4. Preparation
O Research the Job and company
O Review the Job Requirements
O Know your CV
O Know Where You Are Going (Long-term goal, and if not,
steps on how you will get there)
O Be Prepared to Give Behavioral Based Examples
and arguements
O Anticipate Questions
O Be Prepared to “Sell” Yourself!
5. Preparation
O Visualize Yourself In the Interview
O Have in mind:
O There is no question you cannot answer
O You are well suited to the position
O You will be an asset to the department
O Bring:
O Extra copies of CV
O Paper and pen
O A list of potential questions
O Breath mints
6. Interview Presentation
O Be Prepared and Responsive For Questions
O Take Time to Organise Your Thoughts (TAKE
NOTES!)
O Make Effective Eye Contact and Smile
O Express Confidence in Your Abilities
O Consider Each Interview An Adventure!
O Be Attentive to Body Language
O No gum
O Watch those pens (no clicky clicky clicky!)
7.
8. Leave The Baggage At The Door
O Shut the Door to Personal Trouble
O Don’t nag about other organizations or
companies!
9. Interview Content
O
O
O
O
O
Listen Carefully to the Question
Understand Behavioral Based Interviewing
Rehearse Your Answers
Sell Yourself!
Silence is Golden, Know When to Stop
Answering
O Tie Your Background to the Position
O Focus on Your Accomplishments
O Turn Weaknesses Into Strengths
10. Common Interview Questions
O Tell me about yourself.
O
The most often asked question in interviews. You need to have a short statement prepared
in your mind. Be careful that it does not sound rehearsed. Limit it to work-related items
unless instructed otherwise. Talk about things you have done and jobs you have held that
relate to the position you are interviewing for.
O What experience do you have in this field?
O
Speak about specifics that relate to the position you are applying for. If you do not have
specific experience, get as close as you can.
O Do you consider yourself successful?
O
You should always answer yes and briefly explain why. A good explanation is that you have
set goals, and you have met some and are on track to achieve the others.
O What do you know about this organization?
O
This question is one reason to do some research on the organization before the interview.
Find out where they have been and where they are going. What are the current issues and
who are the major players?
11. Common Interview Questions
O Why do you want to work for this
organization?
O
This may take some thought and certainly, should be based on the research you have
done on the organization. Sincerity is extremely important here and will easily be sensed.
Relate it to your longterm career goals.
O Why should we hire you?
O
Point out how your assets meet what the organization needs. Do not mention any other
candidates to make a comparison.
What is your greatest strength?
Numerous answers are good, just stay positive. A few good examples: Your ability to
prioritize, Your problem-solving skills, Your ability to work under pressure, Your ability to
focus on projects Your professional expertise, Your leadership skills, Your positive
attitude.
12. Common Interview Questions
Are you a team player ?
You are, of course, a team player. Be sure to have examples ready. Specifics
that show you often perform for the good of the team rather than for yourself
are good evidence of your team attitude. Do not brag; just say it in a matterof-fact tone. This is a key point.
O How do you propose to compensate for
your lack of experience?
O
First, if you have experience that the interviewer does not know about, bring that
up: Then, point out (if true) that you are a hard working quick learner.
O What kind of salary do you need?
O
A loaded question. A nasty little game that you will probably lose if you answer
first. So, do not answer it. Instead, say something like, That is a tough question.
Can you tell me the range for this position? In most cases, the interviewer, taken
off guard, will tell you. If not, say that it can depend on the details of the job. Then
give a wide range.
13. Common Interview Questions
O Do you have any questions for me?
O
If you reply with a simple "No" you are telling the interviewer that you aren't really
interested in the job or the company. You should always prepare a list of
questions to ask the interviewer before going to the interview. Avoid asking about
salary, vacation time, employee benefits, etc. until you have asked a number of
other questions that demonstrate your interest in working for the company.
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
Is this a new position? How long has this position existed?
What type of projects will I be able to assist on?
What is this company's culture?
What are the current problems facing the company (or my department)?
What are the company's long and short term goals?
Describe the work environment.
Describe the opportunities for training and professional development.
Are there opportunities for advancement within the organization?
When can I expect to hear from you?
15. Behavioral Based Questions
O
O
O
O
O
Can You Tell Me About A Time…
Think Specific
Don’t Say “Usually, Always, Or Never”
Say “I”
Be Prepared to Answer the Negative
Question
O Was The Result Positive?
Measurable?
O Don’t Forget To Smile
O Be Concise
16. Question Examples
O Give an example of a goal you reached and tell me
O
O
O
O
O
how you achieved it.
Give an example of a goal you didn't meet and how
you handled it.
Describe a stressful situation at work and how you
handled it.
When you worked on multiple projects how did you
prioritize?
Give an example of how you worked on team.
Have you handled a difficult situation with a coworker? How?
17. Common Mistakes
O Your resume is longer than that of a
25-year old professional.
O Make a right-sized resume. (maximum 1,5 pages)
O You didn’t prepare for the interview.
O You didn’t bring questions.
O No “thank you note”.
O What did you learn in the interview
O You dressed for failure.
18. Common Mistakes
O You don’t know what you want to do.
O Typos in CV and Cover Letter
O You don’t have LinkedIn Profile
O Do an internship.
O You lacked professional courtesy.
O Late for the interview
O Looked away when you shook hands
O Introduced you to a colleague and you didn’t ask what she
does
19. Interview Follow-Up
O Common Interview Mistakes
O Coming Unprepared
O Not Smiling or Showing Enthusiasm
O Negativity
O The Thank You Note
O References
20. General Tips Leading to SUCCESS
O Be yourself, but your confident self
O Natural body languagage
O Natural, honest answers (preparation helps!)
O Your questions should come from actual
interest or concern
Welcome to our presentation on Successful Interviewing Skills
Introduce yourself and that you are from Abbott Laboratories
This presentation will provide you with information on how to survive and excel in a behavioral based interview. Feel free to ask any questions.
As much as we would all like first impression not to count they actually do.
So you want to make the best impression you can.
You can do that by being on-time, the way you dress, how you shake someone’s hand, do you make eye contact, are you smiling, or are you fidgeting for example playing with your pen in the interview.
There are three characteristics of a successful interview. Those are your preparation, presentation, and content.
I’ll start with discussing how you prepare for an interview. With today’s accessibility to the internet makes it easy to locate information about the company and sometimes information about the position. I recommend that you do your research before your interview so you present yourself well educated on the company which shows the interviewer that you took the initiative to do research.
Make sure you know what’s on your CV. You don’t want to be in a position where you can’t describe something that you put on your CV.
I understand that with a limited job market currently people are willing to take other opportunities. However interviewers like to see someone that knows where they’re going. They have a career plan.
Prepare yourself to give behavioral based examples which we will go over in more detail later in the presentation.
Anticipate questions again which we’ll go over sample questions a little later.
And most importantly be prepared to sell yourself! This is your time to show the interviewer why you’re the best candidate for the position.
Some people prepare themselves by visualizing themselves in the interview. This is common for athletes to do but for some it also works well for an interview.
Remember that you have already made the first selection for the position since the manager has asked you to interview. With that confidence know that there is no questions you cannot answer. If you need time to formulate your thoughts that is fine, just take your time. Also since were selected for the interview you know that you are well suited for the position. And you also know that the qualities you bring will be an asset to the department.
Always remember to bring extra copies of CV. Resumes may be misplaced by the interview and you look prepared with extra copies. You can always bring pen and paper to take notes have questions listed that you want to ask. I do suggest that if you bring pen and paper that you use it so the interviewer feels that they had something important to say during the interview. Finally if you tend to get nervous you can always bring breath mints to have while waiting for your interview but remember to finish it before the interview starts!
We’re now moving into presentation. First make sure you are prepared and responsive for the interviewer’s questions.
If you are stuck on a question or feeling nervous take time to organise your thoughts.
Make effective eye contact and smile. Sometimes when we get nervous we become serious and forget to smile. Other times we start looking out the window or around the room and forget to make eye contact with the interviewer. This can be perceived that you are not being truthful.
Remember this is your time to tell the interviewer why you are the best candidate so express confidence in your abilities. If the interviewer was in a position to chose between two candidates with the same skill sets and one said that I have excellent computer skills which I feel will be valuable for your positions and the second said I know how to use the computer who would you chose?
Consider each interview as an adventure!
Be attentive to your body language. Make sure you don’t have any gum or candy. Watch those pens! Make sure you’re not clicking or playing with them. That can be distracting for the interviewer.
Leave the baggage at the door. An interview is not the time to bring in your personal troubles. And definitely don’t slam an organization or past boss. The interviewer will think if they can speak so poorly about an old boss what will they say about me if I give them this position.
So I’ve already discussed interview preparation and presentation. Now let’s discuss interview content.
Make sure you listen carefully to the question so that you give the appropriate answer.
Understand behavioral based interviewing which we will focus on next.
Rehearse your answers. You want to feel comfortable with your examples.
Sell Yourself! This is your time to tell the interviewer what you can bring to this position and why they should hire you.
Silence is golden, know when to stop answering. When people get nervous they have a tendency to start telling the interviewer things they never wanted them to know.
Tie your background to the position. Give examples that demonstrate that you have the qualifications to do the job.
Focus on your accomplishments. Show the interview what you have done in school, an internship, or a past position.
Turn your weaknesses into strengths. Some interview questions are set up to ask about negative situations. The reason we ask these types of questions is to see how you have handled yourself. We know everyone makes mistakes we just want to see if you learned from your mistakes. Another common question will be tell me your greatest weakness. I usually say I work too much or I’m too dedicated. Well in this example working too much can be a weakness but what employer wouldn’t want someone that works too much. So I’ve changed my weakness into a strength for the employer.
You’ve heard me refer to behavioral based interviewing throughout this presentation. Now I’ll spend sometime going through it.
In behavioral based interviewing you want to prepare STAR’s. That means think of examples where you describe a situation or task the actions you took and the result of your action.
You know you are in a behavioral based interview when the questions start with can you tell me about a time.
Think specific when your answering. Don’t say usually, always, or never because you aren’t be specific enough in your examples.
Say “I”. The interviewer wants to know what your role in the example was.
Be prepared to answer the negative question. As we stated earlier the interviewer understands you may have made a mistake but what did you learn from that and how did you handle yourself.
When you give a result try to make it measurable. For example you might tell me about a group project you worked on. Instead of telling me you received a passing grade, tell me what grade, was it the highest in the class. If the example is from an internship did you save the company money, or did you receive an award?
Don’t forget to smile and be concise!
Some common mistakes people make are that they come unprepared for the interview. For example they may not know anything about the position or company, they may not have prepared questions, or they forgot to bring extra resumes. Some other mistakes are that they don’t smile or show enthusiasm for the position and if it comes down to two candidates with equal skills the employer will most likely chose the candidate that has shown interest in their position.
