Job Interview, any list minute tips?

nathanjrb

nathanjrb

Prolific Poster
PokerFace said:
They obviously thought you were so good that they figured you could do the job in half the time! :)
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Haha, always a bright side! Well they said they gave it to someone with more experience.... but I don't think they would have offered me the part-time job if they didn't think I was slightly capable!
 
tom_gr7

tom_gr7

Life Serving
Just got a letter from another council. I've been given a date to go in for an assessment, then if i pass I will get an interview.

Also received another letter from a different council for a different job. Which has a 4 stage selection process... lol, its only a support work role.
 
K

knigh7

Bronze Level Poster
Hi,

I have interviewed people and have been interviewed myself. here is a few tips, some might not apply to you as I come from an IT background

1) I know this sounds weird BUT the people interviewing you had a hard time finding you. Its difficult to find the right people that fit the role so if they invited to you to an interview, it means that you are half way there and they are hopeing that you are the one as much as you are hoping to get the job.
2) Thinking about the point above. Be confident
3) Know about the company and the subject you are in
4) Find out about the people interviewing you, google them, look at their linkedin profile and learn as much about them as possible
5) When they ask you if you want anything to drink, ask for water, no coffee as caffeine will make you nervous.
6) If this is full time and they ask you if you have any questions don't say "No". Some questions will be Do you have a training programme?
7) Try to mimic the interviewer's personality and body language, I mean don't make it obvious
8) Make sure you have anecdotal answers and try to answer with examples
9) Do not talk too much, read their body language
10) Do not talk fast, gather your thoughts
11) Have answers to the standard interview questions (you can google this) such as "Where do you see yourself in 5 years?", I work in IT and my answer is usually, Working at in the same field but with more responsibility/seniority"
12) If they ask you about a subject and you do not know the answer, be honest, say I have not come across this and explore the subject with them to show that you are keen
13) Do not ask about salary, if they bring up the subject then you can tell them the range you are willing to accept and add the proviso that you are not only interested in salary, you are also interested about the role.
14) They may ask out of politeness if you have any plans over the long weekend. Make sure you have an answer, so again I work in IT, so I would say, "I am taking my family to Brighton for the four days, but I am hoping to spend half a day reading and researching about developing websites in HTML5, so will bribe my wife to go shopping whilst I do some reading"

Good Luck
 
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tom_gr7

tom_gr7

Life Serving
thanks for the reply Knigh7.

Just applying for a few more now, I never thought to individually tailor each "statement" to each job.
 
SmokeDarKnight

SmokeDarKnight

Author Level
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tom_gr7

tom_gr7

Life Serving
lol, I had an interview yesterday.

It went wrong from the second it started. Upon my arrival I was told it was a screening interview as they had many applications and that i should be concerned if i am not invited back. There were 4 senior managers interviewing in a Britains got talent setup.

I was then asked what I thought the job was about, although, previous to the interview I was only told it was for "home support workers" working with children, I couldn't find any information on the net and the advert was extremely vague. So that didn't go so well.

It was very scripted and they didn't seem interested in me, or what i had to offer. I tried to explain what im studying at uni (public forum, so will keep that quiet) but they were very unimpressed that i was applying for a job, but also applying for other "professional" jobs too. At this point I noticed the three other mangers, randomly staring around the room, looking disinterested... It was very uncomfortable.

Then it came to questions from the other managers. Great, i thought, I can sell myself...

"so, recently, there has been two women in south America jailed for trafficking drugs... what are your views on this...?" I was pretty taken aback, obviously they were trying to find out if kept up with current issues and gain my perspective on it. I tried to be objective and explain that i don't have an opinion on the matter, as i do not have enough information to make a professional judgement, we only know what the media has told us and not the facts... the manager was to say the least unimpressed.

They asked number of weird questions, it was all very strange. It wasn't a two way conversation, the managers just sat and nodded, when they were not looking around the room that it is. KInda hard to concentrate when the person you are talking to is just blankly staring at you, or looking around the room disinterested.

It was all very scripted and lasted about 10minutes, terrible interviewers especially considering they were senior managers. I wasn't surprised to find that I wasn't invited back for stage two.

Upon reflection, they didn't really give me a good impression of themselves and the job, so it was certainly for the best.
 
B

bonalste

Bronze Level Poster
tom_gr7 said:
lol, I had an interview yesterday.

It went wrong from the second it started. Upon my arrival I was told it was a screening interview as they had many applications and that i should be concerned if i am not invited back. There were 4 senior managers interviewing in a Britains got talent setup.

I was then asked what I thought the job was about, although, previous to the interview I was only told it was for "home support workers" working with children, I couldn't find any information on the net and the advert was extremely vague. So that didn't go so well.

It was very scripted and they didn't seem interested in me, or what i had to offer. I tried to explain what im studying at uni (public forum, so will keep that quiet) but they were very unimpressed that i was applying for a job, but also applying for other "professional" jobs too. At this point I noticed the three other mangers, randomly staring around the room, looking disinterested... It was very uncomfortable.

Then it came to questions from the other managers. Great, i thought, I can sell myself...

"so, recently, there has been two women in south America jailed for trafficking drugs... what are your views on this...?" I was pretty taken aback, obviously they were trying to find out if kept up with current issues and gain my perspective on it. I tried to be objective and explain that i don't have an opinion on the matter, as i do not have enough information to make a professional judgement, we only know what the media has told us and not the facts... the manager was to say the least unimpressed.

They asked number of weird questions, it was all very strange. It wasn't a two way conversation, the managers just sat and nodded, when they were not looking around the room that it is. KInda hard to concentrate when the person you are talking to is just blankly staring at you, or looking around the room disinterested.

It was all very scripted and lasted about 10minutes, terrible interviewers especially considering they were senior managers. I wasn't surprised to find that I wasn't invited back for stage two.

Upon reflection, they didn't really give me a good impression of themselves and the job, so it was certainly for the best.
Click to expand...

Haha that must have been awful. It sounds to me like manager has gone on a course, or read a book on how to give effective interviews, and decided to try implementing some of the ideas without having any clue as to the relevance of the techniques to the job or how to give said interview. I wouldn't worry about it. It sounds bizarre and I doubt you will go through an interview like that again (well, not often anyway). Just a point of note - the question about the drug trafficking arrests was probably not about trying to find out how much you know about current events (is reading the newspaper relevant to your prospective role?) but was instead probably trying to gauge how you formulate an argument. You could have gone either way, but they may have seen what you did as fence-sitting, and it doesn't sound like they appreciated that. It's all a learning experience. Your best bet now is to write down all the questions you were asked, think them over in terms of why you would have been asked them while giving yourself a more relaxed atmosphere than an interview panel, and consider what answers you would give next time. It might also be worth asking them for feedback, so you can know what to work on in preparation for future interviews.
 
tom_gr7

tom_gr7

Life Serving
Just an update really as I aint been around much recently. A few weeks ago I was offered a job. YAY! Hopefully start soon!

Funny thing was one of the managers that interviewed me is friends with a another manager that I previously worked under... So I suspect that someone put in a good word for me.

To those that don't know me, sorry, I can't say what the job is or where it is.
 
mantadog

mantadog

Superhero Level Poster
All very mysterious, did you have to do any 'funny' handshakes, initiations or swear allegiance to the king of Spain?


I think we are getting close here boys!
 
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