Preparing for Interviews

The following information is provided to help you be as successful as possible in your job interviews. Please refer to the section on ‘job interviews--do’s and don’ts on behavioural etiquettes and physical appearance.

Learn to make statements about yourself in these key areas:

Knowledge and Training

Example: B.S. degree in.......3.3 major GPA; projects completed

Experience

Examples: class projects; senior projects; volunteer work; employment

Present project or work titles and some specifics about the project

Skills and roles

Examples: organisational; communication; leadership; computer; laboratory; mechanical; Present specific skill names such as x computer language and job titles such as School Open HOuse Committee Chair etc.

Interests

Examples: professional and personal; clubs, volunteer work, athletics, music

Present specifics e.g. Sing in Cal Poly Choir; Ran L.A. Marathon; Active in IEEE

Goals

Short and Long term

Examples: to join a certain co-op; to enter a project in competition; to participate in XX program; to become a certain kind of engineer

Practise with friends or colleagues

The best way to prepare for an interview is to practise with friends, relatives, or a Career Counselor. Using this checklist to prepare yourself prior to any interview situation will help you stay calm and focused during the session. Name 2 to 3 skills, abilities, or exemplars for each question.

• What functional skills do you have to offer? (e.g. organisation, leadership, communication, analysis)
• What specific content skills you have to offer? (e.g. bookkeeping, financial planning, computer knowledge)
• What 2 or 3 adaptive skills do you have which will increase your value as an employee? (e.g. dependability, flexibility, creativity, sense of humour)
• What are your strength/weaknesses and what have you done to successfully overcome these weaknesses and improve yourself?
• What aspects of your relevant experience contributes to your qualifications for a particular position? (Include any volunteer work, special training, labs or community experience.)
• What special interest or activities do you participate in which indicate your further capability to perform well in the job? (State overall career goals, clubs, organisations, outside interests)

Know the employer and the position

• List 2 or 3 points about the employer that you want to mention in the interview. (e.g. product, organisation, structure, training program)
• List 2 or 3 points about the position that you may want to mention in the interviews.
• List 2 or 3 reasons why you want to work for this employer -- project your enthusiasm and your real desire to be hired by this employer.

Prepare questions to ask

An interview is a two way process; you are interviewing the employer while you are being interviewed. Spend some time thinking about what further information you need about the employer and the position. Good questions are ones that have been formulated through your own insight. Be sure, however, that your questions are not answered somewhere in the company literature or the job description.

You can interject your questions at any appropriate time during the interview.

The interviewer may signal that the interview is ending by asking whether you have any additional questions. If you do not have any concluding questions you may take this opportunity to summarise your valued to the employer and repeat your sincere interest in the position based on the additional information you gained during the interview. Before you leave the interview be sure to find out the next stop in the interview process. If the interviewer has not told you, it is appropriate to ask "When may I expect to hear from you?"

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Books
Suggested further reading: Career Planning Guide: books on interview preparation and interviewing in the Career and Internship Office

 

About Yourself

Current Affairs

Situational Questions

IQ Questions

Sample questions for the interviewer

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Links
Common interview questions

 

Do’s

Presentation

• Be punctual
• Be clean, tidy and presentable
• Be confident, natural and positive – Be yourself!
• Maintain eye contact with the interviewers
• Smile and nod appropriately

Exchange

• Listen to the questions carefully (if you don’t understand the question, ask for clarification)
• Give direct, concise and brief answers
• Stay focused on answering interviewer's questions
• Always match your strengths/professional knowledge/skills/work experience with the job requirements
• Give specific examples to illustrate your point (e.g. describe an actual experience in which you demonstrated your leadership)

Content

• Answer questions honestly – do not give “model answers”
• Show independent and logical thinking – do not repeat others’ views without having thought deeply about them.
• Answer the hidden questions
• Be prepared to be asked “awkward” questions (e.g. Your GPA is low, why? Well, you did not do well in public examinations. You have sat for HK Advanced Level Examination three times already.)
• Show enthusiasm and interest in the job

Don’ts

• Be late
• Be sloppy, narrow-minded, rude and passive
• Try to be someone else
• Memorise and recite answers to questions
• Lie, bluff, try to please
• Do not beat around the bush, do not “ramble”
• Talk too much/too little
• Oversell/over-humble
• Become emotional
• Try to be funny
• Unduly emphasise starting salary
• Linger over fringe benefits
• Attend an interview unprepared

 

Different companies and work requirements will determine how an interview is evaluated. Below is an example of a rating scheme which is used in CAIO’s mock interviews. It will give you a general picture of what interviewers are paying attention to in interviews.

Rating Key

• Excellent (would not be a problem in a job interview)
• Good (stand a good chance to get the job)
• Average (able to meet the basic requirements)
• Fair (rooms for improvement)
• Poor (needs intervention; could be a problem in a job interview)
• Very Poor (needs much improvement; will be a serious problem unless addressed)

First Impression/Grooming/Manners

• Gives feeling of confidence and energy when first meeting the interviewer
• Greets with a firm handshake, eye contact
• Has completed resume
• Is groomed well, is neatly and appropriately dressed
• Non-verbal Behavioural/Body Language
• Sits squarely in chair, has good posture
• Maintains open position (arms not crossed and so on)
• Maintains good eye contact throughout the interview
• Appears relatively relaxed, avoids fidgeting, maintains poise

Content of Job Interview

• Communicates effectively (clarity, focus, fluency, articulation)
• Expresses work values, explaining why job is wanted
• Matches knowledge/skills/experience with the job
• Relates past achievements to skills needed for the job
• Demonstrates interest in and enthusiasm for the job
• Answers interviewer’s questions with confidence
• Discusses issues by using professional knowledge
• Neutralises weaknesses or turns them into positives
• Avoids flat “yes” or “no” answers to questions
• Demonstrates maturity and personality that will suit the job/corporation

Closing the Interview

• Asks when interviewer will contact her about the hiring decision
• Thanks interviewer by name for the interview, asks for card and shakes hands again

 

It appears to be a trend that many big companies are using behavioural interviewing techniques on top of or in place of traditional ones. This is because behavioural interviews can better predict future on-the-job behaviour compared to traditional interviewing techniques.

While it may be possible for interviewees to figure out what an interviewer wants to hear if the interviewee is informed or intelligent enough as the interviewer may never know if the interviewee would really react in a given situation on the job, behavioral-based interviewing is more difficult to fein.

In a behavioural interview, it's much more difficult to give responses that are untrue to your character. When you start to tell a behavioural story, the behavioural interviewer typically will pick it apart to try to get at the specific behaviour(s). The interviewer will probe further for more depth or detail such as "What were you thinking at that point?" or "Tell me more about your meeting with that person," or "Lead me through your decision process." If you've told a story that's anything but totally honest, your response will not hold up through the barrage of probing questions.

Employers use the behavioural interview technique to evaluate a candidate's experiences and behaviours so they can determine the applicant's potential for success. The interviewer identifies job-related experiences, behaviours, knowledge, skills and abilities that the company has decided are desirable in a particular position.

Learn more about behavioral interviews

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Links
Behavior interviews