Preparing for Interviews

An interview is a conversation with a purpose.

The objective is to collect information about YOU to assess suitability for the work/job.

By looking at how you have performed and responded to past experiences, they can predict how you might perform and handle future scenarios.

The basics:

Smile, shake hands and introduce yourself.

Sit comfortably, arms uncrossed

Good eye contact - no staring or avoiding

Show interest and enthusiasm

Standard interview:

Icebreaker - tell me a little bit about yourself

Exploration - Educational track record

Experiences/activities

Knowledge of the job applied for

Knowledge of the organisation and their competitors

Challenging questions

Questions from you for the interviewer

Competency-based:

Ask you for examples of when you have demonstrated a particular competency required

Intended to predict how you will behave in the future in a similar situation

SITUATION

TASK

ACTION

RESULT

RELEVANCE

S - in first year at uni, asked to put together show

T - challenge of hanging work

A - planning, organising, doing it

R - feedback and responses from visitors

R - how would this help me in the job

Strength-based Interview

Useful for recruiting inexperienced candidates, such as graduates, reflecting on your strengths - difficult to prepare answers for

You need to be open, authentic and honest.

Demonstrate energy and engagement in subjects you enjoy

Likely Qs:

What are you good at:

What did you find easiest at uni?

Describe a successful day you've had.

What do you learn quickly?

What do you enjoy least?

Describe an achievement you're proud of.

Do you prefer to start tasks or to finish them?

What things are always on your to-do list and never get done?

Do you find you have enough hours in the day to get things done?

In a small group, we took it in turns to ask strength-based interview questions to each other and observe how the interview went. One person in our group found this task difficult and didn't want to be interviewed but I found it a useful task to do (very basic skills, but something we've not done at all through our three years).
Interview feedback:

Answered well, gave examples. Confident, clear, passionate.

Neneh and I both use our hands a lot when we talk. I worried that this might be seen as nerves or too intense/in your face? But I think it just shows that I'm passionate and really getting into the conversation.

One question I really struggled with was to describe a scenario in which I made a difficult decision. Work on this one!