How to Wow them in your next Interview
Want to know how to wow in your next interview? Liam Ovenden, managing director of recruitment specialist RPO Group, presents a basic blueprint to follow when its showtime with your prospective employer.
Homework
At a minimum, check out the company website. Know what their products or services are, who their clients are, who the executive team is, and what locations they are in. Check out the recent news articles that they have listed on the website so you can be up to date with THEIR current events. All of this information is available within seconds on the internet, so it does not go down well if you clearly have not done this level of research. Extra work that can prove helpful is Google-ing the name of the person interviewing you. All sorts of things come up, from sporting results, music exams, as well as work related news. It’s always nice to know something about the person before interviewing to help relax you, even if it is just that they completed the City to Surf in 2003!
Be a little early
Being 5 minutes early is ideal. Firstly, it gives you a cushion if something unexpected happens like the peak hour rush for the lifts leaving you stranded in the lobby. It also shows respect for the interviewer, and gives the impression you are organised and professional. Beware though – turning up 30 minutes early shows that you have nothing else on in your life.
Don’t give the interviewer any reason to be turned off by you!
Dress
Adopt a sensible horses-for-courses approach here. For more conservative professional roles, tasteful is the key. A smart well-cut suit, pressed shirt or top and well presented shoes is the preferred option. Keep jewellery down to a sensible minimum. If you are going for a creative role, then naturally you can express your personality but remember the goal is not to be the most outlandish dresser in the room.
Grooming
Again, the idea is to get them focusing on you as an applicant, so don’t give them any chances to knock you out based on grooming issues. Nails not too long and nicely manicured and make-up to a smart minimum. Hair is simple – neat and groomed will always impress. Absolutely essential to have teeth clean and fresh breath. For smokers, do NOT have a cigarette for at least an hour before. It’s not just your breath (which you hope the mint will fix), but the smoke comes into the room stuck to your clothes, which is off-putting for a lot of non-smokers.
Attitude
Your attitude must be confident, but respectful and empathetic. Make eye contact, smile warmly, shake hands firmly, and listen intently. Sit up in your chair rather than slouching, and give them every reason to like you personally and trust that you will work as hard as you can to do a great job for them.
Know your stuff
Be able to explain your CV
You need to be able to explain, in layman’s terms, every part of your CV. By this I mean:
- What the PURPOSE of each job was in that organisation - ie why did the role exist?
- What your actual tasks were on a daily and monthly basis – quick and to the point.
- How you were measured or what you were expected to produce
- How did you perform against those expectations - Why you left the job
- Why you chose the next job
Do not expect that the interviewer will know what you did in those jobs. Even if they do, what they really want to know is if YOU knew what you were doing. So be able to quickly and accurately describe each of the above aspects for every role on your CV. Remember, the interviewer is trying to ascertain whether you have demonstrated skills or technical knowledge in the past that they can apply to their organisation – so help them out!
When asked “situation-based” questions – have an answer!
Most interviewers these days will have a series of hypothetical questions that they will ask, in order to predict how you will behave in various situations. These are called behavioural-based questions, but could easily be called situation-based questions. They are asking these questions because they deem these situations to be likely to come up in the role you are applying for. It gives them confidence when you can say: “yes, that happened in my role at ABC and this is how I handled it”. Now, in truth, you won’t have always been in those situations in the past. If that is the case, give them either a well thought out hypothetical answer (“In that situation I would do this…”), or apply a similar experience that you have had, acknowledge the differences in the scenario, but highlight the similarities in the two situations. Then you can demonstrate how you actually handled yourself. Making no real attempt at an answer will reflect very badly on you.
Finish Well
When the interviewer lets you know the interview is over, stand up, smile warmly, look them in the eye, and thank them for the opportunity. If they haven’t outlined what the next step in the process is to be, it is perfectly OK for you to ask: “what is the process from here?"
