Successful Interview Skills: How to Prepare PDF

 i Successful interview skills How to prepare, answer tough questions and get your ideal job 5th edition Rebecca Corfield London and Philadelphia  ii To TB First published in 1992 Second edition 1999 Third edition 2002 Fo...

 i Successful interview skills How to prepare, answer tough questions and get your ideal job 5th edition Rebecca Corfield London and Philadelphia  ii To TB First published in 1992 Second edition 1999 Third edition 2002 Fourth edition 2006 Fifth edition 2009 Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of research or private study, or criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, this publication may only be reproduced, stored or transmitted, in any form or by any means, with the prior permission in writing of the publishers, or in the case of reprographic reproduction in accordance with the terms of licences issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside those terms should be sent to the publishers at the undermentioned addresses: Kogan Page Limited Kogan Page US 120 Pentonville Road 525 South 4th Street, #241 London N1 9JN Philadelphia PA 19147 United Kingdom USA www.koganpage.com © Rebecca Corfield, 1992, 1999, 2002, 2006, 2009 British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library. ISBN 978 0 7494 5652 8 Library of Congress Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Corfield, Rebecca. Successful interview skills : how to prepare, answer tough questions and get your ideal job / Rebecca Corfield.--5th ed. p. cm Includes index. ISBN 978-0-7494-5652-8 1. Interviewing--Handbooks, manuals, etc. 2. Self-presentation. I. Title BF637.I5T44 2009 650.14⬘4--dc22 2009012312 Typeset by Saxon Graphics Ltd, Derby Printed and bound in India by Replika Press Pvt Ltd  iii Contents Introduction 1 1 The interview 7 What is an interview? 7; Types of interview 8; Other assessment methods 10; Why do interviews take place? 11; What happens in an interview? 12; What are interviews about? 13; What leads to success in interviews? 13 2 What employers are looking for 17 Providing proof that you are the right candidate 18; The most common mistakes 21; De-mystifying the interview 23; Stressing your contribution 24 3 Planning and preparation 27 Importance of planning and preparation 27; Your view of yourself 28; How you see the employer 28; Research 29; Analysing the job 31; How to find out more 32; Areas of likely questioning 35; Mind the gap! Covering up your weak spots 39; Maximising your strengths 39; Golden rules 40; Which questions to ask? 41 4 Creating the best impression 45 The importance of personal image 45; Creating a positive first impression 46; Appearance 48;  iv  Contents Behaviour 53; Confidence 55; Positive mental attitude 56; The journey 59; Voice 59; Controlling nerves 60 5 Making a presentation 71 Giving a presentation 71; Types of presentation 73; Preparing a presentation 76; Rehearsing your presentation 77; Using visual aids 78 6 Answering interview questions 81 Examples of interview questions and answers 81; Dealing with tricky situations 115; Internal vacancies 118; Money 119 7 Bringing it all together 123 Step-by-step checklist 123; Learning from experience 127; Other sources of help 128 Appendix 1: Internet resources 131 Appendix 2: Index of questions 135 Index 139 A selection of the general interview questions and answers featured in this book is available to download and print out from the Kogan Page website. To access simply go to www.koganpage.com/SuccessfulInterviewSkills and enter the password: SI5719  Introduction The importance of interviews Imagine you have been applying for jobs recently. Today an invitation to an interview arrives. How do you feel as you read the letter? Elated, inspired and raring to go? Or terrified, resigned to your fate and overcome with a sense of impending doom? Does this second description sound like the way you would be feeling? Feeling down about your chances, writing off your skills and experience and convincing yourself that you won’t get anywhere? Perhaps that is the way that you have reacted to being called to interviews in the past. There is nothing more likely to make that gloomy prediction come true than mentally closing down your chances of success right from the outset. You should feel excited and enthusiastic if you get the chance of an interview. Wasn’t this why you applied for the post in the first place? After all, you went for the job because you wanted a chance to prove to the employer that you would be the best person for the job. You put in all the effort needed during the application process because you wanted to be awarded the position. It is very rare to receive a job offer without having a job interview first, so getting an interview brings you closer to your desired goal. However, you are not 2  Successful interview skills alone in feeling dread at the thought of having to put yourself on show before a potential employer. We all share the worry that we will not come across well when under scrutiny, and we all fear that we will go through the stress and strain of getting prepared for nothing as we will not be in with any real chance of getting the job anyway. Negative attitudes such as this represent the kiss of death for any job interview. If you start out feeling unconfident there is a danger that you will enter the interview itself labelling yourself a loser. A negative attitude will be noticed by interviewers immediately. They are alert to candidates who are uncomfortable and ill-at-ease, and are less likely to be impressed by them than those who appear more relaxed and sure of themselves. If you really want to move jobs, get promoted, change your career and get ahead, isn’t it time you found out how to take more control when putting yourself forward? The familiar patterns from the past of worry and failure can be changed. You do not have to keep on falling into the same traps that you have been setting for yourself. Turning natural worries and fears into determination and dynamism is the subject of this book, and it can teach you how to make these changes in your own life. Interviews are a fact of modern working life and the skills needed to do well at an interview will be used by us all many times throughout our lives. Most jobs are filled using these one-to-one meetings between the employer and the best applicants, but interviews are needed in a variety of other situations too. Whether applying for a job, a promotion, a training programme, a college course, or even a bank loan, we all need to know exactly what is involved in the process of interviews, and about how to impress people at first meeting and in a short space of time. With part-time and temporary work increasing we will all be attending inter- views more frequently from now on and the sort of inter- views we have will be varied. You may be talking to a recruitment agency, be called in to see an employer for an  Introduction  3 informal pre-interview discussion, or be interviewed for a job over the telephone or via the internet. The skills involved in creating a favourable impression on others and presenting ourselves at the interview are the same set of skills that make us confident at meeting people in any situation – whether at work or socially. If you know how to generate a positive effect, how to have an impact on others and present yourself as an interesting and valuable person, you will be a winner in all areas of your life, not just in the interview room. Your self-confidence will grow, your social poise will be enhanced in a variety of situations such as making new friends, having discussions with potential business partners or funders with regard to setting up your own business, or talking to clients and customers once you are in a job. Interviews are difficult and a strain at the best of times and there are few people who really look forward to the expe- rience. Even the most confident and extrovert of candidates will suffer from the jitters prior to walking in to the interview room. Whether applying for a course or a job, appearing in front of just one person or a panel, you need to know how to present yourself confidently and enthusiastically. Interviews are often seen as the one big hurdle between us and the job we want. We feel we are in control of what we choose to include in our CV or on the application form, but the interview seems much more unpredictable and uncertain. However, an interview, whether for a job vacancy or any other purpose, is really a marvellous opportunity. Why? Because you are in control of the way you come across during the interview. The way that you choose to act and sound and the answers that you decide to give, all contribute to forming the impression that the interviewer will be left with. Many people think that it is a pure fluke whether they are successful in interviews or not. To them, the outcome seems to depend on whether their face fits, being in the right place 4  Successful interview skills at the right time or some other unidentifiable cause. But the outcome of the interview process is not merely determined by chance. We are able to exercise considerable control and influence over the way the interview is conducted and, more importantly, over the outcome. You, for instance, will decide how to dress and act and exactly what you want to convey about yourself. Your history, experience and skills are not just a list on a sheet of paper; they represent the story of your life which needs to be explained and shown in a positive light. No one can talk for you in the interview room – that is part of the reason that it is a daunting prospect, but it also enables you to be in charge of the way you come across to the other people present. No one can make you look or behave in a way that you do not want to. In the same way you cannot be made to say anything you do not agree with. Let us hold on to this comforting thought. Although it may be difficult to believe when the offer of an interview arrives, the interview will go the way that you lead it. Of course you will not be in control of selecting the panel of interviewers and it is not up to you to choose the candi- dates also going for the job, but all the aspects of your own behaviour on the day are in your control. There are many things that you can do to improve your chances of appearing to be the best person for the job on the day. Needless to say, attaining this level of control involves some effort. You will have to do some initial work on yourself to get this to happen. First you will need to do some planning work to think about your strengths and weaknesses; how others see you; what your work history conveys to other people; what impression you want to create when you walk in to the interview room and how to correct any incorrect judgements that may be made about you. Secondly you will need to do some prepa- ration. You will need to think about how you will answer interview questions and particularly which aspects of your working life you want to bring to the fore and which you want to leave in the shadows; you will need to concentrate on your  Introduction  5 body language and facial expressions and you will need to work on controlling your nerves under pressure. How to get the most out of this book This book can show you how to begin to exercise more control over interviews. Whether you are applying for jobs or courses at the moment, learning about interview tech- niques for the first time, advising other people on the best way to approach interviews, or if you just want to refresh your techniques for the future, this book will be able to help. For no matter how many times any of us face the interviewer across the table, we can still learn how to refine and improve our performance and put ourselves across more positively. You may have picked up this book just to reassure yourself that you have not forgotten anything, especially if it has been a while since you last attended an interview. You may feel worried that you may not come across well when the time comes to meet potential employers. Some of the advice given may seem to be common sense but, when running training courses in interviewing skills and personal presentation, I am often surprised to find that such basic points need re-stating, and that is why they are included here. Of course, I do not claim that this book will make you successful at getting any job, and I assume that you will only be applying for those vacancies for which you can reasonably expect to be considered. However, if we study the candidates who are successful at interview, we will discover some common characteristics which are listed later on in this book. Chapter 1 describes the interview process, explaining exactly what happens in an interview. Looking specifically at job interviews, we consider what employers are trying to achieve by using interviews as a method of selecting staff. 6  Successful interview skills Different types of interview are covered so that you know what to expect in a variety of circumstances. Chapter 2 moves on to look at the whole interview process through the eyes of the employer. It covers the 10 most common mistakes that people make and also gives the recipe for success in inter- views. Chapter 3 introduces planning for your interview and preparing for the big day. Suggestions include ways of finding out more about the employer; considering all aspects of the job; thinking through the image you want to portray and how to anticipate all the important aspects of the interview in advance. Chapter 4 describes how to create the best first impression that you can. It covers what makes up the image that we convey in an interview, focusing on body language, personal appearance, using your voice and controlling nerves. In Chapter 5 the nerve-racking task of giving a presentation as part of your interview is explored. This chapter looks at how your presentation should be put together and outlines methods of generating extra impact with the audience. Chapter 6 moves on to give 50 sample questions that are likely to crop up at your interview. Suggested answers are included across the whole range of questions, together with advice about how to handle especially tricky situations that may occur. In conclusion, Chapter 7 draws all this infor- mation together and provides a step-by-step guide to successful interview skills. At the end of each chapter you will find handy lists of what to do and what not to do, which summarise the key aspects in the text, together with some specific points to remember as you move forward. Details of some helpful internet resources are given in Appendix 1 at the end of the book. You will find everything you need in this book to increase your chances of succeeding at your next job interview.  1 The interview What is an interview? The dictionary defines an interview as a face-to-face meeting for the purposes of consultation. In other words, it is a discussion between two or more people for one reason or another. Organisations, companies and institutions use this method of meeting and discussion to help them choose the best candidates to employ. By far the biggest cost to an employer is the staff or work- force. Wages and salaries often make up 70 per cent or more of a business’ total costs and the price of advertising for new staff is high. Apart from being expensive, making mistakes in recruitment can cause major problems. As well as being awful for the person concerned, a worker who is unhappy or unable to do their job properly can be a great burden, and if conflicts develop they could destabilise the whole team and may ulti- mately jeopardise the output or function of the entire organi- sation. Obviously decisions about who to employ have to be taken very seriously. It is therefore not surprising that employers spend a great deal of time and money trying to ensure that they pick the right person for each job. In this context, the right person means the individual who will contribute most to the good of 8  Successful interview skills the company or organisation and who will repay the time and money invested in them as an employee by staying with the company and performing well. Types of interview Interviews come in many shapes and sizes depending on their function. Most interviews are for the purpose of selecting someone for a job vacancy. The employer, senior managers or human resources (often abbreviated to HR) staff will meet with possible candidates, ask them a series of questions and then decide which person to offer the job to. Not all inter- views are to do with applying for jobs though. For example, you may be interviewed to become a college student or to secure a place on a training course, to start voluntary work or to join a social club or society. Starting a new job does not necessarily mean that you have done your last interview for a while either. Many of us will be frequently interviewed once we are in a job, or studying on a course, by our supervisors, managers or tutors. These interviews can have a variety of purposes: to appraise or review our progress; to monitor our performance in the job; to consider specific projects; to help us plan our future development; to resolve work or study problems and sometimes for mediation or disciplinary matters if work difficulties persist. Your ability to perform at these kinds of interviews once in a job can be a significant factor in your future career devel- opment. Your profile with your managers and your repu- tation in the organisation can be affected by the way you handle all your interview experiences. Every event from regular work or team reviews to personal development planning and performance appraisals is a form of interview and needs your effective participation to make it a success. What these different types of interview have in common is  The interview  9 the need for you to put yourself across clearly, by showing your unique contribution to the team effort as well as your individual skills and strengths. You need to know how to plan ahead for every type of interview, how to prepare adequately for them all and come over at your best from start to finish. About interviews The people who interview you for a job are likely to be complete strangers, unless you are applying for a vacancy in an organisation in which you already work. Most of us would prefer to face people we do not know at interview as this makes it easier to describe ourselves freely, putting the slant we want on our answers. However, not all panels are composed of unfamiliar faces. Finding ex- or present employers on the interview panel can be disconcerting and it can feel constraining when trying to describe our best behaviour when members of the panel may have had expe- rience of us at our worst! When you are invited for an interview, it will usually take place in a private space where your discussion will not be interrupted or overheard. The exact physical arrangements will vary according to the kind of job you are applying for. Interviews normally take place sitting down and can range from an informal chat in easy chairs over a coffee table to a formal panel interview (ie with more than one person inter- viewing) across a leather-topped boardroom table. More junior jobs tend to be decided by a one-to-one interview, usually with the employer, line manager or direct supervisor for the post in question. Panel interviews Panel interviews, where more than one person conducts the interview, are usually held for more senior roles or where 10  Successful interview skills responsibility for overseeing the vacancy is divided between different people. An example could be for the post of a customer care manager. The Director of the organisation may be present together with the Head of Customer Relations and the Human Resources Manager. In larger organisations a member of the human resources department will often be present to ensure consistent standards of interviewing are maintained for the recruitment of all staff and to provide specialist employment information and advice, if needed. Other assessment methods Interviews for jobs with larger companies or for more senior roles are sometimes part of a much more complicated and extended selection procedure that can involve exercises, discussions, group activities, presentations and tests. These activities are designed to assess how the personality and values of the candidate fit those of the organisation and to test their intellect and ability. Often the exercises used are based on potential workplace situations. These simulations are intended to be more objective than just using an interview as they allow candidates to show their behaviour in a live situation rather than just talking about examples from their past. They also allow candidates to be assessed over a wide variety of tasks rather than just at an interview. Sometimes these selection procedures take place at what is called an assessment centre, often based at the head office of the organisation concerned, although it can also be at a hotel. The title, ‘assessment centre’, conjures up a picture of a specialised venue just for assessing candidates, but this is rarely the case. It just refers to the range of assessment activ- ities that have been decided upon for a particular selection and the venue is the one that is most convenient for the organ- isation. You will normally be given an outline of the kind of activities that you will face before the interview, which can  The interview  11 give you the chance to prepare as much as possible for them. However, often the exact detail of the particular exercises will remain a secret until the day you attend the centre. Tests can range from written papers to assess your person- ality, aptitude or abilities, to informal social groupings to assess your ‘fit’ into the group of staff with whom you would be working. Case studies, role-play, negotiation exercises and team challenges can all be used. Tests will be used to check your technical or specialist understanding of problems. Some aptitude tests look at general abilities or your capacity to thrive in particular employment positions. General management vacancies may use this kind of psychometric test to see if you are suited to high pressure group leadership. Some employers such as the Armed Forces also put candidates through a series of physical challenges such as an obstacle course to test fitness, determi- nation and initiative. In-tray exercises for jobs that involve strategic decisions will ask candidates to work against the clock to analyse and prioritise a file of paperwork, some of which conflict so that you are forced to make choices about where your priorities would lie. You may, quite often, also be asked to give a presentation on some aspect of the position applied for, as part of the selection process. If this is the case it will be made clear in your letter of invitation to the interview. Chapter 5 covers in detail how to handle giving such a presentation. Why do interviews take place? Interviews are held to gather information and to appraise character. In an interview for a job the employer first selects those applicants who seem worth interviewing. The next step is to find out which of the shortlisted candidates (those chosen for interview) would be the most suitable person for the job. 12  Successful interview skills If I asked you to find out about somebody whom you had never met before, you would probably choose to talk to that person face to face. Interviews are just a common-sense way for people to meet, find out about each other and ask each other questions. So, as well as the employer seeing you, you also have the chance to make your own decisions about the employer, the job on offer and the type of organisation or company concerned. If you are selected to come for an interview there is every chance that you could end up getting the job. The employer likes what you have said about yourself so far and wants to know more about you. What happens in an interview? After applying for a job, you will be informed that the employer wishes you to attend at a specific place and time and you will probably be one of a group of people who have been shortlisted or specially chosen, from all the others who also applied for the position, to be seen individually by the employer. The employer will have sifted through the applica- tions for the post, selecting for the shortlist those who best fit the specification for the job and those whose details on paper seem to represent having some kind of extra value to them. You will be asked to confirm that you are able to attend the interview. On the day of your interview when you arrive at the company, if you have not already completed an appli- cation form, you may be asked to complete a form giving your personal details. At the appointed time you will be called in to the interview room and invited to sit facing your interviewer, often across, or around, a table or desk. The employer will ask you questions for a period of between 20 minutes and an hour on average, depending on the type of job applied for and the level of your experience and qualifications. Interviews for more senior jobs can take  The interview  13 longer. At the end of this time you may be able to ask the employer some questions relating to the position applied for. (Chapter 6 contains more information about the type of questions that you may want to ask at this point.) This normally marks the end of the interview. It is quite common for the interviewer to take notes about your answers in order to remember the main points after your discussion so do not be rattled by this – just ignore it. For some jobs you will be asked to prepare a presentation on your ideas for the position. If so, this usually takes place before your interview begins. It can be a valuable chance to put across ideas you think can contribute to the organisation. Chapter 5 tells you how to approach this task. What are interviews about? Interviews are like examinations at the end of a course of study. You know that you have done well so far on the course, and you know in advance roughly what areas the questions are going to cover. In the same way you know that you have done well in the selection process up to this point, or the employer would not have invited you for the interview. You also know in advance roughly what will be covered in the questions to be asked. This often surprises people but most interviews are very similar in their content and the majority of questions you will be asked are predictable. The sample questions in Chapter 6 cover most that you will ever be faced with in a job interview What leads to success in interviews? In the same way as thorough preparation leads to success in examinations, so a system for approaching interviews can have the same outcome. Most of the talking done in the interview will be by you. This means that you can have a fair 14  Successful interview skills measure of control in deciding where the interview is going. You cannot set all the questions yourself, but you can calculate fairly accurately what subject areas will be covered and plan your answers accordingly. Of course, not every interview you attend will be successful and even the most successful careerist will fail many inter- views, but still end up in rewarding and challenging work. The best approach is to try to present yourself in the best way and treat each new interview as a learning experience. Dos and don’ts ✔ Do be prepared to do some work in advance to help you do your best. ✔ Do treat each interview as a chance to see what you think and feel about the employer. ✔ Do approach each interview positively – it may be an opportunity to move your career forward. ✘ Don’t turn down an interview just because you are scared – this job could have your name on it. ✘ Don’t think that you can just breeze in – proper preparation is vital. ✘ Don’t let panic get the better of you – you are more likely to succeed if you keep calm.  The interview  15 Points to remember 1. Keep an open mind about what you may be faced with in the interview. More varied methods of selection are now being introduced. 2. Try not to live in the past. Just because you were not successful in previous interviews does not mean that the next time will be the same. 3. Avoid trying to fake your answers in tests. Most tests are sophisticated enough to spot any inconsist- encies in what you say. 4. Be yourself: if you are not successful it may be that a better job for you is just around the corner. 5. Almost everyone who was ever employed had to go through a job interview to get where they are today. 16 THIS PAGE HAS BEEN INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK  17 2 What employers are looking for The only reason why you will be invited to an interview is because the employer wants to find out more about you to ascertain whether you are the best candidate for the job. Sometimes people believe that they are called in to be tested with trick questions or put under pressure. This is very rarely the case. No sensible employer can afford the time for, or the expense of, such games. You will be interviewed for one purpose only – to find out exactly who you are and how you would deal with certain situations likely to crop up in the job. You are only there because your initial approach, whether through application form or curriculum vitae (CV), has inter- ested the employer enough to want to know more. Whatever you have said so far has worked. Case study A business, Stephens’ Circuits, needed a new supervisor for their main depot. They had an internal candidate who had been taking on the role temporarily for the last six months and they thought he would be ideal for the job. 18  Successful interview skills However, they wanted to be fair in their recruitment practices so they placed an advert in the local press and Jobcentre Plus. Four people were shortlisted from the 20 who applied. On the day of the interviews, one of the external candi- dates so far outshone the favoured internal candidate that she was unanimously chosen for the post. Her preparation for the interview, her knowledge of the work and her enthu- siasm for the role won her the job. The internal candidate, however, felt embarrassed at having to sell himself in front of familiar colleagues, answered in monosyllables and did not give any evidence that he would be the best candidate. Even when your chances are limited in relation to other candidates, if you perform best on the day of the interview, you may win through to get the job, even when another candidate looks more promising on paper. Providing proof that you are the right candidate If you have been called for an interview, there is no reason why you should not be the person who eventually gets offered the job. You stand just as much chance of being successful as any of the other candidates to be interviewed. How you have positioned yourself so far has worked. The way you described yourself on the paper application has appealed to the employer and you are amongst the front runners to get the job. To capitalise on your success so far, you must research thoroughly exactly what you put in your CV or application form. The mixture of your background and your current situation has appealed to the person short-listing for the interview.  What employers are looking for  19 Let us consider the interview situation for a moment. What is happening there? A strange situation has been set up – we do not normally have to talk to total strangers about our personal details but in a job interview we have to divulge everything about our background, experiences and person- ality to the employer. This situation arises because the employer has something that we want – the job – and we are ‘on show’ to convince them that we are the most suitable candidate for that job. The best candidate on the day may not be the one with the longest experience or the widest set of skills, as this could be ascertained from a simple comparison of the application forms. It will be the person who seems to fit in best and is most impressive on the day of the interview and this is why your whole performance will be taken into account when the decision about who to give the job to is made. Employers have to make their decision based on three areas relevant to any job:  your qualifications and skills – what you know and what you can do;  your experience and work background – where you have been and what you have done;  your personality and character – who you are and how you behave. The most important of these is the last one. Candidates may fall short of the advertised skills and qualifications for a job and often too lack the required experience but still manage to convince the employer that they are the best candidate on offer. How? By stressing that they have the right personality to fit into the organisation and contribute fully to the fortunes of that company. Skills can be taught and experience can be gained once in the job if necessary – but one’s personality cannot be changed so easily. 20  Successful interview skills In a competitive job market where there may be many competent candidates for every job, satisfying these three bullet points (page 19) are the minimum required for possible employment. Where several able and experienced candidates are in front of an interview panel they will make their decision based on two more factors:  your vision – your ideas about how you see the job/ department/organisation developing;  your added value – that extra something that you can contribute over and above the other candidates. Most employers are not experts on the job that is covered by the vacancy. They are busy each day running the organisation or the department and they need to employ someone who can come in and do the job as advertised. Ideally the person recruited will hit the ground running once in the job, ie be able to start working effectively right from the first day. They will be clear about the priorities and certain of the best way to move forward. The employer will be able just to hand over the reins and leave it all up to the new employee to make it all work properly. This is where the bullet point above about having some vision comes in. You need to really think about the job, imagine yourself doing it and then look ahead to envisage:  What will be involved – what will you be doing when you begin work?  What three key things do you think it will be most important to do when you start?  Where do you think this job is going in the longer term? If you can convey a sense that you can ‘own’ this job and look after the part of the business it concerns, you will come over as a very valuable addition to the organisation. No employer wants a new person at work who has to have their  What employers are looking for  21 hand held for the first three months of their employment. This would be just too much of a drain and a responsibility, and represents a major investment of time and trouble. Employers want you to be able to come in, settle in and get stuck in straight away with the minimum of fuss and effort. The most common mistakes In my research with employers over many years, these are the 10 most common reasons for failure at interview. 1. Arriving at the interview unprepared for what is to follow. 2. Having a sloppy appearance or too relaxed an attitude to the interview. 3. Not showing any excitement about, or enthusiasm for, the work. 4. Not seeming to understand the requirements of the job properly. 5. Not showing that they have fully considered all aspects of the vacancy, eg indicating a dislike of paperwork when it is clear that this will form a large part of the job on offer. 6. Not answering the questions fully and giving answers that are too short. 7. Being vague about details and just providing lots of unstructured waffle in their answers. 8. Not being clear about their skills and abilities, ie being too vague or modest. 9. Seeming overly concerned with what they can get from the job rather than conveying exactly what they are offering. 10. Using pretentious language or jargon instead of normal speech. 22  Successful interview skills Do any of these numbered points look familiar to you? Most people have been guilty of one or more of them during inter- views. Normally it is feelings of nerves that stop us from coming across at our best. We fail to hear the questions properly; lose the thread of what we are trying to say; totally forget the excellent examples that we prepared to talk about and feel embarrassed about blowing our own trumpet too much. It is obvious that this type of behaviour is not going to help anyone get a job. However, it is useful to realise how inter- views are lost so that we make sure we are aware of what not to do. Then we can concentrate on acting in a way that will ensure that we are successful. Reasons for success These are the 10 qualities that are most in demand by employers: 1. Flexibility. 2. Helpful and caring attitude to clients and customers. 3. Supportive team member. 4. Keen to take on responsibility to organise people or projects. 5. Having a positive attitude in the face of difficulties or challenges. 6. Displaying enthusiasm for the work. 7. Able to handle change. 8. Looking smart. 9. Ready to participate in continual learning. 10. Good time-keeping.  What employers are looking for  23 Jeremy, an employer from a large international company, said to me, ‘passion and optimism are very infectious.’ This applies just as much to the private sector as it does to the not- for-profit sector. Obviously if you are applying for a job with a campaigning charity, you will be expected to understand what the organisation is campaigning for and demonstrate commitment to this cause. But private sector employers will also want you to be motivated by the way they operate and to be excited by the goods and services they sell. For these businesses, quality can always be improved, more effective sales techniques can be developed and customer care enhanced. De-mystifying the interview Employers are often bad at interviewing people. Have you ever had an interview where the employer did all the talking, or where he just did not manage to put you at ease at all, or where she arrived late and seemed confused about the exact job applied for? This sort of thing can happen when the interviewer is either not competent, not trained or not prepared for the occasion. Many people who are roped in to conduct interviews have had little or no formal training in this subject. Even if they have, it takes the right kind of personality to be good at interviewing other people and to bring out interviewees’ good points. It may surprise you to know that most interviewers are fearful when conducting interviews and display high levels of anxiety about the task. However, defects in an interviewer’s technique need not matter too much, although it can be helpful to be forewarned about such a possibility. Ultimately, it is up to you to prepare yourself so well that the interviewer’s shortcomings will not distract you from putting your skills, experience and person- ality over positively. You need to convince the employer that 24  Successful interview skills you have a lot to offer the company. Let us think about this from the employer’s point of view. Stressing your contribution Imagine that you run a company and need to employ an office manager. You already know that everyone who applies wants the job, and that it would improve their career prospects should they be successful. You do not necessarily want to hear at the interview how beneficial it would be for the candidates to get the job, because all the applicants will feel the same way. So those candidates who explain at great length how they are looking for exactly this kind of job as it fits very neatly into their career plan, will not impress you. As the employer you want to hear what the candidates are going to offer you and what they can contribute to your organ- isation. The days have long gone when employers had difficulty in attracting applicants for vacancies. Now, assuming that you have advertised appropriately, you will have a good selection of people applying for your vacancy. Hundreds of applications arrive for some vacancies. The main question that you want answered is: ‘Which one of the people I am interviewing today would offer my organisation most as an employee?’ You want candidates to outline what they bring that enables them to be of particular assistance to you. In this example, your questions will be: ‘Do the candidates have experience of mana- gerial work that would be helpful to our company? Are their skills relevant and directly transferable to the work that we do? Do they seem as though they have a positive and keen enough attitude to be involved with a company like ours? If we employ them, would they be able to get down to work fairly quickly with the minimum of input from us?’ These questions will be going through the mind of any interviewer and they will be far more interested in finding out these answers than hearing all about the needs of the candidates.  What employers are looking for  25 Dos and don’ts ✔ Do put yourself in the employer’s shoes when thinking about what will work in the interview. ✔ Do spend some time thinking about yourself, your background and your strengths. ✔ Do come up with examples and illustrations to justify the claims you make about yourself. ✘ Don’t leave researching the employer and the vacancy too late; it can take time. ✘ Don’t get frightened. Allow your interest in the job to let your enthusiasm grow. ✘ Don’t tell too many people that you have got an interview in case you do not get the job. Points to remember 1. Employers are often bad at interviewing people. 2. If you have been called for an interview, you should stand as good a chance as any candidate of getting the job. 3. The truth is that the candidate who performs best on the day will usually get the job. 4. The most important factor to convey is that you are the right sort of person for the job. 5. You need to convince the employer that you have a lot to offer. 26 THIS PAGE HAS BEEN INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK  27 3 Planning and preparation Importance of planning and preparation Imagine that you have applied for a job you very much want. Today, ‘plop’, on to the doormat, comes a letter inviting you for an interview. Congratulations! So far everything you have done has impressed the employer. Now that we have more of an idea of the principles behind the interviewing process, we can look in more detail at what to say. PLANNING and PREPA- RATION allow you to immerse yourself in the process to give you CONFIDENCE which leads to ENTHUSIASM and SUCCESS. An essential part of your preparation for attending any interview is deciding in advance your view of yourself, how you see the employer and your ideas about what you will do in the job. This is particularly important if you are being asked to give a presentation as part of the interview. This part of the process of getting ready for an interview could be called research and development: research about the job and how you view it and development of your plan to depict yourself and your strengths. 28  Successful interview skills Your view of yourself Spend some time thinking about your employment history, especially trying to understand how your background will look when it is being considered through the eyes of an employer. Can you easily identify your transferable skills – that is, those that will directly apply to this job being adver- tised? What exactly did you do in your last job in terms of practical activities? It is useful to make a preliminary list at this stage to remind yourself how you spent your time in previous jobs. Spend a little time thinking through what went well in these recent jobs, what you achieved and what key abilities you displayed. As well as being clear about your strengths and skills, you need to be able to explain away any gaps in your CV, or anything that does not tie up convincingly. For instance, you may have had periods when you were neither employed nor studying. If this is the case, it is highly likely that these breaks will be noticed and picked up during an interview, so you need to be able to discuss all of your past without embar- rassment. This means making the most of the way you have spent your time. If you were unemployed, what did you spend your time doing? If you were travelling, what did you learn from your experiences in different places? Gaps and breaks will not necessarily be seen as bad or regrettable as long as you can talk through what you experienced in a positive light, particularly pointing out what you learned from them. How you see the employer With the wealth of information available in our knowledge economy, there is no excuse for not finding out a great deal about an employer before you attend the interview. An organisation’s website is obviously a good place to start. A  Planning and preparation  29 useful part of your preparation is to discover as much as you can in answer to the following questions:  What goods or services does this employer deal with?  What are the stated aims and values or mission statement of the organisation, if they exist?  If a private sector company, how is it performing and who are its main competitors?  If a not-for-profit organisation, how much of a priority is it given currently with funding bodies and political decision- makers?  How would you describe what sort of an organisation this is?  What kind of skills will they be looking for at the moment?  Could you identify the organisation’s culture? What do they believe in and how do they run things? How would it feel to work there? There is a huge difference between a traditional, hierarchical institution and a young, dynamic enterprise. In which would you feel most at home? Why is this? Research The next stage of planning is to collect all the information you can about the vacancy and the organisation. You will rarely be invited for interview without being given some clues as to the sort of candidate required. If the job was advertised and you have been sent a job description or, even better, a person specification, you have as good as been told most of the areas on which you are likely to be questioned. A job description, as the name suggests, details the main duties of the job and a person specification explains what sort of person the employer is looking for. Both these documents 30  Successful interview skills are very useful. Make sure you pay careful attention to all the paperwork that you receive about the job. The employer will have gone to a lot of time and trouble to write down what the post involves. You will be expected to show evidence that you have a lot to offer for each and every part of it. Relate your thinking to the research you carried out when initially applying for the post. You need to build on this earlier work and plan out how your background can fit with the skills and experience that are needed for the job. If you do not fit the job description or person specification perfectly, find extra points in your favour that could compensate for these gaps. Selling yourself In the past when applicants for positions were much fewer, carefully working through these documents to show that you had the necessary experience and character would have been enough to get you a job. Nowadays, with so much more competition, it is not just a question of paying attention to detail but of finding ways to ‘sell yourself’. Such an expression seems to apply more to washing powder than to human beings, but it is a good term to use. Consider an advertisement for any washing powder on the television. We are not just shown a box of the washing powder and told to buy it. We may be shown a washing line full of sparkling white clothes to demonstrate exactly what the product can do. We are told repeatedly that it washes whiter; gives our clothes a lovely, fresh smell; is substantially cheaper than its rivals; comes in a refillable pack; removes dirt and stains, etc. Because of all the other advertisements for similar products, the message is hammered home. But when we watch an advert like this, it does not seem as though the message has been too strong; rather, we are left with the impression that it may be a product we ought to try. This is the effect we want  Planning and preparation  31 to create with the interviewer by using the invited time available to promote our strengths and positive attributes. Analysing the job The job description By looking closely at the details in the job description you can see what the employer expects the job-holder to do. The tasks are sometimes split up into those where some experience is essential and others where experience is preferred. Ideally, you need to go through the following steps:  Work through the job description, taking one section at a time.  Underline or mark the words which mention the main activ- ities of the job (the verbs), eg organising work; preparing budgets; writing reports; dealing with customers.  Make rough notes to show how you have gained experience of all these activities – think of an example from your background or work experience for each one.  Convert your rough notes into a written or typed form that gives answers to questions on how you satisfy each of the points that you have underlined.  Revisit the information that you provided on your appli- cation form, adding more examples as appropriate, so that you have a stock of different types of evidence to offer. The person specification This document is often sent out for vacancies in large companies, local authorities, other public sector employers or the Civil Service, all of which have large human resources 32  Successful interview skills departments. It contains useful information about the type of person the organisation is looking for. Your approach to this information should be the same as for the job description:  Study it carefully to see what characteristics are either essential for the job or preferred and underline both.  Work through each of these items in rough, noting down an example from your own background which shows how your personality fits closely with what is required. You must provide proof that you have all the characteristics marked as essential to be successful in the interview. It is sensible to prepare more than one example in case you are asked for extra.  Write your answers in proper sentences so that you can rehearse them for the actual interview.  If you completed an application form for this job previ- ously, revisit this now to refresh your memory so you can fully prepare your answers on how you meet the person specification. How to find out more You may want to contact the company either formally or informally to find out more about them and what they do. By a formal contact I mean telephoning and talking to the person in charge of personnel or the local manager. For example: ‘I have been invited for an interview with your company/ organisation soon and I wondered if there was any more information available about your products/services.’ There may be a specific question that you want answered, such as: ‘Are all your offices based around London?’  Planning and preparation  33 Some people are happier not revealing that they are coming for an interview and simply say that they are doing research and want some information. Public companies publish annual reports which contain useful background on the major projects undertaken recently. Companies often advertise their products or services in magazines, local and national newspapers and on the internet. These advertisements can show you how the company presents itself, and tell you which are its main products. If you are targeting a certain organisation, you can look it up on the internet. Search engines are fast and powerful ways to look up specific information. A good example is www.google.co.uk. You could use it to look up words that relate to particular types of work or to pinpoint information about a specific employer. Most organisations now have their own website, which outlines what they do and how they do it. Comb the site of the employer who will be inter- viewing you until you know as much as possible about the company. Look carefully at the words and pictures they use to describe themselves. What kind of image are they portraying? Do some serious thinking about what you see. It will not be enough just to say that you have visited the site as that will be expected. You need to form some conclusions of your own. Look too at the websites of other similar organisa- tions, or those of their competitors, as you will find more useful information from these sources. For some more senior jobs, you may be invited to tele- phone the company for an informal discussion about the position before applying. If this happens for a job you are thinking about, you should contact the employer to check that your application would be taken seriously. However, you will need to treat this telephone contact as a mini- interview. Look at your CV before you call and have clear in your mind why you think you might be suitable, what specif- ically interests you about the job and, particularly, what you 34  Successful interview skills think you have to offer in the role. If you have any questions, have them prepared in advance, together with pen and paper to take notes during the call. Thinking about the job When you are satisfied that you have gathered as much material as possible in the time available, you need to begin thinking hard about the likely subjects to be covered at interview. To start with, though, consider the following advertisement, seen in a local paper: STOCK HANDLER Busy high street store requires seasonal stock handlers to work in their warehouse, sorting and checking stock. Training given but experience useful. Now what can we tell, from this short advertisement, about the person required? Even without a job description or a person specification, and without knowing the name of the company, we can use our common sense to deduce the following. The person will need to be fit and healthy in order to carry boxes of stock around. There is bound to be a certain amount of paperwork and administration, involving completing and checking stock record cards, so the right candidate will need to be literate and numerate. Some knowledge of IT, or at least a willingness to learn, is always going to be useful. Using lifting equipment and/or driving ability may also be relevant for this job. The store is likely to be a large one if it has its own ware- house, so the work will probably involve working with teams of people. Someone with a friendly and flexible approach is needed. Accuracy will be important and care will have to be taken with the stock because of the value of the goods  Planning and preparation  35 handled. The candidate should be honest and able to be trusted with valuables. All these duties and characteristics can be inferred from the brief details given in the advert. We could get much more of an idea of the person required if we had been given a job description and a person specification. But even without them, there is no excuse for not thinking through what the employer is looking for as part of your preparation. If you are not prepared to do some planning before the event, and do not feel that you can get excited about the vacancy, it may mean that you are not serious about applying for the position. Generally, if a job is worth going for, it is worth spending time preparing for, and that involves sifting through all the information at your disposal for clues about what exactly the employer is looking for. This will help you to form a profile of the candidate most likely to be successful. Areas of likely questioning It was stated earlier that an employer will be interested in three main areas of questioning. You know without a doubt that you will be asked questions about: (a) your qualifications and skills; (b) your previous work experience; and (c) your character or personality. Let us look at each of these areas in turn. (a) Your qualifications and skills Before you are interviewed it is helpful to have prepared a good CV. This document is useful for interviews as well as job applications as it should contain a concise list of courses taken and jobs held. Before the interview you will need to make a thorough review of your background, especially if you have taken several different courses. Fluffing your 36  Successful interview skills answers when you are unsure of your ground is all too apparent to an interviewer and looks unprofessional. You will then be completely familiar with what you have spent time studying, and where and when. You almost need to be able to recite your CV in your sleep! As a result, when you are asked questions about your educational background, the information you require will come easily and concisely. When you are being interviewed and are asked about your past studies, the employer does not want to hear you recite a list of the courses you have attended. Think why the employer should be interested in such information. The reason is that he or she wants to know what you learned from your studies. In most cases, therefore, it is more important to get across the main subjects studied, what projects you specifically worked on, which exams you passed – if any – and which parts of the course you enjoyed most, or learned most from. Those who have not taken any exams will still be expected to talk about courses studied at school or college. You will need to work out which were your favourite subjects, which lessons you felt benefited you most, and why. (b) Your previous work experience The same is true of your work experience. All your jobs and the details of what you did as your main duties need to be at the front of your mind. You should not assume that it is obvious to an interviewer what you did as a filing clerk. Most interviewers will be interested in the precise skills used in the job that could help you to contribute to the position applied for. You may think that all filing clerks file – but what sort of documents were you dealing with? Were they important legal papers or plans, originals of letters or clients’ personal details? Perhaps you used to file things by number rather than alpha- betically, or you might have had to cross-reference materials. Did you ever have to retrieve records in a hurry, work under  Planning and preparation  37 pressure or trace missing papers? Did you ever use particular IT programmes, answer queries from the public or liaise with colleagues from other departments? Were the documents confidential or private or did they need special treatment before filing, eg coding to aid retrieval? All these things could be what are called transferable skills, ie skills that you learn or use in one job which can be trans- ferred to the next. The advantage to an employer should be obvious. Your skill in one area of work, in which you can demonstrate expertise, means that you will not necessarily need training to do the same thing in the next job. Again, let us consider why the interviewer is asking this type of question. The answer is, to see what kind of an employee you would make. Therefore, when you worked in a particular place is not as important as what you contributed there, since it gives the employer an idea of your capabil- ities. (c) Your character or personality Of the three main areas of interest to an employer, the greatest importance attaches to the type of person you are. It happens again and again; even if a candidate’s educational back- ground or previous experience is not up to those of his or her competitors, by demonstrating certain advantages involving personality or character, the candidate is successful in getting the job. Why should this be so? As long as a candidate is the sort of person who will fit into the company and who enjoys his or her work, that person can easily be trained to compensate for any lack of skills or experience. Sharing the vision There is one further aspect for employers to consider when they are interviewing. Many candidates may seem to have appropriate qualifications, experience and personality to fit 38  Successful interview skills the vacancy. What else could make the difference between the best and the rest? In a downturn, employers may find that they start to attract lots of suitable applicants. They will be looking for ways to pick out the people who are offering them the most. If candidates can show that they have thought about the job, specifically the contribution that they can make and the way that the job should be done, they cannot fail to impress. This requires spending some time thinking about the key aspects of the job. What are the strengths and weaknesses of the organisation as far as you can tell? What can you discover about the environment in which the company is operating? Think about both the job and the organisation and try to analyse which factors might be important. For instance, if the vacancy is with a commercial company, who are its competitors? What is your image of the product or service provided? Are there any changes taking place in the wider world that might affect the company’s business? What about the nature of the specific job concerned? What do you see as the most important features of the job and why? How do you imagine yourself doing the job and what special contribution would you make? Spending time developing your ideas or vision about the future for the organisation shows both your commitment to, and interest in, the job and the likely added value that you could bring compared to other candidates. Most employers do not have the time to think about the specific details of every job in their organisation. They want to recruit people who can do the job well on their behalf and bring fresh ideas and energy to the task. You will enhance the impression you make if you can also talk intelligently about your vision of the organisation and how you see your role in it.  Planning and preparation  39 Mind the gap! Covering up your weak spots We all have something we would prefer the interviewer didn’t linger over. For some it may be time spent unemployed; for others it may be something in their past that they would prefer to cover up, such as a lot of job changes or having stayed too long in a dead-end job. Few people have a perfect career history, owing to various circumstances, eg having a family, a period of ill-health, previous or current unem- ployment, imprisonment or detention. Some of us have had periods caring for family members, perhaps elderly parents, or have taken time off to bring up children. You may have left a job in a hurry or feel that your employment history looks patchy and unimpressive. Don’t think that if you ignore these tricky issues they will go away. Gaps or inconsistencies in your CV or application form will be spotted and queried. You need to be able to discuss all aspects of your background with confidence and with a positive explanation. No employer will expect you to have sailed through life without hiccoughs or difficulties but you will need to spend some time preparing how you describe and clarify them. What is important is that you think through and practise how to deal with these gaps. It means learning, not how to lie, but how to put forward positively a cogent and convincing explanation of the relevant experience you have gained in the past. Maximising your strengths The best approach is not to cover up past experiences but to present them in a different way. This requires you to make a virtue out of things that happened to you through necessity. Let us look at an example. Imagine someone who has had several different jobs in a short space of time. The best way to justify this is to work out how this will concern an employer. 40  Successful interview skills So let us climb inside the mind of an employer who is faced with an interviewee called Deborah. Deborah has had six jobs in the last five years and is applying to join W Sayer’s company as a personal assistant. Mr Sayer, the managing director, is concerned that, as Deborah has had many different jobs, she may want to leave this job in a few months’ time. If that happened he would have to repeat the expensive and time-consuming task of selecting another employee. He is worried too that she will not settle into the position, that she will not take the work seriously and that she will not show enough commitment to the company. Deborah realises that these job changes are something she should present positively to the interviewer. She does not imply that she was unhappy in any of her previous jobs but suggests that, even if she did not stay long in any one position, the employers were glad to have had her working there even for a limited time because of the contribution she was able to make. She spends time before the interview thinking about what she contributed in each of her previous jobs and what it was that made her want to move each time. In other words, she worked out her story in advance and planned what infor- mation she wanted to convey in the interview. Golden rules 1. Always be positive about previous jobs It is important always to be positive about every job that you have had in the past. Why should this be so vital? Again, let us consider it from the employer’s point of view. Will it impress an interviewer to hear a candidate saying what a bad boss his or her last employer was? Will it sound good to hear another company being put down or maligned by a candidate, or will it make the employer think that the candidate could  Planning and preparation  41 well be saying the same sort of thing about this company in a few years’ time? Someone who moans about other organisations also creates an impression of surliness and a negative attitude. Nobody will be interested in employing such a candidate. A candidate who is positive and keen will be preferred. 2. Be enthusiastic and motivated Nothing attracts people like enthusiasm. The candidate who exhibits such a characteristic has a great advantage, almost before anything else is said or taken into consideration. We are all more interested in working with the person who comes into work each day in a good mood and feeling positive about the job, rather than with the moaner or troublemaker who is always being negative. 3. Capitalise on your strengths The only things that the interviewer knows about you are what you have put in your application or CV and what you are going to talk about in the actual interview. Therefore, what you say about yourself dictates the impression that the interviewer will have of you, ie your skills, experience and personality. The interviewer will be looking at you as a potential worker or member of staff – you need to imply that everything you have been doing so far has been leading up to this job, with this organisation, at this time. Couple that with your vision of the way the job should be handled from now on. Irresistible! Which questions to ask? At the end of the interview, you will usually be asked if you have any questions to put. Do not feel obliged to ask some- thing just for the sake of it. The employer’s heart will sink if you start to reel off a long list of questions just when the interview should be ending. Only ask a question if it is 42  Successful interview skills necessary. If you feel that you know all you need to about the job on offer, it is fine to say something like: ‘I think that you have covered all the important points already, thank you. But if I have any questions later I will contact you.’ Do not ask questions about uniforms, holidays or other prac- tical points. If you are offered the post you will be informed about this kind of detail when you start. If pay has not been mentioned so far, this is not the time to raise the issue. You would probably not accept any position without knowing the wages, but again you can find this out once you receive the offer of the job, when you could reply: ‘I am interested in the job at this stage, but I am still not quite sure about the conditions of employment. Can you tell me exactly what the wages and hours are?’ If you do decide to ask the interviewer some questions, it is a good idea to show your general attitude through what you say. Questions about training opportunities or the chance to take on greater responsibilities in the future show that you are keen, plan to stay in the job, and are interested in moving up the organisation. You could ask: ‘Would there be opportunities for more specialist work later on?’ or ‘Could you tell me a little about what personal development you support for your employees?’  Planning and preparation  43 Dos and Don’ts ✔ Do use new technology and the internet to give you an advantage when researching. ✔ Do start with revising what you put in your appli- cation – it is what has secured you the interview. ✔ Do think about the kind of person the employer will be looking for. ✘ Don’t leave research until the last minute – you may need more time than you realise. ✘ Don’t worry if you do not seem to fit the vacancy in every way – you may be just what they are looking for. ✘ Don’t forget to prepare examples of all the points they are asking for. Points to remember 1. Studying the paperwork available about the job pays dividends. 2. Think yourself into the job, so that you talk as if you are doing it already. 3. Concentrate on what makes you more employable than the other candidates. 4. Try to make links between your past experience and what is needed in this role. 5. Turn negative aspects of your past into positives by stressing what you learned or how an episode developed your character. 44 THIS PAGE HAS BEEN INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK  45 4 Creating the best impression The importance of personal image You may be asking why a chapter in a book on interviewing skills should be about personal image. Surely the most important thing to learn is what to say in the interview? On the contrary, the impression we make on other people consists of much more than just the words we speak. A large part of the way we judge other people comes from first impressions. In other words, what we notice in the first quick glance, which may last for only 30 seconds, is the way other people look and behave. In fact, research has shown that 55 per cent of this first impression is based on appearance and behaviour, which can include clothing, posture, body language and facial expressions. Thirty-eight per cent of the impression is from the way we speak, which includes the way the voice is used, clarity of speech and accent. Only seven per cent is from the words we say. Just consider this startling information for a moment. It means that a whole 93 per cent of that all-important first impression we make on other people is rooted in what we look like and the way we sound. We live in an ever more 46  Successful interview skills televisual age where our information on what is happening in the world tends to come from a talking head and shoulders on the TV set. As a result we have become increasingly sophisticated in the level of presentation we expect and the degree to which we home in on distractions and inconsist- encies. We have strong preferences for what we do and do not like. However, this is not information to be depressed about; on the contrary, it gives us much more control over the extent to which we can impress other people, especially interviewers. So whenever you are preparing for an interview it is necessary to spend a significant amount of time evaluating and considering the best way to present yourself physically to the employer. Creating a positive first impression If you are now saying that you personally do not judge others by such superficial measures, consider the importance of visual image when you next meet people for the first time. Imagine you are at a party and want to make some new friends. Looking round the room, you notice someone whom you have not met before. She looks a bit dowdy and is standing alone with a worried expression on her face. She is looking at the floor with her shoulders slightly hunched and her arms folded tightly across her front. Although someone is trying to talk to her, she does not seem to be contributing much to the conversation. Now you notice somebody else. She is smartly dressed, has a twinkle in her eye and is chatting animatedly to someone. She has just grinned at you in a friendly way, and you notice that she is standing up tall and looking confident. Which one of these two people would you be most likely to talk to? The impression we gain about the first woman in this example is that she looks as though she does not care about  Creating the best impression  47 herself much. She is not dressed up for a party and she appears uncomfortable and ill at ease as if she lacks self-confidence. The fact that she is not engaging in conversation may mean that she is avoiding contact with new people or just that she does not have much to talk about. Now, of course, this opinion may be completely wrong. For all we know she may be a Hollywood star just back from a major film shoot, who is dressing down for the evening as a reaction to spending the last two months in film costume and theatrical make-up. She may be quiet and with- drawn because she only wants to meet new and genuine friends, not hangers-on. However, we are distracted by the contrast between her and the second woman in our example. The second woman seems to be inviting attention and contact. She is outward-focused, noticing the people around her and encouraging you by smiling in your direction. She appears to be a worthwhile person to try chatting to. If we act on our positive first impressions of this person and start chatting to her, during our subsequent conversation at the party we may find out that she is a rather forlorn, needy egomaniac, but we would not assume this from her initial appearance. In other words, we are highly affected by our visual impres- sions of others, particularly where rapid decisions have to be made (and an hour-long job interview is a fairly short time in which to decide on the best candidate). We will make judge- ments about the merits and demerits of people by picking up any visual clues we can – especially if certain individuals in a group stand out. Even though we may not like to think that we are being judged by others on their first impression of us, we are doing exactly the same to other people all the time. We all have prejudices about what we like to look at and what sort of behaviour we think is appropriate at different times. The secret 48  Successful interview skills of success is in understanding how other people perceive you and then using this information to your advantage. Interviewers will make many allowances for a well-presented candidate. The information in this chapter will be useful in many situ- ations – not just at interviews. Once you know how to create a good first impression, you can be that person at the party whom everyone wants to meet. But creating a good first impression at an interview is doubly important because so much is at stake when you meet potential employers. It is your responsibility to make sure that the impression you create works in your favour. This does not mean trying to put on an act or pretending to be someone else, as this will be obvious to the interviewer; rather, you want to enhance your strong points and minimise your weaker ones. You may not get a job on image alone but it can certainly help. Research suggests that 55 per cent of first impressions are created by the way we look and behave, 38 per cent by the way we sound and only 7 per cent by what we say. Let us look at each of these areas in turn. We will start by consid- ering the factors that comprise the first two of these: appearance and voice. What you actually say in the interview is analysed in Chapter 6. Appearance I make no apology for concentrating on your physical appearance as part of your interview preparation. It can have a highly significant effect on your chances of getting a job. My aim is to get you to spend at least as much time on this aspect of your presentation as you do rehearsing your interview answers. In the same way as the costume and stage make-up are pivotal to the impression of the actor on the stage, you are also going to be performing. You will have a short space of time, in competition with others, to make your mark. It makes sense to use everything at your disposal.  Creating the best impression  49 Many more jobs have been lost by conveying a too casual attitude to the vacancy through appearance and body language than through providing one less-good answer. Our aim here is not to win a beauty contest but to ensure that our appearance is just right, that it provides no distractions and allows the interviewer to concentrate on our skills, aptitudes and personality in relation to the job. Your appearance is the most important aspect of the first impression you create. This cannot be stressed too much, and if it is the only thing you learn from reading this book, it will be valuable. The advice in this section applies equally to men and women. A smart appearance shows that you have taken trouble over the way you want to come across. A plain neutral look indicates a serious, professional outlook. Your choice of clothes indicates your attitude to yourself and other people. It is worth thinking about the kind of appearance that is expected in the kind of job you are applying for. In creative industries the look is generally much more individualistic and casual. Men often do not wear suits to the office. In more traditional sectors such as banking or the legal profession, the work clothing is also more traditional and suits are more prevalent, even for women staff, with more of a uniform appearance for all. In the middle range comes employment such as teaching, local authority work and personal services that tend to exhibit more formality of appearance at the senior levels and a more casual look for junior staff. Once you have decided what the normal ‘dress code’ is for the kind of work you are applying for, you can choose your interview clothes by pitching your look one step up from the norm. For instance, you may decide to attend a job interview for a lecturing position in a suit whereas you would only wear a matching jacket and trousers or skirt for a clerical position in a museum. Women will be more familiar with the points made here because they tend to be exposed to more advice and infor- 50  Successful interview skills mation about appearance than men, but this generally leads merely to lack of confidence. Being bombarded with messages about fashion and advertisements from the clothing and cosmetics industries only serves to worry women. It is similar to being spoilt for choice in a larger supermarket compared to the relatively simple choices of a corner shop – the shopping experience in the supermarket can lead to confusion. Interviews are difficult enough without adding the burden of concern about our appearance. The aim here is to eradicate this particular anxiety. You do not want to appear showy or quirky in your choice of clothes but you should look clean and smart. I am often asked whether it is possible to be overdressed for an interview. I do not think so (with the possible exception of a dinner jacket or ball gown!). Even if the job would normally require you to wear overalls or a uniform, dressing with care for your interview shows you have taken time over your appearance and indicates an awareness of being, to some extent, on show. For instance, a candidate for a motor mechanic traineeship may well want to wear a suit or jacket, tie and shirt to the interview at least, even if overalls would be worn once doing the job. Men should wear a dark suit, or at least a smart jacket and tie for a job where less formal clothing is the norm. Women should dress smartly (a jacket is a good idea), and not be cluttered with accessories. Whatever the job, it is helpful when you are feeling nervous to add authority to the impression you create. Colour and style of clothes It is generally acknowledged that there is a particular range of colours that suits an individual best. These colours will be different for everybody but can help to give each of us a distinct presence. The right clothes do not draw attention to  Creating the best impression  51 themselves; rather, they show off the person inside them, and in the right colours you will receive compliments on how well you are looking rather than on your clothes. Looking your best does not involve spending a lot of money on clothes, wearing the latest fashions or trying to look like someone else. A classic single-breasted jacket that you look after will not date. If you have no money, see if you can borrow clothes from a friend or relative but do not squeeze yourself into something too small. Wearing clothes that are too tight merely makes you look bigger; if in doubt use a size larger than normal to make you look smaller. Add height with accessories that accentuate the upper half of your body, such as a brooch or noticeable earrings. As a rule, plain neutral colours are safest when you want to look smart. Navy blue or medium to dark grey for suits or jackets and a contrasting soft (not bright) white or ivory shirt or blouse work well for a confident, competent appearance. Black looks best on those with strong natural colouring or dark hair. Don’t confuse looking attractive or pretty with looking business-like. If you have long flowing hair, consider tying it back neatly for the interview to look more disciplined and practical. Women should avoid wearing low-cut, tight-fitting or otherwise revealing clothes. Keep your clothes that get attention for your social life and let your abilities and ideas do the talking in the interview. Image consultants give professional advice on the colour and style of clothes to suit your natural colouring and body shape. The advice given is based on the idea of tailoring the colours you wear to those in the natural colouring of your hair, eyes and skin. The same applies to the style of your clothes. You have a certain body shape which can be echoed in your clothes to show you to your best advantage. This applies to a greater extent to women because of the more extensive range of styles and colours available to them, but it 52  Successful interview skills is also relevant to men – in particular to the shape and style of their clothes. Accessories Ties, shoes, belts, bags and jewellery can make or break an outfit, although we tend to think of them as additions to our general look. Shoes are often noticed and should be appro- priate, clean and smart for an interview. An employer I know says he looks first at a candidate’s footwear. ‘You can tell a lot about a person from their choice and care of shoes,’ he says. ‘The shoes don’t have to be new but I’m always impressed if they are smart, well-looked after and clean. I would advise people to invest in a good pair of leather shoes because good quality shows.’ This employer’s field is public relations and he judges candidates’ ability to present them- selves as a good pointer to the way they would behave in the job. Dangling earrings should be left for evening wear, as should jingly bracelets. Jewellery is not generally considered acceptable on men and so it should be removed for the duration of the interview. Men should wear socks and shoes to match their suit. Make sure your socks are long enough not to reveal expanses of skin if sitting with your legs crossed. Women should carry only one bag, if you need one at all. If you take a briefcase, put your handbag items in it. Don’t juggle with both a briefcase and a handbag as it detracts from a well-organised, authoritative image. Hair Your hair should be clean and recently cut. If you do this about a week before the interview, you will have time to get used to your new haircut. Most people look best with their natural hair colour, and this is evident when they are wearing clothes to complement their natural colouring.  Creating the best impression  53 Make-up If you wear make-up, make sure that the style and colour do not date you. This is another area where women often lack confidence, because they are bombarded with conflicting advice from advertisements and magazine articles, but they do not seek specialist help. Again, one trip to an image consultant can solve these problems and you will be given advice on the best colours and style of make-up to suit you. If the interview is important to you, it is worth taking the time and trouble to be neat, clean and well groomed. Make sure that your hands are clean and your nails neat. There is also no point in wearing smart clothes if they are not clean. Shirts or blouses that have not been ironed are particularly noticeable and create a sloppy look, regardless of how attractive they are. Body odour or greasy hair are not ways to impress any employer. Ask a trusted friend or relative to assess you for cleanliness and smartness. If in any doubt, use a deodorant. Behaviour There are many books in your local library which will tell you about the scientific study of body language and non- verbal communication. Basically, we are all animals and respond to each other on a simple level in this way. When we meet other animals we need to know that we are not under threat. That is why smiling at another human being is such a powerful signal. When we smile at other people we reassure them that we are not going to attack them, and being smiled at by others is the way we receive reassurance that the person facing us is not an enemy. Communication between people is much more relaxed and straightforward when we know we are safe. Think about how difficult it is to make conversation with 54  Successful interview skills your dentist before you have treatment. So, to create a good impression, start off the interview on a positive note by entering the room and smiling at all the interviewers present. Even if you are too scared to smile again, you will have started the interview in a confident way. Shaking the hands of those who will be interviewing you is a helpful way to start if you feel confident in doing so. Obviously, if a cumbersome table blocks the way between you and a large number of interviewers, attempting to shake hands may cause more trouble than it will be worth, but if possible, a firm, friendly handshake makes you look open and positive. This applies particularly to women who can make an impact this way through rarity value, as shaking hands is still less common amongst women. At the end of the interview when you leave, make sure you thank the interviewers for the time and attention you have been afforded and smile again to leave on the same positive note. If you began by shaking hands, leave the same way. Eye contact Looking straight into somebody’s eyes when we are talking tells the person that we are interested, attending to what is being said and have nothing to hide. When we feel shy, it is sometimes awkward to keep this direct gaze on the inter- viewer. If you find this difficult, at least try to look at the interviewer when he or she is asking you a question, even if you look elsewhere during your response. If you are being interviewed by more than one person, do not always try to include everyone in the panel in your glance. Instead, when one interviewer asks you an individual question, treat that person as though he or she is the only one interviewing you. You should ensure that your behaviour cannot be perceived as flirtatious. This is not part of any job description and if your behaviour seems inappropriate, it could work against you and you may not be taken seriously as a candidate.  Creating the best impression  55 Posture Other important aspects of body language for an interview are those relating to posture. You want to attract attention and be remembered. You must walk tall with your shoulders back, pulling yourself up by the head to increase your height and make your spine straight. You will look around you in an alert way and meet any other person’s gaze directly, while smiling confidently at everyone you meet. In the interview, you do not want to appear insignificant or unremarkable. You want the interview panel to be left with a striking and positive impression of you physically. When you sit down in the interview, make sure that your bottom is set well back on the seat, with your spine held fairly straight and supported by the back of the chair. Leaning forward slightly gives an impression of keenness. Do not slouch or sprawl in your seat – it implies that you are not taking the interview seriously. Practise in advance to find out which seating position is most comfortable for you. It does not matter whether your legs are crossed or not, but do not keep changing their position or you will distract the inter- viewer from what you are saying. Gestures Hands should be lightly clasped in your lap or can rest on the arms of your chair. Gestures add variety to speech, and your natural style may be to use your hands in this way occa- sionally. Too much gesticulation implies anxiety and tension, so monitor this when you are practising your answers in front of the mirror. Confidence Confidence has been mentioned before as though it should be easy to acquire. Everybody is confident about their abil- 56  Successful interview skills ities in some activity or other. If I asked you to tell me some- thing that you felt confident about, it could be cookery, playing sport or a hobby. If you analyse why you are confident at that particular activity, what would you attribute it to? Are you confident because it is a familiar task; because you have been told that you are good at it; because you are well prepared; or because you have studied how to do it? Often, all these reasons apply, and that is why practising your interview technique is so valuable. Half the terror of an impending interview is because you do not know what to expect. Rehearsing in advance means that you will feel reassured about which questions may come up, and about your ability to answer them. Increase your confidence by preparing thoroughly, packing carefully any items you might need if you are going to give a presentation, eg hand-outs or flip-chart pens. Positive mental attitude Often when going for interviews, candidates are too aware of why they might not be successful. Some of the most common reasons for getting in a negative state of mind are that you feel:  it is years since you have been tested at an interview;  you have failed other interviews recently;  you are desperate to leave your current job;  you may be too keen to get this job and so feel very worried;  you may not be really clear what you are looking for;  you may be deeply demotivated by your career prospects and feel you have nothing to offer.  Creating the best impression  57 None of these attitudes will help you to be successful at interview so it is important to convert negative thoughts to more constructive ones. You can set your own mental attitude to positive instead of negative. Sports stars claim that the most significant factor in winning is their mental approach to the event. In addition to training and fitness, they need to feel like a winner in order to act like one. We have much more influence over our own thoughts and feelings than you might think. Imagine a day when you are feeling down when out of the blue someone delivers a bouquet of flowers or a present to the door for you. Immediately your world seems brighter and your mood becomes more positive. This quick change can be brought about at other times by changing the way you are thinking too. First you need to concentrate deliberately on boosting yourself up. Although we all have disappointments and diffi- culties during our lives, there are also lots of achievements and successes that we can claim. Spend a few minutes considering each of the following points: You achieve successfully in several areas of your life already: relation- ships, keeping your domestic life running, family contacts, holding down a job (if you have one), keeping a nice home going, planning the things you want. list some more here: People are impressed by you as an interesting and valuable person: employers who have hired you in the past, family and friends, colleagues, social contacts, lovers and partners. list some of them here: 58  Successful interview skills You can get things when you want to: support from friends, praise from family, attention from loved ones, cooperation from colleagues, being promoted (if you ever have been). list some more here: Now reflect on that exercise. You have put together evidence of your success in all of these areas. Altogether you are a successful, valuable and interesting person. Still need a bit of convincing? Go out for a walk and think about all the things on this list in more detail. Visualisation can be a powerful tool to use. Re-visit the best times in your life and what you were doing at the time that made them so good. Those times were substantially your doing and it was your personality that helped them to happen. Try to fix an image in your mind of a time or event when you were doing well and felt at your best, so that you can conjure it up again whenever you need to feel good about yourself. Imagine the people who love you most are cheering you on. What would they be saying to you, and about you? Starting to think about any approaching interview in this frame of mind automatically gives you a head start because you have put your natural doubts to the back of your mind and brought a winning attitude to the fore. When you plan your answers you need to stay in this mindset and, most importantly, replicate it when you walk into the interview room. Talk to any high achievers, from supermodels to corporate leaders, and they will all say that they have their private worries and stresses, but that they incorporate a positive vision of what they want to achieve and then concentrate on how they can get it to focus them on success. This kind of mental exercise can work just as well for you too.  Creating the best impression  59 The journey The journey to the interview can be a source of anxiety. Plan in advance how much time to allow. If possible, do a ‘dummy’ or practice run and make sure that you can find the right building and the correct entrance to use. Allow extra time for unforeseen hold-ups. It is important to be on time for your interview, so plan to arrive at least 15 minutes early. Even for the most casual of arrangements, being late can seriously annoy your interviewer. Interviews are normally tightly scheduled so one person being late can throw the whole day’s timetable off. If you are delayed for any reason, telephone to let the company know and inform them of your expected time of arrival – although if you arrive too late you may miss the chance of being interviewed altogether. When you arrive, visit the toilet, check how you look, then forget all about your appearance. Remember that everybody you talk to at the company may be asked for their opinion of you – including the doorman, the receptionist and the person who brings you your cup of coffee. I know of a candidate who was only successful because he was friendly and chatty to the office administrator whilst waiting to go in to his interview. The panel could not decide between two equally ranked candi- dates. They gave the casting vote to someone who had met both just before their interviews – yes, the office administrator. Voice Interview nerves affect people in different ways. Some people speak very softly, some talk too fast and start gabbling, others become hesitant and leave long gaps between words. Some people stammer under pressure and some just answer briefly, replying ‘yes’ or ‘no’ whenever