developing interview skills

8/8/2019 Developing Interview Skills

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Developing Interview Skills

Ranjit Das



Introduction• Your life and career depend upon

getting and keeping jobs in which youcan express your abilities and obtainpersonal and material satisfaction

•

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presenting yourself in the best possiblelight in an interview situation

• A small investment in improving your self-

presentation skills can produce adisproportionately large increase in theend result

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What are

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Looking for?E:[email protected]



– Assertiveness

– Emotional stability – Enthusiasm

– Good personal

– Humility

– Interest in people – Leadership potential

– Long-range plans

The following factors are assessed most

frequently during interviews

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appearance – Good educational

record

– Honesty and moralstandards

an o ec ves – Motivation

– Oral communication

skills

– Self-confidence

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Interviewer’s Criticisms• Poor preparation

–“I can’t really remember”

– “That’s a bit tricky for me to say….” – “I can’t answer that. I’ve never really thought

”

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• Making negative value judgementsabout yourself and your experiences – “I find getting on with people a little difficult” –

“I had a personality clash with ….” – “I’m only a shelf filler in Safeway” – “My project was fairly simple”

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• Making derogatory remarks about the

organisation, the interviewers or theprocedures and showing bitternesstowards others

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– “In my opinion psychological tests areunimportant”

– “I would have thought that my CV says it

all…” – “I was hoping to see someone more

senior”

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•Build understanding of:

What will they ask?

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• Interviewers complain that candidates

fail to prepare. – You have not thought about yourself, the job,

the company you are applying to,

•

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interviewers wish to flesh out – what they do not have is an explanation of

why you did what you did [i.e. your motivation]

– your work experience and you as anindividual

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• Interviews typically ask about:

– your early life

– education and qualifications

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–

– work experiences

– interests outside of school and work

– how you match up to the jobspecifications

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• Your early background –

“Tell me about your family/early days”• You should have a clear idea about what you are

going to say, be prepared to say somethingpositive and interesting [unusual birthplace, family

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– “How did you feel about these early days”• Life is full of ups and downs. Show how you have

learned from the downs and managed to pullyourself up.

• These questions are used to establish your personal values, motivation, ability,relationships with others

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• Education and Qualifications

– “Talk me through your education andqualifications”

– “ ’

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school”

• You may have a genuine reason for it. If not,play down any negative aspects. Try to select

things which went well and try not to mentionthings which did not. Jump to subsequent

achievements

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• Further Education

– “Tell me about your time at university” – “Your results look somewhat disappointing”

• Was there a reason? Perhaps you did better than

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better, what lesson[s] did you learn?

• These questions are used to understandyour motivation, self-discipline, organising

ability, inter-personal skills, ability to copeunder pressure, direction of career aspirations

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• Work Experience –

“Tell me about your present/last job/vacationwork”• You should pick out those parts of your work history

which mirror the role you are seeking. Talk about

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, ,

learned.

• Your work experiences can provideevidence of interest, motivation,

interpersonal skills, creativity, supervisoryskills, organising, planning and problem-solving skills.

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• Interests Outside of Work

– Activities away from work might throw lighton the extent to which your outside activitiessupport or hinder good job performance

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– Outside interests give clues about you as anindividual

– “What do you do in your spare time?”

– “It seems to me that you might have difficultyin maintaining that interest because of thenature of our job”

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Making a Good

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Impression

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Making a Good Impression• Clothing

– Dress smartly

• Hair

– Kee it rofessional

• Verbal

CommunicationChecklist – Speak clearly

– Slow down if

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looking• Jewelry

– Keep to a minimum

• Cosmetics – Keep to a minimum

necessary – Avoid talking in a

‘thick’ accent

– Don’t use jargon

–Ensure your pronunciation iscorrect

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Body Language• Up to 90% of

communication isnon-verbal

• Touch is important.Start with a good firm

• Try to open up your body

• Eye contact is good -but not too much

• Let your face come

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• When walking or standing, keepreasonably erect

•

When seated, don’tlean too far forwardor backward

a ve.• Use your head to

indicate you arelistening,

understanding, beingattentive• When thinking, look

up to your right or left

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