INTERVIEW

Introduction

What is an Interview?

An Interview is a meeting with an Objective. For employer, to find a good employee with desired skills. For candidate, to find a best suited Job.

What does employer analyse?

• Review candidate's experience & abilities.


• Can a candidate do the job? (skills, abilitie, qualifications)


• Will a candidate do the job? (interest, attitude & motivation)


• How will you fit into the organisation? (personality)

What goals a candidate have?

• Impress employer and assess position on offer.


• To know, what does this position offer me?


• To ananlyze, how does it fit with my career plans?


• Prove that you are the most suitable candidate for this position.

  Checklist before an Interview

  Review own skills, experiences and qualities

• Check your resume.
• Anticipate questions and identify relevant examples.
• Prepare key selling points.

Research the company and the position

• Know the company�s website inside out � this can give you a good idea of the company�s culture and values, and help you anticipate what questions they might ask in the interview. Look for a media or investors section of the website to see recent news releases.


• Contacts with knowledge of organisation or sector.


• Relevant articles in the press.

Prepare thoughtful questions

At the end of the interview, many recruiters will ask if you have any questions for them. Have two or three thoughtful questions prepared. This could be anything from questions about career progression within the company, to actual job responsibilities, to something you�ve noticed about the company in your research. Like,

• Training programmes.


• Career development opportunities.


• Types of projects & responsibilities.


• Reporting structure.


• Performance appraisal.


• Profile of staff.


• Questions about topics raised in interview.

Schedule mock interviews

Schedule mock interview(s) with friends / classmates / teammates.

First Impression

As is an old saying, "First impression is last impression!".

The same applies with Interview, First impression should be very powerful.

Take care about the following, before interview starts,

• Dress appropriately.


• Entrance, introductions & handshake.


• Smile and make eye contact.


• Be aware of own movements.


• Watch body language of interviewer.

During the interview,

• Don't panic. Take your time. Think about how to frame your answer.


• Be consistent. Changing your mind midstream will sound confused.


• LISTEN closely to the question. If you don't understand the problem, get the necessary clarification, then proceed. (Note: do not repeat for all questions)


• No one is perfect. If you make a mistake, admit it and then correct it.


• Be flexible. There are too many possible interview questions and targeted characteristics to prepare for them all, be ready for a �curve ball� question or two.


• Put yourself in the recruiter�s role. What characteristic(s) is this question trying to assess? If one of your stories matches with that characteristic, use it.


• Think before you answer. Recruiters generally prefer a pause followed by a well-thought out answer to a rambling non-answer.


• Keep responses reflective of professional work experience. Classroom may also be appropriate when examples from professional experiences are not available.


• Illustrate answers with real examples and evidence.


• Be positive � constructive criticism.


• Be specfic, speak clearly, smile and show enthusiasm.

Interview Types

Interview Type 1: Behavioral

• Used to assess how you have behaved in the past.
  Interviewer assumes past behaviors will predict how you will behave in the future.


• Each question is testing a specific competency. Try to anticipate what those competencies might be, based on the job description or your company research, then determine what questions might test that competency.
  
  For example,
  “Give an example of an occasion when …”
  “Tell me about a situation where you had to deal with a very upset customer or coworker.” (To test conflict resolution abilities.)
  “Describe the last time you were unsuccessful in getting someone to follow your lead.” (Project management.)
  “How would you describe your managerial (or leadership, communication, etc.) style?” (Leadership)

Preparation Tips - Behavioral

Look back at your successes - on and off of your resume.
Think of specific incidents or situations where your behavior led to those successes.
The listener will be assessing how a candidate will handle various situations for this job based on past behavior.
Think of times you’ve failed, what you’ve learned from those experiences and how you would behave differently if the situation happened again.
Come up with 10-12 stories that focus on different skills or competencies.

Use the STAR Technique to structure your answers:
S : briefly explain the background of the Situation
T : identify your Tasks in the situation (or, role)
A : describe what Actions you took to resolve the situation and why
R : describe the Results of your behavior

Example – Behavioral Question

Question:

Tell me about a time you resolved a conflict with a coworker?

• Step One : determine what behavior is being assessed. This is clearly about working in a team.


• Step Two : choose an example. When have you worked in a team? Notice, this isn’t about when you were the leader, so don’t be too narrow in the situation. If you haven’t formally been in a team, consider what a team is – a group of people working toward a common goal. In that case, your team could include customers, suppliers, etc.


• Step Three : organize your response using the STAR technique. In the Actions stage, say WHAT you did and WHY you did it. Make sure there are several action steps. Note that the Results stage indicates the result of the behavior identified in step one (i.e., your superior teamwork skills) as well as that of the problem in the Task stage.

Answer:

Situation : When working on a project to implement a new website, a teammate and I disagreed about the relative importance of content versus graphics in communicating our point to the user.

Task : As a member of the team, it was my responsibility to see that the whole team was successful.

Actions :

• I went to my coworker to talk face to face, because Internet communications tend to escalate problems.


• I asked him not only for more details on his opinion, but also why he believed that and how he saw that meeting the users’ needs. It is important to understand other people’s needs, so hopefully a solution can be found that meets both our needs.


• I also communicated what I wanted out of the project, and why so that he knew what my concerns are and that I too wanted to be successful.


• We found it helpful to list out our goals on a white board, which also helped keep the discussion objective.


• Then we identified the commonalities of our concerns, so he knew we were definitely trying to accomplish the same thing.

Results : Because of this we were able to craft a solution.

Interview Type 2: Situational

• Used to assess how you would react to a situation.


• Similar in structure to behavioral interviews.


• Interviewer sets up a hypothetical situation and asks how you would behave.


• Structure your response with a modified STAR format (note that the employer will have already provided you with a situation). Identify your Task or responsibility, outline what Actions you would take, state what Results you would expect from those actions and why.


• This technique may be used when the interviewer does not expect you to have already demonstrated a certain competence. If you have actually been in a similar situation, you could respond to the situation and then turn it into a behavioral question. “I was in a similar situation when …”

Interview Type 3: Case Interviews

• Used to assess analytical ability given a set of facts and a situation (the case).


• Can be either oral or written and in some cases are conducted in group format.


• Can seek to integrate a broad, strategic perspective; a functional, focused perspective; or simply your quantitative, problem solving skills.


• Skills assessed in the case interview:
  Leadership, analytical, presentation, energy, attention to detail, quantitative, flexibility, maturity, intelligence.


• Sample case interview situation:
  You are advising a credit card company that wants to market a prepaid phone card to its customers. Is this a good idea?
  Your client is losing market share across all three categories of hair coloring (women’s, men’s, specialty) and are concerned about profitability. Analyze the situation and create an action plan.
  How many square feet of pizza are eaten in the U.S. each month? (‘Brainteasers’ or ‘guesstimates’ are assessing your quantitative and estimation skills, as well as soft skills such as grace under pressure and the ability to think on your feet.)

  Stressful situations and Interpersonal conflicts Questions

  Category: Coping with stressful situations and interpersonal conflicts

• Tell me about a time when you had to cope with strict deadlines or time demands. Give me an example.
• Give me an example of a time at work when you had to deal with unreasonable expectations of you. What parts of your behavior were mature and immature?
• When have you had to cope with the anger or hostility of another person? Be specific.
• It is not unusual to be in a setting at work that will be physically demanding or hazardous. Tell me about a time when you were able to do a job in spite of difficult conditions.
• Sooner or later we all deal with interpersonal conflict or personal rejection at work. Give me an example of a time when you had to cope with these demands.
• Tell me about a high stress situation when it was desirable for you to keep a positive attitude. What happened?
• Describe a high pressure situation you had to handle at work. Tell me what happened, who was involved, and what you did in terms of problem solving.
• Give me an example of a time when another person really tried your patience. Specifically, talk about a time when you were angry or frustrated and felt like attacking the other person.
• Tell me about a time when you brought two reluctant people or groups together.
• Describe the worst customer or coworker you have ever had and tell me how you dealt with him or her.
• Tell me about a situation in the past year in which you had to deal with a very upset customer or coworker.
• Tell me about the last time you had to smooth over a disagreement between two other people. What was the end result?
• Describe the last time you confronted a peer about something he/she did that bothered you. What were the circumstances? After realizing the problem, how long did you wait to confront the peer? What did you do? How did you feel about it afterwards?
• Tell me about the most difficult or uncooperative person you had to work with lately. What did you do or say to resolve the situation? What was the outcome?
• Tell me about a team member from whom it was tough to gain cooperation. How did you handle the situation?
• Tell me about a time when you handled a conflict you were having with a parent/friend/boss/peer/direct report.
• Tell me about a time when you handled an arrogant person or one who made you angry.
• What is your typical way of dealing with conflict? Give me an example.
• Tell me about a time you were able to successfully deal with another person even when that individual may not have personally liked you (or vice versa).
• Describe a time when you were faced with problems or stresses at work that tested your coping skills. What did you do?

  Motivating others and Leadership skills Questions

  Category: Motivating others and Leadership skills

• Give me an example of a time when you used facts and reason to persuade another person to take action. Be specific.
• Even though the use of authority in a leadership role is not popular, it IS necessary in some situations. Give me and example of some situation when you used your authority to influence another individual. Be specific.
• Organizations are built on the principle of delegation. Give me an example of the greatest success you ever had in the use of delegation. Take time to think of the best example you can and be specific in describing it.
• Instead of simply using authority to influence another individual, it is sometimes desirable to lead other persons by setting a positive example for them to follow. Describe a work situation when your example served as a model for others.
• Being able to change another person's behavior is both a skill and a responsibility. Tell me about a time when you were successful in this area-what kind of payoffs accrued to yourself, the other individual, and the organization?
• Individuals vary in their abilities to use power or persuasion to influence others. Give me an example of a time when you used either power or persuasion to guide another person to a worthwhile objective. Be specific.
• Currently the 'buzz word' to describe a certain quality that people in a leadership position have is 'charisma'. Give me an example of how YOU have used personal charisma or charm to lead others.
• Communications and leadership go hand in hand. Give me an example of a time when your communication skills were powerful enough to enable you to influence the way others thought or acted, even in a very difficult situation.
• Do you believe people are really all motivated in the same basic ways or are there big differences? Tell me about the different ways you use to motivate people.
• Tell me about a time when your attempt to motivate a person/group was rejected. What have you done to remotivate a demoralized team/person?
• Has poor motivation on someone else's part ever damaged anything you were trying to accomplish?
• What have you learned about what motivates you? Can you use this to motivate others, or do you think everyone is different?
• Determining the appropriate person to whom to delegate a task can sometimes be difficult. Tell me about a time when you delegated an important project/task/assignment to the wrong person. What happened? Why?
• What kind of a project/task/assignment wouldn't you delegate? Can you give me an example of a time you decided not to delegate this kind of work? Why?
• When delegating an important project/task/assignment, it is important to convey your trust and confidence in that person's ability to do the job. Give me an example of how you did this on a recent assignment you delegated.
• In a leadership position/leading a task force or project, tell me how you organize the workload, set objectives, follow-up, and monitor results.
• How do you determine what is right or fair in delegating tasks/roles/responsibilities within your organization?
• Have you ever had to manage a team that was not up to the task? Give me an example of what you did to strengthen them. How did it work out?
• Give me an example of when you felt you were able to build motivation in your coworkers or subordinates.
• Can you tell me about a job experience in which you had to speak up and tell other people what you thought or felt?
• Describe a situation in which you were able to positively influence the actions of others in a desired direction.
• Describe a situation in which others within your organization depended on you.
• Describe the last time you were unsuccessful in getting someone to follow you lead.
• How do you motivate others to do a particularly good job?
• Give me an example of when you showed initiative and took the lead.
• In a supervisory or group leader role, have you ever had to discipline or counsel an employee or group member? What was the nature of the discipline? What steps did you take? How did that make you feel? How did you prepare yourself?
• Describe a time when you got co-workers or classmates who dislike each other to work together. How did you accomplish this? What was the outcome?

  Goal Setting Questions

  Category: Goal Setting

• Give me an example of an important goal which you had set in the past and tell me about your success in reaching it.
• Tell me what you do in order to ensure that you have enough time set aside for goal setting-then review for me the specific times in which you have initiated your own goal setting over the last few years. What happened?
• In an aggressive working environment, it is often necessary to prioritize goals to be sure that effort is allocated appropriately. Tell me about the most important time in your working history when you prioritized your goals successfully.
• Tell me about the system that you use for goal setting. To what extent does it involve using written objectives, paper work or forms? Describe a specific instance in which you defined your goals and objectives in writing.
• What important target dates did you set to reach objectives on your last job? How did you set the dates? Exactly what were they, and what were your results?
• Goal statements are often made to meet the expectations of others. Tell me about a time when you took the initiative to set goals and objectives, even though you were not prompted or directed by others to do so.
• What have been your experiences in defining long range goals? Tell me what specific goal was set, how it was set, and how successful you were in its achievement.
• Goal statements can be used to manage your own work activities since they enable you to guide day-to-day actions successfully. Describe an especially favorable experience you've had in using goals to guide your own actions.
• Give me an example of a time when you used a systematic process to define your objectives. What type of system did you use? What payoff did you get from using the process?
• �I have a job.� �I have a career.� �I�m on a mission.� What�s the difference between those three statements, and which one applies to you?

  Achievements and Accomplishments Questions

  Category: Achievements and Accomplishments

• Describe some projects or ideas (not necessarily your own) that were implemented, or carried out successfully primarily because of your efforts
• What was the most complex assignment you have had? What was your role?
• What has been your most rewarding accomplishment?
• How do you determine or evaluate success? Give me an example of one of your successful accomplishments
• Please tell me about some of the accomplishments you achieved during college and which make you the proudest.
• Please tell me about accomplishments in your academic program that are relevant to your future career goals
• What are your greatest achievements at this point in your life? Of what accomplishments are you most proud?
• Tell us about your accomplishments in these prior work experiences. What was your most significant achievement?
• What are some of the books you�ve read recently?