WHAT are they looking for? How should I behave? What will work? For the prospective interviewee these and similar questions tumble through the mind as the interview looms.
First and foremost interviewers like candidates who make their life easier. Preparation helps enormously. The interviewer likes a candidate to treat the interview process with respect. It also helps if the candidate is their natural self. Don’t try to put on an act. Good interviewers are trained to get beyond the image and you will be probed on any assertions you make.
Interviewers like candidates to dress neatly This means not wearing anything that might distract the interviewer. Dress like your interviewer - business attire in a business situation.
Most interviewers allocate marks to candidates based on suitability for the job. Questions are asked to ascertain how the candidate matches the criteria. Make sure that you listen carefully to the question and answer succinctly and to the point.
Rapport is important. Interviewers do not like to feel uncomfortable so make it easy for them to like you. Smile and treat each question as raising the most interesting possibilities.
With rapport, everyone is comfortable and communication channels are wide open. While interviewers like candidates to answer questions by speaking freely about the issue raised they also like to feel in control of the interview. The cardinal mistake for candidates is to talk too much. Not alone does this lose points on the particular question; it also gives a message that the candidate is not focused or decisive.
Remember to answer the question succinctly and stop. If the interviewer wants more you will be invited to elaborate. The interviewer will thank you for giving her back control of the interview.
Another mistake that candidates make is to use the word “we” too often. There is no “we” in interviewing. By all means prove that you are a team player by giving specific examples. The interviewer expects to hear about your explicit achievements. The team is not being interviewed.
In a competency- based interview, the interviewer will ask for examples of things you have done.
For example, when you have solved a difficult interpersonal problem or handled conflict. You need to tell the story in as few words as possible. A long rambling introduction will again lose points.
Remember the interviewer has to cover a set number of areas.
While you are introducing your example you are not clocking up credits. You may, however, be stressing the interviewer who will be concerned about getting through the agenda.
Interviewers like energetic, enthusiastic candidates. Energy is a meta quality. By this I mean that it will probably not appear in any of the official requirements for the job. Nevertheless, interviewers, sometimes subconsciously, are looking for energy in answers that translate into energy on the job.
Now that you have nice rapport, short crisp enthusiastic replies, and have put yourself - not the team - in the foreground, how can you go wrong? Difficult but possible. The easiest way to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory is to insult the interviewer or come across as arrogant or cocky.
Treat all questions with respect. If the interviewer thought the questions were stupid or inappropriate, they would not have been asked. An interviewer wants to feel in control. An arrogant candidate can provoke an inappropriate response in the interviewer.
Interviewers, even those who are well trained, sometimes ask ambiguous questions. For example, one question that is often asked in interviews is “What are your goals?”
This is ambiguous; people generally have several types of goals-personal, recreational, professional. Feel free to ask “What do you mean? Do you want to know what my professional goals are or what I want out of life?” The interviewer can then choose what he wants to hear.
Interviewers often ask the candidate whether they have any questions. This is a good time to ask a question about what it would be like to work for this company. It is also an opportunity to show that you have done your homework.
An example is “I know that you have a re-fund of educational fees program, will I have an opportunity to further my professional development? At the end of the inter-view, consider making a last brief and well-rehearsed summary of your suitability for the post. People remember best the first and last parts of interviews, so use this to your advantage.
With good focused preparation, natural conversational style, and committed attitude few interviewers will be able to resist you. Happy job hunting.
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