Interviews & techniques

[Daddymagic]

I've been in my current role for over 8 years and looking to expand my horizons and try something new. 
I've had two interviews so far (no outcome yet) from two different companies and boy - how dull are interviews these days. 
Just a set of slightly different worded competency based questions. 
 

The role I am currently in was a chat, find out about me and me them, and we talked about what I'd do in the role and what I saw and challenges and opportunities. Previous interviews have had things like role plays, business cases and a lot more engaging. 
 

So my question is, is that what all corporate interviews are now like? And if so, any tips ? 

[TildeGuy~!]

I had an interview a few years back for a role I wasn’t qualified for and had no business even being there for it, i done a lot of research of the role from videos on YouTube and just took quotes from certain bits and threw them into my answers during the interview, the interviewers seemed to be very impressed and then I got a call a few hours later offering me the role(I didn’t take it in the end as I got a role more suited for me with a similar wage about a week later) 

[gmoney]

I can't really comment on the general state of interviews in the world today as I don't know, but I have some experience interviewing and there are a few basic things you can do that will improve your chances. 

Be enthusiastic and act like you want the job, (if you actually do want it of course, though not sure why you'd be there if you didn't). Sounds obvious, but you'd be surprised at the amount of people who act cool or unbothered about the role or company, and maybe they are, but no one ever lost out on a job by being too enthusiastic. 

Have some prepared answers and practice them. Almost all interviews I have ever had have asked something along the lines of "tell us about a time where you've dealt with a difficult situation/had to work under pressure" or "how would you deal with a difficult customer/client".  You can find lists online of the most common questions. Match these up with examples from your career, explain the situation, say how you dealt with that situation and what the result was. Practice those answers. They won't be worded exactly the same way every time, but listen to the interviewer and you can match up the question to your prepared answer. And don't worry about sounding rehearsed, sounding rehearsed is ten times better than not being able to think of something and sat there umming and ahhing. 

If you get asked a question about your weakness/areas that you're working on don't try and loophole it by saying something like "I sometimes work too hard" or "I'm a bit of a perfectionist". These are corny as fuck and interviewers have heard them a million times. Be honest about something you struggle with and explain the steps you take to mitigate it. For example, maybe you're naturally quite disorganised and you have a hard time keeping track of tasks, so you diligently write down everything you need to do every morning in a to do list and work through it. Or maybe you hate public speaking, so you try to put yourself forward as much as you can to do it to help you get over it. Something honest, or nick one of those. 

Make sure you have a couple of good questions to ask, and not questions about the salary or benefits (you can ask these too, but don't let these be your only questions). Something like "how do you measure success in this role?" etc. 

Edited November 17, 2023 by gmoney

[DavidB6937]

Personally I absolutely fucking hate role plays. I'll take the dull route anyday.

[SuperBacon]

I think gmoney has nailed it, but if I can add some small things.

Look up the companies values/ethics/behaviours etc and put some of them in your own answers. They love that.

Don't be afraid to go off script a bit. If you have something you are desperate to bring up, but it doesn't "fit" in one of their questions, shoehorn it in!

If interviews stress you out, this is the most important tip I can give you: it's just a conversation. Nothing evil can come from the interview (unless you accidentally kill someone, and let's face it, you might not get shortlisted after that)

But seriously, interviews used to stress me out until I started just thinking of them as a chat. And it helped. Of course you want the job and a no is shit, but again, nothing bad can happen. Remember you are interviewing them as well, and good companies should remember that.

And finally CLOSE! Close and then close again! 

If they give you an opportunity to say some final words, they should be "Is there anything we've discussed today that you would like me to expand upon or discuss?"

That leaves no room for ambiguity. Leaves you going away not thinking "Oh shit I shouldn't have mentioned I was a member of a wrestling Internet community where we mostly talk about poo and fry ups, maybe I should've explained that more" and doesn't let them leave thinking "Well, we really should've asked more about this weird poo based wrestling place"

Most times the interviewer will be pretty satisfied with what you've said but they might want you to clarify something one final time or further. So close!

Best of luck.

Edited November 17, 2023 by SuperBacon

[cobra_gordo]

Something I like to do in interviews is when you get the "Tell me about a time you had to achieve a goal" question is to give them an example of a scenario where you missed the goal. Most interviewers will follow up with "And did you achieve the goal" and you can then spend a bit of time going in to why you didn't achieve it and what you'd do differently next time. Shows that you're human, that you can pinpoint what your failings are and why and know how to learn from them. 

[LaGoosh]

If you're asked a "tell me about a time when" type of question where you have to provide an example it helps to structure it under the STAR format:

S - Situation (what happened)

T - Task (what did you need to do about it)

A - Action (how did you do it)

R - Result (how did it all end up)

Before I started using this structure I found that I was just vomiting endless words with no real narrative to focus the answer and give the interviewers what they were looking for.

Edited November 17, 2023 by LaGoosh

[SuperBacon]

Yeah, the STAR method is well worth using. 

[Keith Houchen]

1 hour ago, gmoney said:

one ever lost out on a job by being too enthusiastic. 

You say that but when I jumped on the desk and started helicopter dicking, I was shown the door. 
 

My go to question for them is “What would you say is the main thing that keeps you wanting to work here”. That always seems to go well as they have to sell the company to you, and it opens up more conversational avenues for you to explore. After all, you have to see if the company is a good fit for you as well. 
 

[SuperBacon]

6 minutes ago, Keith Houchen said:

You say that but when I jumped on the desk and started helicopter dicking, I was shown the door. 
 

My go to question for them is “What would you say is the main thing that keeps you wanting to work here”. That always seems to go well as they have to sell the company to you, and it opens up more conversational avenues for you to explore. After all, you have to see if the company is a good fit for you as well. 
 

Yeah, companies also love when you ask about their learning and development as well as they think "Wow, this person wants to train and progress!" 

Little do they know I just want to know how much elearning I have to "do" so I can watch films in the background for a week.

[Carbomb]

Two questions that @Chris B mentioned to me years ago came in very useful at job interviews:

1. "Assuming I do well in the job, where would you see me in five years' time?"

2. "Are there any things you have concerns about?"

[SuperBacon]

11 minutes ago, Carbomb said:

. "Are there any things you have concerns about?"

Yeah, that was my point around closing. A good point to raise.

I like the first point there as well, and I'd add, if you can give them an opportunity to highlight an internal promotion success story, that's great.

Companies love talking about them. It should be their biggest selling point.

[westlondonmist]

I always try to show a bit of humour. It isn't just about your qualifications but how you fit in and will you get along. Excitement, willing to grow, learn and a bit of humanism is often equal to experience. Some places I think didn't like the humour but would I want to work there? 

 

I think when you ask about future it can go 2 ways, some can be impressed and glad you want to improve and some can be put off thinking someone wants to move on in a year or two. I've senses the latter a few times, they want someone who is happy to have a job and seem anxious about either recruiting again or that people will lose interest. Maybe these managers just aren't very good at engaging their staff and keeping them interested? Again, do you want to work for the latter. 

My current job started as a FTC, I queried that and all 4 people interviewing (3 of whom had been there 20 years) all came in as temps. The manager as a 2 week temp contract. The point made that while this job may not exist in 2 years, if you're good we will get you something in another department (1800 staff so always jobs available).

A question I hate, is what do you think about diversity. Do they expect people to out themselves as racists? 

Edited November 18, 2023 by westlondonmist

[SuperBacon]

21 minutes ago, westlondonmist said:

A question I hate, is what do you think about diversity. Do they expect people to out themselves as racists? 

I cannot think of a single good reason why someone would ask that. Unless they mean the dance group?

[westlondonmist]

21 minutes ago, SuperBacon said:

I cannot think of a single good reason why someone would ask that. Unless they mean the dance group?

I've only been asked it by public sector or public sector contracts. I have a generic answer I usually give, "if you were against diversity why would you live or work in London". Ive used that in 3 successful interviews I think. I might change it up next time.