have a
chance to get to know people by name and forge stronger
relationships with people in the team.
While I’ve enjoyed working for Pendleton & Sons, I’m now looking
specifically to join a larger business that has a structured training
programme and a clear route for upward career progression.
TALKING ABOUT YOUR FUTURE CAREER DIRECTION AND COMMITMENT
Employee turnover costs organisations money. If they decide to offer you
the job, they would like to know that their investment in training you and
getting you efficient would be repaid by a good stint working for them
Where do you see yourself in five years’ time?
Ah, that old chestnut. If most candidates were honest, they would be forced
to admit that they actually have no career plan. Unfortunately, interviewers
like to hear that you have thought about the future. In your research on the
organisation, try to find out what opportunities there might be for you to
learn and grow, or seek other opportunities within the organisation.
If the interviewer could be your future boss, it might be dangerous to say
that you would like their job. However, it is increasingly acceptable for
you to say that you might be ready for the next step in your career. Most
employers would feel that they had got a return on their investment if
you stayed for five years.
I would hope to have completed my professional exams and be on
my way towards becoming a chartered engineer.
I read on your website that your company has grown quite a bit in
the last five years. So if the company continues to grow, I’m sure
there will be opportunities for me to take on more responsibility.
What would you consider a reasonable length of time to stay in a job?
A good response might be to separate the length of time you would stay
in a job from the time you would stay with the organisation.
I would want to feel that I have mastered a role entirely before I
move on. Once I have learnt everything I can about the job, I would
be looking to move into a bigger role with greater responsibilities.
However, I would hope that there would be other opportunities in
the company without the need to look externally.
What do you think you should be earning in three years’ time?
You need to be careful that your ambitions match the ability of the
company to provide you with rises in your salary. Just as an example, a
librarian in a public sector organisation is less likely to be able to double
their salary than a barrister in the same period.
Make sure that your response takes into account what you understand
the market would pay for someone with three more years of experience
than yourself.
My understanding is that the next level up from this role is that of
supervisor. Reading on your website, I saw that the salary is around
£6,000 more a year than for the role I’m applying for. As I hope to be a
supervisor with you by then, that’s the range I’d be aiming for.
But perhaps the best response is to try to deflect the question and move
on to another topic.
I hope that my pay will reflect my contribution to the organisation,
but the most important thing for me is having a variety of different
projects to work on that will keep me employable.
Do you have any personal goals that you have yet to achieve?
Even though the question asks you about personal goals, avoid talking
about goals outside of your work such as wanting to get married, have
children, get fit, and so on, as those could make you appear less than fully
committed to your work. It is always safer to talk about a goal that would
make you more valuable to your employer.
I’m always looking to develop myself and move out of my comfort zone. As I didn’t go to university, I think it would be a good idea to get a professional qualification, so that would be my next step.
Hopefully, if I were to work for you, this organisation might
sponsor me or at least support me in some way.
I would like to move into general management. I’ve had a lot of experience of working behind the bar and waiting on tables. But I’ve had only limited experience of working as a shift manager. So I see the next few years as gaining enough experience of working as
a shift manager and also doing some of the behind-the-scenes administration to allow me to become a general manager.
What are your development objectives for the coming year?
Be careful not to talk about having too many development objectives.
‘Development objectives’ could easily be taken as meaning ‘development needs’, i.e. weaknesses. Instead, parry this question by talking about how this job will stretch you and help you to meet your development objectives for the coming year.
One of my objectives has always been to move into a creative industry. While I’ve enjoyed my time working in the automotive industry, I think that there’s more room for me to grow and develop my skills within the creative industry. So hopefully spending time in this role and getting to grips with the different challenges within your industry will stretch me enough for this year.
You seem to have changed jobs very frequently – why is that?
Employers can worry that you will join and get trained, only to move on again, so you must be ready to give a good reason for each and every one of your job moves. For example, you may have genuinely completed what you set out to do in that company, such as learning a particular skill or turning around a team before moving on to a new challenge. Or, there may have been a common reason for having changed jobs several times.
It’s true that I have dabbled in a variety of jobs, but that was early
on in my career, just after I had graduated. But I think I have now
sorted in my mind what I want out of my career.
My partner’s job at the time meant that we had to relocate a couple of times, which was quite disruptive to my own career. But my partner has since set up a business to run from home, so now I’m keen to join a company where I can get settled.
You left one job after only a year – why?
Always try, if you can, to talk about the positive reasons you decided to join a new organisation rather than the negative reasons you decided to leave your old one.
I took the job at that company fully intending to stay there. However, a previous boss got in touch with me. She had become the creative director within a larger organisation and she asked me to join her team there. So it wasn’t that I was looking to leave it’s just that a better opportunity literally came my way.
My career plan is to become a human resources director in the future. However, I’ve been told that line managers sometimes don’t have much respect for human resources managers who don’t have line experience. So I took that particular job to gain
experience of line managing a team. It was a lateral move to broaden my understanding of non-HR issues, but now I’m looking to move upwards again within HR.
You have been in your current job for only six months – why are you looking to move on again?
If you worked for a particular organisation for significantly less than a
year, you may be pushed to explain that you left because you had learnt
everything there was to learn about the job. However, it’s fine to admit
that a job wasn’t right for you. Be sure to assure the interviewer that you will not make the same mistake with this job. Demonstrate to this interviewer that
you have done your research and are sure this is a job that you will stick with for years to come. I joined my current employer because I thought at the time I wanted to
work for a small company with a family feel to it. However, I learnt that much of what goes on in a small firm is dictated by the two partners who have their own personal interests. They don’t seem that bothered about growing the business and becoming more successful.
But the fact that your organisation has stated publicly and repeatedly that it wants to grow attracts me to you. All I can say is that I’ve learnt my lesson and now intend to stay in my next job for at least three or four years to build up a solid foundation of experience in this field If you have been with one company but taken on a variety of different roles, explain that each role has given you new challenges and that you saw no reason to leave, until now. Effectively, you should be able to argue that you genuinely had, for example, ten years of experience as opposed
to one year of experience repeated ten times. Then continue with your reasons for wanting to work with this new employer.
Yes, I’ve been with this company for 15 years, but I’ve had a hand in
an extraordinary amount of change in that time. Our client base has grown from mainly regional customers, to national and even international customers now, so my responsibilities have grown correspondingly. We have gone through many technological
changes that I’ve had to manage, from incorporating the latest design software into the business, to handling the integration of the several businesses that my organisation has acquired over the years.
It is trickier if you have been in just one job for a long time without having
been promoted. Perhaps your reasons are to do with your family. I didn’t want to take on a managerial role because I wanted to have an active role in bringing up our two young children. But now that they are at secondary school, I’m ready to get my career back on track by taking on new responsibilities. Given that you have stayed in your company for a long time, how will you cope with a new job?
The interviewer is expressing a concern that you may struggle to make the transition to a new environment with fresh faces and different ways of working. Put the interviewer’s fears at rest by providing an example of how you have made some sort of successful transition at work.
I’ve had to deal with a lot of change in my time at this company. Only six months ago, my company made 20 per cent of our team redundant to reduce costs. However, I was chosen to work with HR to restructure the team. Even though it was an uncomfortable
situation for a while, I not only adapted to it, but also helped
others to adjust to it too.
HANDLING QUESTIONS ABOUT CHANGES IN YOUR CAREERDIRECTION
Most interviewers are more used to dealing with fresh young school leavers or graduates than people who have decided to change career later on in life. Such interviewers may simply have less experience of dealing with more mature candidates, so be ready to answer questions as to why you are considering a departure from your current career into a new one.
Why do you want to work in this field?
A good response to this question should demonstrate to the interviewers that you have thought out the pros and cons of this career path rather than that you have stumbled into it without thinking it through.
I’ve always been fascinated by how businesses make money. I did economics at school because I enjoyed understanding questions about pricing and marketing and creating products that make a profit. So I have for many years wanted to work as a business analyst.
Ever since I broke my leg when I was growing up and had to go to hospital to have it set, I have been fascinated by hospital environments. I remember how kind and helpful the nurses were and since then I’ve always wanted to work in nursing. The more I’ve read about it and talked to nurses about the ins and outs of
the job, the more determined I’ve been to pursue this path.
Why do you want to change career?
The fact that you have been invited to interview means that you may have the skills necessary to do the job. The interviewer who asks this question is probably more interested in finding out your motivation and to check that you know what you are getting yourself into.Writing has always been a passion of mine. From the time that I
was at school, I enjoyed critiquing arguments and writing essays. A few years ago I realised that I wasn’t being fulfilled in my work so I decided to go on a journalism course. I got such a huge thrill out of every single assignment and I’ve been working on our internal newsletter ever since. But becoming a full-time journalist is what I feel I need to do now to be happy in my work.
It was by chance a few years ago that my boss asked me to put together the website for our company. So I had to learn to use web design packages and programming language. Building our website was the most fun I’ve had in work for years. Since then, I have been helping friends to build websites to display their wedding and holiday photos. I find that the time goes by very quickly when I’m working on web design projects. Even though applying for this job with you would mean a bit of a pay cut, I know that it’s what I want to do.
When talking about your passion and determination to enter a new profession, make sure you use body language and tone of voice to corroborate your spoken message. How do you feel about starting at the bottom of the career ladder again?
Demonstrate in your response that you have already given this question
some thought and remain totally committed to changing career
direction.
I feel fine about it as I’ve already prepared myself psychologically for it. I don’t have any problem taking orders from people who are going to be much younger than me. The only thing that matters to me is that I can at long last fulfil my ambition of retraining to work with disadvantaged children.
How are you going to cope with the drop in salary?
Again, use your answer to show the interviewers that you have already thought through the financial implications of doing something new. I’ve already read in your recruitment literature about the salary that is on offer and it’s a sum that I can put up with for the moment. Eventually I hope that my added experience will allow
me to make a larger contribution to the organisation and therefore help me to progress quite quickly up the ranks.
Make sure you really can survive and support yourself and/or your family on your new salary. Have you calculated the impact on your finances of taking home less money?
How do we know this change of career won’t just be a passing phase?
Try to construct an answer that shows the time and effort you have already invested in researching your new career choice. I hope that what I’ve already done in the last year should demonstrate how committed I am to becoming a veterinary nurse.
Studying for and passing my Level 2 Certificate for Animal Nursing Assistants while carrying on with my full-time job has obviously been challenging. Plus, I took it upon myself to find two work placements so that I could get some practical experience of working alongside veterinary staff, so I am confident that I have a
solid appreciation of the demands of the job now.
How would you feel if you couldn’t work in this field?
Be positive and demonstrate to the employers that you aren’t willing to give up your goal of working in this new field or profession. It’s not something I’m willing to consider. I’ve already demonstrated my commitment by taking some of the required
courses through home study and I’m going to be ready to take my first exam next month. If I get rejected this time round, I shall have to wait until applications open again next year to try again. But by then I will have gained further exam qualifications, and I will also continue to pursue opportunities to do voluntary work in this area so that I can strengthen my CV.
IN SUMMARY
# Read through the questions in this chapter and think about how you would respond to each of them.
# Tailor your answers so that what you say ties in exactly with the skills that each employer is looking for. The answer you give one organisation may necessarily have to be different from the answer you give another organisation.
# Be ready to talk about the reasons behind each of the career decisions that you have ever made. Be prepared to talk about your career future, remembering that you should try to impress upon the interviewers your willingness to commit for a number of years, too.
# If you’re changing careers entirely, be sure you can assure the interviewer that you have given the matter a lot of consideration and are ready for all of the psychological, practical, and financial aspects of doing so.
How to handle nerves and building confidence during Interview
& Understanding how your beliefs affect your behaviour
& Replacing negative thoughts with positive ones
& Learning to breathe out tension
& Visualising interview success
& Appreciating the value of practice, practice, and yet more practice
Many people find interviews a somewhat scary situation, so you’re not
alone if you feel a bit nervous about having to attend them. Perhaps you
get a dry mouth, racing pulse and sweaty palms. But the good news is
that there are practical tips that will help you to manage your nerves and
show yourself off in the best possible light. Even better, a modicum of
tension can even keep you alert and help you to think more quickly on
your feet.
CONNECTING YOUR BRAIN, BODY, AND BEHAVIOUR
Your brain, body, and behaviour are inextricably linked. Change any one of
the three – the beliefs you hold in your head, your bodily state, or your
behaviour – and you can affect the other two.
For example, scientists have discovered that just thinking negative
thoughts can cause your body to release stress chemicals into your
bloodstream, which then make you feel tense. Conversely, thinking
positive thoughts can force your heart rate to slow down and help you to
feel more relaxed.
Changing your behaviour can also affect your brain and how your body
responds to stress. For example, listening to gloomy music can cause your
mood to swing downwards; listening to cheerful music forces our brains
to switch into a more positive mood.
The tips within this section recognise that your brain (or the beliefs you
have about yourself), your bodily state, and your behaviour are linked.
Using all of these techniques together will help you to calm your nerves
and project a more confident you.
Harnessing the power of positive thinking
We all have a little voice in our heads. When things go wrong, our inner
critic tells us how stupid we are, how embarrassing a situation is, how we
should avoid similar situations in the future, and so on.
These automatic negative thoughts (ANTs) pop unbidden into our heads
and can cause us to feel more nervous and to behave in ways that aren’t
helpful. In order to stop these ANTs from crawling into our subconscious,
we need to recognise and challenge them.
The key to stamping out your ANTs is to question them when they arise.
Acknowledge your negative thoughts. Take a sheet of paper and write
down the negative beliefs you have about yourself in the context of
interviews and finding a new job.
Consciously replace your negative thoughts with positive ones. Choose
some positive phrases about yourself that you can repeat to yourself
when you hear your inner critic putting you down. For example, if you
hear yourself thinking, ‘I’m no good at interviews’, perhaps choose
instead to say, ‘I can be good at interviews if I do my research and
preparation’. Or if you find yourself thinking, ‘I always get so nervous’,
decide instead to repeat to yourself, ‘I will be more confident in this
interview than any other interview I’ve ever been in’.
Repeat your positive thoughts over and over to yourself. When you
hear your inner critic speaking up, choose to repeat your positive
statements instead. You may at first feel a bit silly and your inner critic
may start to whisper, ‘This isn’t going to work’, but it will work. The
more frequently you repeat your positive statements about yourself, the
more completely you will suppress your inner critic.
LEARNING TO BREATHE CORRECTLY
Remember that your brain, body, and behaviour are all interconnected.
So it stands to reason that if you change what your body is doing, you can
also change the reactions of your brain as well as the behaviour you will
exhibit during an interview. For example, people who feel nervous often
start to breathe more quickly, which can make them feel dizzy and even
trigger a panic attack. Conversely, breathing more slowly and deeply can
summon up feelings of intense relaxation.
Diaphragmatic breathing is a powerful technique for dispelling tension.
First, you have to practise the technique so that you can use it in the
moments before an interview. Follow these simple steps:
Lie on a flat but comfortable surface and place your right hand on your
chest and your left hand on your stomach.
Take slow deep breaths into your stomach. Only your left hand should
rise and fall. Practise inhaling to a count of four, holding your breath for
a few counts, and then exhaling to a count of four. If you do this for
several minutes, you may find that you start to feel very warm, your
fingers start to tingle as your body relaxes and pumps blood around
your body, and you may feel very relaxed and even slightly sleepy.
Avoid breathing into the chest area of your lungs. Your right hand should
remain motionless. If your right hand is rising and falling, you need to
focus on moving your breathing further down into your gut. Breathing
into your chest simulates what may happen if you feel angry or nervous.
Keep practising the technique of diaphragmatic breathing daily until
you can reach that relaxed state very quickly. Then practise the
technique while sitting upright. Once you have mastered the technique
when sitting upright, you are ready to use the technique just prior to an
interview – perhaps when you are sitting in reception – to call forth that
deep feeling of relaxation.
USING MENTAL VISUALISATION
Top sportspeople from golfers and tennis players to footballers and Formula
1 drivers all recognise that visualisation can be a powerful technique for
helping to create successful outcomes. Amazingly, scientists have found
that people who are asked to visualise exercising a muscle can actually
build up strength in that muscle without ever stepping into a gym.
Again, this stems from the link between your brain, your body, and your
behaviour. If you can think about how a successful interview will look and
feel, you are much more likely to be able to behave in that fashion during
an actual interview.
Practise visualising success in a quiet place. Close your eyes and picture
yourself getting dressed in your favourite interview outfit. Imagine
yourself walking confidently into a reception area. It doesn’t matter if you
have never seen the building you are going to be interviewed in; the
important bit is visualising yourself succeeding, not the specifics of the
building or the room you will be interviewed in. See in your mind’s eye
how confidently you shake hands, smile, and make polite conversation
with the interviewer. See yourself answering the interviewer’s questions
in a positive and enthusiastic manner.
Paint as vivid a picture in your mind as you can. If you can make the scene
vivid enough, you will be able to trick your body into thinking that it is
reality. You can literally think your body into releasing calming endorphins
into your bloodstream. The more times you can visualise what success
looks like, the more likely you will be to behave in that confident fashion
when it comes to actual interviews.
PRACTISING, REHEARSING AND GETTING IT RIGHT
The very best candidates do not simply think through the questions they
might be asked and visualise them. The very best candidates practise
speaking their answers out loud.
Actors preparing for a big performance on stage do not simply sit quietly
and read through their lines. They rehearse and practise out loud. They try
to speak their lines in the same tone of voice and use the same body
movements that they expect to use in front of a live audience. The same
goes for successful interview candidates. The best candidates say their
interview responses out loud using a confident tone of voice while using
their posture, facial expressions and body language as if they were
speaking to a live interviewer.
The only difference is that you should practise talking about themes
rather than learning your lines off by heart and repeating them verbatim
every time. You never know precisely what question an interviewer might
ask you. So rather than get too wedded to a particular way of answering
a question, think about practising out loud the key points you want to
get across.
There are several ways you could practise.
Practise in front of a mirror. Flick to a random question in the index at
the end of the book and read the question out loud as if an interviewer
has asked you it. Then respond out loud. Watch yourself in the mirror
and try to observe whether your body language is appropriate too.
Record your performance using a video camera, a webcam, or even a
voice recorder. Watch yourself or at least listen to your voice and be
critical about your performance. Listen for ‘ums’ and ‘ers’ or other pauses and stutters and try to eliminate them. Observe your body
language and consider whether you appear enthusiastic and positive
Run mock interviews
The best way to rehearse is to ask friends or trusted acquaintances to ask
you questions so you can practise responding to a live person. Perhaps
ask a friend to flick through either the index or Chapters 4 to 8 of this
book to find appropriate questions to throw at you. Once you have
practised the most frequently-asked interview questions, you could invite
your friend to ask you questions that they have been asked in interviews
so you can practise improvising.
Ask your friend to take some notes on your responses so you can evaluate
them together. After the interview, you and your mock interviewer should
go back over your answers and consider the questions that you may have
struggled with. Ideally, you would also record your performance so you
can hear what you actually said as well as observe your body language
and tone of voice during the mock interview.
Try to practise with different friends and acquaintances too. If you keep
practising with only one friend, you may find that you learn his or her
personal interview style and become quite adept at performing in front of
them. But your interviewer is likely to be a complete stranger, so try to
practise answering questions from as many different people as you can.
I realise that some people dislike role playing. But this really is the best
method for sharpening up your interview technique. So deal with your
discomfort and ask as many people as you can to rehearse with you.
IN SUMMARY
Identify and stamp out negative thoughts about yourself. Write them
down and challenge them, then replace them with short, positive
statements that you can repeat to yourself to buoy your confidence.
Use the diaphragmatic breathing technique to melt away tension.
Practise vivid mental visualisation to trick your brain into releasing
hormones into your bloodstream that will enhance your mood and calm
your nerves.
Practise, practise, practise. Rehearse on your own as well as with
different friends and acquaintances. I really cannot overstate the
importance of practising interview responses out loud!.
& Replacing negative thoughts with positive ones
& Learning to breathe out tension
& Visualising interview success
& Appreciating the value of practice, practice, and yet more practice
Many people find interviews a somewhat scary situation, so you’re not
alone if you feel a bit nervous about having to attend them. Perhaps you
get a dry mouth, racing pulse and sweaty palms. But the good news is
that there are practical tips that will help you to manage your nerves and
show yourself off in the best possible light. Even better, a modicum of
tension can even keep you alert and help you to think more quickly on
your feet.
CONNECTING YOUR BRAIN, BODY, AND BEHAVIOUR
Your brain, body, and behaviour are inextricably linked. Change any one of
the three – the beliefs you hold in your head, your bodily state, or your
behaviour – and you can affect the other two.
For example, scientists have discovered that just thinking negative
thoughts can cause your body to release stress chemicals into your
bloodstream, which then make you feel tense. Conversely, thinking
positive thoughts can force your heart rate to slow down and help you to
feel more relaxed.
Changing your behaviour can also affect your brain and how your body
responds to stress. For example, listening to gloomy music can cause your
mood to swing downwards; listening to cheerful music forces our brains
to switch into a more positive mood.
The tips within this section recognise that your brain (or the beliefs you
have about yourself), your bodily state, and your behaviour are linked.
Using all of these techniques together will help you to calm your nerves
and project a more confident you.
Harnessing the power of positive thinking
We all have a little voice in our heads. When things go wrong, our inner
critic tells us how stupid we are, how embarrassing a situation is, how we
should avoid similar situations in the future, and so on.
These automatic negative thoughts (ANTs) pop unbidden into our heads
and can cause us to feel more nervous and to behave in ways that aren’t
helpful. In order to stop these ANTs from crawling into our subconscious,
we need to recognise and challenge them.
The key to stamping out your ANTs is to question them when they arise.
Acknowledge your negative thoughts. Take a sheet of paper and write
down the negative beliefs you have about yourself in the context of
interviews and finding a new job.
Consciously replace your negative thoughts with positive ones. Choose
some positive phrases about yourself that you can repeat to yourself
when you hear your inner critic putting you down. For example, if you
hear yourself thinking, ‘I’m no good at interviews’, perhaps choose
instead to say, ‘I can be good at interviews if I do my research and
preparation’. Or if you find yourself thinking, ‘I always get so nervous’,
decide instead to repeat to yourself, ‘I will be more confident in this
interview than any other interview I’ve ever been in’.
Repeat your positive thoughts over and over to yourself. When you
hear your inner critic speaking up, choose to repeat your positive
statements instead. You may at first feel a bit silly and your inner critic
may start to whisper, ‘This isn’t going to work’, but it will work. The
more frequently you repeat your positive statements about yourself, the
more completely you will suppress your inner critic.
LEARNING TO BREATHE CORRECTLY
Remember that your brain, body, and behaviour are all interconnected.
So it stands to reason that if you change what your body is doing, you can
also change the reactions of your brain as well as the behaviour you will
exhibit during an interview. For example, people who feel nervous often
start to breathe more quickly, which can make them feel dizzy and even
trigger a panic attack. Conversely, breathing more slowly and deeply can
summon up feelings of intense relaxation.
Diaphragmatic breathing is a powerful technique for dispelling tension.
First, you have to practise the technique so that you can use it in the
moments before an interview. Follow these simple steps:
Lie on a flat but comfortable surface and place your right hand on your
chest and your left hand on your stomach.
Take slow deep breaths into your stomach. Only your left hand should
rise and fall. Practise inhaling to a count of four, holding your breath for
a few counts, and then exhaling to a count of four. If you do this for
several minutes, you may find that you start to feel very warm, your
fingers start to tingle as your body relaxes and pumps blood around
your body, and you may feel very relaxed and even slightly sleepy.
Avoid breathing into the chest area of your lungs. Your right hand should
remain motionless. If your right hand is rising and falling, you need to
focus on moving your breathing further down into your gut. Breathing
into your chest simulates what may happen if you feel angry or nervous.
Keep practising the technique of diaphragmatic breathing daily until
you can reach that relaxed state very quickly. Then practise the
technique while sitting upright. Once you have mastered the technique
when sitting upright, you are ready to use the technique just prior to an
interview – perhaps when you are sitting in reception – to call forth that
deep feeling of relaxation.
USING MENTAL VISUALISATION
Top sportspeople from golfers and tennis players to footballers and Formula
1 drivers all recognise that visualisation can be a powerful technique for
helping to create successful outcomes. Amazingly, scientists have found
that people who are asked to visualise exercising a muscle can actually
build up strength in that muscle without ever stepping into a gym.
Again, this stems from the link between your brain, your body, and your
behaviour. If you can think about how a successful interview will look and
feel, you are much more likely to be able to behave in that fashion during
an actual interview.
Practise visualising success in a quiet place. Close your eyes and picture
yourself getting dressed in your favourite interview outfit. Imagine
yourself walking confidently into a reception area. It doesn’t matter if you
have never seen the building you are going to be interviewed in; the
important bit is visualising yourself succeeding, not the specifics of the
building or the room you will be interviewed in. See in your mind’s eye
how confidently you shake hands, smile, and make polite conversation
with the interviewer. See yourself answering the interviewer’s questions
in a positive and enthusiastic manner.
Paint as vivid a picture in your mind as you can. If you can make the scene
vivid enough, you will be able to trick your body into thinking that it is
reality. You can literally think your body into releasing calming endorphins
into your bloodstream. The more times you can visualise what success
looks like, the more likely you will be to behave in that confident fashion
when it comes to actual interviews.
PRACTISING, REHEARSING AND GETTING IT RIGHT
The very best candidates do not simply think through the questions they
might be asked and visualise them. The very best candidates practise
speaking their answers out loud.
Actors preparing for a big performance on stage do not simply sit quietly
and read through their lines. They rehearse and practise out loud. They try
to speak their lines in the same tone of voice and use the same body
movements that they expect to use in front of a live audience. The same
goes for successful interview candidates. The best candidates say their
interview responses out loud using a confident tone of voice while using
their posture, facial expressions and body language as if they were
speaking to a live interviewer.
The only difference is that you should practise talking about themes
rather than learning your lines off by heart and repeating them verbatim
every time. You never know precisely what question an interviewer might
ask you. So rather than get too wedded to a particular way of answering
a question, think about practising out loud the key points you want to
get across.
There are several ways you could practise.
Practise in front of a mirror. Flick to a random question in the index at
the end of the book and read the question out loud as if an interviewer
has asked you it. Then respond out loud. Watch yourself in the mirror
and try to observe whether your body language is appropriate too.
Record your performance using a video camera, a webcam, or even a
voice recorder. Watch yourself or at least listen to your voice and be
critical about your performance. Listen for ‘ums’ and ‘ers’ or other pauses and stutters and try to eliminate them. Observe your body
language and consider whether you appear enthusiastic and positive
Run mock interviews
The best way to rehearse is to ask friends or trusted acquaintances to ask
you questions so you can practise responding to a live person. Perhaps
ask a friend to flick through either the index or Chapters 4 to 8 of this
book to find appropriate questions to throw at you. Once you have
practised the most frequently-asked interview questions, you could invite
your friend to ask you questions that they have been asked in interviews
so you can practise improvising.
Ask your friend to take some notes on your responses so you can evaluate
them together. After the interview, you and your mock interviewer should
go back over your answers and consider the questions that you may have
struggled with. Ideally, you would also record your performance so you
can hear what you actually said as well as observe your body language
and tone of voice during the mock interview.
Try to practise with different friends and acquaintances too. If you keep
practising with only one friend, you may find that you learn his or her
personal interview style and become quite adept at performing in front of
them. But your interviewer is likely to be a complete stranger, so try to
practise answering questions from as many different people as you can.
I realise that some people dislike role playing. But this really is the best
method for sharpening up your interview technique. So deal with your
discomfort and ask as many people as you can to rehearse with you.
IN SUMMARY
Identify and stamp out negative thoughts about yourself. Write them
down and challenge them, then replace them with short, positive
statements that you can repeat to yourself to buoy your confidence.
Use the diaphragmatic breathing technique to melt away tension.
Practise vivid mental visualisation to trick your brain into releasing
hormones into your bloodstream that will enhance your mood and calm
your nerves.
Practise, practise, practise. Rehearse on your own as well as with
different friends and acquaintances. I really cannot overstate the
importance of practising interview responses out loud!.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)