From a lecture at the Career Zoo in Dublin, February 2013.
A job interview needn't feel like the Spanish Inquisition - some simple thoughts that will help you avoid the costly mistakes that most candidates make.
21. “
Tell us a bit about yourself ...
Walk us through your CV ...
Take us through your last two jobs ...
Only about 10% of the audience had a response for this prepped and ready to go.
22. 2-3 minutes
150 wpm
50% on last job / 2 years
News headlines
This is how to answer that question without sending your
interviewer(s) to sleep.
24. Nature of the role?
Weaknesses / Strengths?
Team / Leadership style?
Communication approach?
Task / Problem approach (+examples!)
Sectoral / Company issues?
Best moment? You’ll be asked these at
most interviews -
Why you? they are the
chestnut questions.
Any questions?
25. Five magic
WORDS
You need a specialised vocabulary to deal with interview questions
26. Best friend
Impressive colleague
Amazing boss
Total asshole
Describe each of these people in 5 words/phrases.
Then think about how they would describe you.
31. Screening/HR Interview
Cascade
Line manager
Psychometric testing
Structured / CBI
Social / Informal
32. “Give me an example of a time
when you had to …”
“If you saw XXX taking place, what
would you do?” These are the
giveaway phrases
“Have you ever had to YYY?”
“How would you solve ZZZ?”
33. Situation Process Outcome
WPM?
140-160
2 minutes = 300 words
And this is how you should structure up your (prepared)
responses. Keep it tight and focus on your approach/process.
35. Able?
Willing?
Fit in?
This is what all interviewers want to know - they ask
lots of variations around these three questions.
36. ‘Fit’ - John Collison from Stripe wants to know if he will enjoy having coffee with you
on Sunday morning, having worked through straight from Friday morning!
37. “
If you wish to persuade
me, you must think my
thoughts, feel my
feelings, and speak
my words.
To be great in an interview, you really need to
get into the heads of your interviewers ...
51. “
The deepest principle in
human nature is the
craving to be appreciated
And taps in to the deepest need in the human psyche
52. “Please sir, may I have some more?”
You must move away from a delivery that essentially says,
“I’m a jobseeker, I need a job, please give me a job”
53. “
I noticed that your company /
division / department is XXX ...
How can I help?
To something akin to this.
54. “
I noticed that your company /
division / department is XXX ...
I can help because I ....
Or this.
55. Supply chain
Show them you understand how their
company fits into the landscape.
X
Compe
Macro titors
Customer channel
56. Informational interviewing
Conferences
Competitors
Journalists
Politicians
Use the approach of ‘informational interviewing’ to flesh out
your picture of the sector, and of how you can contribute.
58. “
I noticed that your company /
division / department is XXX ...
I can help because I ....
And be careful about your language - ensure that
you don’t sound too much like a stalker.
63. Yourself
Enemy
Terrain
When was the last time you went into a job interview knowing all three of these? Why
do so few people do this? It’s obvious! (But it’s not easy - it needs a lot of slog)
66. In case you hadn’t realised,
it has somehow become uncool
to sound like you know what
you’re talking about?
Or believe strongly in what
you’re ... like ... saying?
(Taylor Mali)