Preparing For An Interview

  

PREPARING FOR AN AWESOME INTERVIEW…

1.       Take 2 to 3 hours to read about the company information and products or services on their websites.
Try to understand about the company’s products and services very well. Any employer will be very happy to hear about their products and services and of course about their company from a third person. Also it makes employer feels like you are very motivated. Once again “Don’t go for an interview without knowing about the company information and products or services.”

2.       Print your resume. Also photocopy all your certificates, achieved awards and impressive documents.
Along with these documents take originals documents with you to the interview.

3.       Don’t Be LATE for your Interview!!!
Being late for an interview is the LAST THING you should do. Always go a couple of minutes earlier and spend some time in the lobby, noticing staff attitudes, style of operation, etc. Don’t knock on their door too early as well. If you reach the interview on time, it is a sign of a punctual employee.

4.       Don’t take your friends and family with you. You are not going for a PICNIC.
Why? Are your friends and family applying for the job for you? If you take friends and family with you it shows that you are not capable person. It means you always need assistance to do anything.

5.       Smart appearance will always show seriousness.
Attending interviews with rocky and disco appearance can create question marks to employers. Even you are very skilful, it doesn’t show seriousness about the jobs. Remember, no employer would like to have an employee who doesn’t show seriousness with the job.

6.       Now it’s about your skills.
The only person who can help about this is you. I am sure if you have done your related degree, certification, worked in the environment then it shouldn’t be a big deal. If you are not sharp about your skills then forget about this interview. Truth is you won’t be hired. Skill is the crucial point in the job role. Somehow you must brush up on your skills if you think it is required.

7.       Don’t get nervous. You must make your eye contact and make yourself look very confident about the position.
Why should you be nervous? They’re not going to laugh at you. Build up the confidence and try to be as friendly as possible with an appropriate manner. You’re getting paid for your service and your professional service is very important for employers as well.

8.       Don’t praise too much of yourself. Let them realize that how good and cool you are.
“Me this, Me that, everything me me me” is not going to help in a job interview. Let the employer ask you the question and find out about you. Please answer only what they require. Too much cooking can spoil the dish.

9.       In the interview don’t try to pretend that you know everything. Admit if you don’t know what employer is asking about.
Show them “I can learn, I will research about it”. Ask them if they have any good suggestion about the topic. This shows that you have very good attitude and can fit into the company team.

10.   Ask them if they need any more skills in order to be a part of their team, and mention that you are very keen on learning.

11.   Finally don’t tell them about that we prepared you for the Interview :-).

12.   AND NOW FOR SOME POSSIBLE INTERVIEW QUESTIONS…

 

SAMPLES OF COMPETENCY-BASED INTERVIEW QUESTIONS

PERSUASIVENESS:

  • ·         As a member of a staff department how have you gone about persuading line managers in the past? Give an example.
  • ·         What is the best suggestion you ever made that was accepted by your boss or colleagues? How did you present it?
  • ·         What is the best suggestion you ever made that was rejected by your boss or colleagues? Why was it rejected?
  • ·         In a discussion most people are usually convinced that their ideas are right. How successful are you in getting others to accept
  •           your point of view? Can you give an example?
  • ·         What do you think is the best way of 'selling' an unpopular idea? How do you go usually go about this? Example?

TEAM-WORK:

  • ·         Can you recall a situation when you completely disagreed with the way your team was working? What did you do then?
  • ·         Have you ever been a member of a team that broke up because it was im­possible to work with one another? What was your
  •           position?
  • ·         Do you work together with colleagues at the moment? How do you deal with conflicts / disagreements / misunderstandings in
  •           this group?

PLANNING /ACTION:

  • ·         Have you ever had to re-adjust a timetable due to unforeseen circumstances? How did you go about it? Examples, please.
  • ·         What are your department's long and short term plans? Have they been put into writing?
  • ·         What were your work objectives last year? Were they achieved?
  • ·         Can you give an example of how your department arrives at operational plans to adjust to new situations?
  • ·         How did you plan your time at work over the past week?
  • ·         Describe a normal working day or week for me. How do you plan your daily activities?

LEADERSHIP:

  • ·         Have you over had a subordinate who did not perform as well as you thought he should? What did you do about it?
  • ·         Have you ever had to arbitrate between two staff members who were unable to work together? How did you get them to
  •           cooperate?
  • ·         How often do you hold meetings with your staff? Why not more/less often? How did you prepare for the last meeting?
  • ·         Have you ever involved your staff in issues of company policy? How did you go about this?
  • ·         Have you ever lead a work group or project team whose members were not lower-placed than yourself in the organizational
  •           hierarchy? How did you manage this?
  • ·         Has it ever happened that targets were not met while you were in charge or had final responsibility? What did you do then?

PROBLEM ANALYSIS:

  • ·         Describe a significant problem that you were confronted with during the past year? What steps did you take to assemble and
  •           organize data? What do you consider to be the cause of the problem?
  • ·         Unforeseen problems sometimes arise. Have you ever been surprised by an unexpected problem?
  • ·         Have you ever been confronted with a situation which turned out to be very different (and perhaps more complicated) than you
  •           had at first judged?
  • ·         Sometimes a problem seems to have been solved when in fact only part of a far more extensive, underlying problem has been
  •           dealt with. Have you ever experienced a situation like this?
  • ·         Can you describe a problem that you were unable to solve?

ACHIEVEMENT ORIENTATION:

  • ·         When have you aimed for perfection? Give a few concrete examples please.
  • ·         What do you demand of yourself in your work? Do you demand the same things of your staff?
  • ·         If you have recently had to evaluate a staff member or colleague on job performance, what for you was the difference between
  •           a good worker and a poor one?
  • ·         Can you remember ever demanding of others too much or too little?
  • ·         Have you ever worked in a team? What did you expect of the other team members?
  • ·         When have you been satisfied with your work? Can you give an example of a situation in which you were unable to come up  to your own standards? What did you do about it?