Mastering the job Interview.

A new job can change your life completely - it could be your dream job, improve your work life balance, make you better off financially, a varied job in which you will always be learning from or, a job with huge responsibilities which could give you great job satisfaction and lead to excellent career progression. Whichever job you are looking for, it’s out there.. somewhere. You just have to make sure your asking the right questions to know if it’s the right job for you.?

It’s easy to get yourself stressed and flustered before an interview, but as long as you have done your research about the company, you know your CV well and you be yourself, you will be fine.?

Most people I meet, I know if they are going to be right for us within the first five minutes. So, what can you do in those five minutes to get through the gates of the interviewers? Come in with energy and enthusiasm, start off with something positive such as "I've really been looking forward to this meeting, I think your company??is doing great work in XYZ project/ field, and I'm really excited by the prospect of being able to contribute." This shows you have done your research and the interview starts on a happy note.?

Of course there are many other aspects to an interview, there are many different interview types too:

• Phone Interviews - this is normally a 'screening' exercise, an ice-breaker conversation, seeing if you are the right fit for the business, the interviewer will normally give a brief overview of the job to see if you are interested and if they are in HR will go over commercials to ensure no time is wasted if they cannot meet your expectations.
• Onsite Interviews / Zoom Interviews - This is to meet you 'face to face' of course, it has been a lot more difficult over the last year and half with COVID, but companies have adapted in the best way they can. Meeting you face to face is normally to get a better feel for you, a behavioural interview, to see if you come across professional and well presented.
• Home exercises - The company may ask you to complete a technical test or presentation, this is to get an example of how you work, how you deal with certain scenarios.
• Group Interviews - this is to see how you interact with the team, if you are a good team fit.

There are also different stages in an interview you have to think of;

• Ice breaking conversation (2-5 minutes).
• Interviewers questions (20-40 minutes).
• Your questions (have at least 4-5 ready).
• Closing off the interview (5 minutes)

As you can see a big chunk of the interview is normally the interviewer asking you questions. So, what can you do to prepare?

• Print off your CV, go through it, do not add in false information to make yourself look better, be honest about your experience, what you want to learn and what you need to learn.
• Read over the job specification - make yourself familiar with what they are looking for, try and link your experience to this.
• Be punctual, arrive early so that you can prepare yourself and start off on a good note.
• Dress professionally.
• Practice good communication skills (80% of communication is non verbal)
• Know your strengths and weaknesses, don’t give the typical ‘I’m a perfectionist’ as a weakness, give a real weakness, the interviewer will appreciate your honesty, you will build a better relationship this way and make yourself stand out from the rest.
• Answer questions with the STAR method; situation, task, action and result.?Detail the situation you have been in, describe the task and what needed to be done and why, how did you actioned this, elaborate on it, what did and how / what tools did you use. Results - what did you accomplish?
• Practice interview questions and scenarios with a friend / family member.?
• If you don’t know an answer, don’t guess.?Silence is golden, take your time to think.
• Prepare answers of your key selling points, what expertise can you bring? Why would hiring you be beneficial to them as an organisation??
• Give clear and concise answers.?
• Be positive and enthusiastic.?
• Don’t complain about past / current employers.?
• End on a positive note.?

Asking questions at the end is very important, remember - you are interviewing them as well as they are interviewing you.?Below are some questions, which will help you to figure out if this is the right opportunity for you:

• What makes you a different company from the rest to work for?
• Is there anything I can do to improve my skill set? Would you recommend - any courses??
• What have past employees done to be successful in this role??
• Where can you see this role going in the future? What’s the career progression like??
• How big is the team??
• Why has this role come up??
• Have you had anyone leave from your team and if so why??
• Where does your organisation need to do better, what are you lacking, where could I help??
• Company aspirations / values?
• One thing you could change about your company what would it be??
• Why did you choose to work at XXX company?
• Most exciting project you’ve worked on and why?

Remember, failing to prepare, is preparing to fail. Good luck all!?