Job interviews … in two minutes

Why do companies conduct candidate interviews?

• To establish if the candidate:
  • has the skills and temperament to do the job o is going to be able to 'hit the ground running'
  • will fit in with the corporate culture
  • will be an asset to the company
  • has the motivation and drive to succeed

• To provide candidates with general info about the company and specific information about the job Keep these reasons in mind when taking part in an interview. If you understand what the interviewer is looking for, you will achieve greater success in interviews.

It cannot be overstressed that, although it sounds like a cliché, interviews are as much about you, the candidate, finding out about the company as it is the company finding out about you. The candidate who approaches a first interview with the attitude of "how am I going to convince them to take me on" is making a fundamental error. Until you have spoken to the company you cannot possibly know if you want to work for them.

Furthermore, you need mentally to approach an interview as being an engagement between equals. You may well be the person who will solve all their problems. Don't allow that to become arrogance, but at the same time, do not put yourself into the weak position of approaching an interview as a 'job beggar'. The company should stand to gain as much out of it as you will.

Organisations are increasingly handing responsibility over for career development to their employees. They expect employees to take responsibility for their own training and honing skills and talents. The assumption is that you have the motivation and ability to go and build the skill set the company needs from you. Therefore the key to any interview is to demonstrate that you are a self-starter.

Prior preparation

One of the major reasons candidates fail at interviews is through lack of basic preparation. Interview preparation falls into two steps: the job and yourself .

1. Find out about the company and the role

• How does the company make money (what are its products and services)?
• What industry is the company in?
• Who are its main customers?
• How long has it been in business?
• How big is it (number of employees)?
• How profitable is it (revenues, earning and so on)?
• How large a share (roughly speaking) of the market does it have in the area you may be working?
• Who are its main competitors?
• Who is the CEO/Chairman and how long have they been there?
• What major events have taken place in the company over the past year (new product launches, acquisitions, major personnel changes and so on)?

But learning about the employer is more than just number crunching – sites such as FT.com and www.wsj.com may provide useful sources of information. The US career site Vault.com is an excellent source of information, although pitched at graduates and low-level entry it does give a very good view of (US) companies.

You should be trying to get a complete picture of the organisation.

• Find out information about the main company bosses: in most successful companies the values of the leaders will trickle down to the management ranks. Their business philosophy will tell you about their priority, strategy and managerial approach. This information will begin to tell whether you are pursuing a company that is a good match for you in terms of your own priorities and way of operating.
• Any setbacks the company has suffered will tell you what their weaknesses are and potential areas for problems in the future. It may suggest ways in which you can contribute in the future
• What are their current priorities - identify these from the company's annual report. If they excite you, then you'll want to make sure they know that in the interview. If they don't excite you, do you want to work there?

Networking

Use your network to find out as much about the company as you can. Try to find someone who either works for the company, or knows it well. How do they describe the company? Try to establish why the vacancy has occurred? Is it a new role? If not, what happened to the previous incumbent?

2. Personal preparation

What do you want from the job?

One of the most important pieces of preparation is to have a clear view for what you DO and DON'T want in your next job, after all, if you don’t you will have no objective factors to judge whether one job is better than another. Make sure that these factors are effectively included in any preparation you conduct. This means that they influence which jobs you attend the interview for and what questions you ask at interview.

Some questions to think about:

• Why are you looking to leave your current role? Are there factors in your current job which you don't wish to retain?
• What type of environment will you prosper in?
• What work/life balance requirements do you have?
• What is your attitude to risk / reward?

The answers to these questions may well dictate what factors you look for in a job. There are many but here are some examples:

• I am looking for a role which pays a minimum of £x
• I want to work in a small/medium/large company
• I want an environment which has structured training and development
• I want an entrepreneurial environment
• I want to work in a growing company

Mental preparation

• What do you want out of the interview?
• Is it the sort of place you want to work?
• Who will be your superior?
• What are they like?
• What kind of people work there?
• What is the corporate climate like?
• What are the responsibilities of the position?
• What is promotion like in the company?
• Why is the job available?
• … and to be offered a job

Interviews are not just about your prospective employer quizzing you, they are just as much about you discovering if you want to work there.

Common Interviewer Questions

Think about the kind of questions you are going to be asked

• Why do you want to work for us?
• Why do you want to leave your current employer?
• What is the most difficult thing that you have done in your current position?
• What attributes make someone a good employee?
• What are your most significant accomplishments?
• As a manager, what do you look for when you recruit people?
• How would your team describe you?
• Describe your personality?
• What are your goals?
• What are your three main strengths/weaknesses?
• Where do you see yourself in 5 years?

There are any number of Great answers to tough interview questions books. They are of limited use. The key mental preparation is to know your CV thoroughly and to be able to use it to support any statement you make.

Information you should know before you step into the interview

If you are applying through a recruitment consultancy, your consultant should have provided you with the information to answer the following questions (if you are applying direct, ask the HR department).

• What is the salary range for the position?
• What is your desired salary for the position?
• What is your minimum salary for the position?
• What benefits do you expect?
• What perks would you like to receive in addition?
• How much holiday time is there

You should not be wasting interview time discussing this kind of detail. It should be handled in advance by your consultant.

3. Appearance — decide what you are going to wear

4. Route — know where the interview is, and how you are going to get there.

Consider parking arrangements, using public transport, rush hour timings.

Try reading:

Managing your Career for Dummies Max Messmer IDG Books ISBN 0 7645 5253 8