Get the Job You Deserve

Hello again.

Pace Setter

Did you see Usain Bolt this week? He’s come from nowhere to dominate world sprinting! Well actually he hasn’t, he’s been well known to most pundits for 9 or 10 years and he’s been training very hard and improving all the way.

This week we’re talking about preparation: Interview Preparation.

We are sending some excellent IT candidates and marketing professionals off for interviews this week and many of them have had doubts and questions. There are some great tips on our website but we want to give you access to extra information that will really help you to be the best you can be. Remember, the best candidate doesn’t always succeed: the best interviewee does.

4 Key Areas

Let’s look at 4 areas to help you arrive feeling ready to dazzle:

· Make sure you’re going for a job you really want
· Treat every conversation in your search like an interview
· Be ready for any question
· Practise!

Ambition

If you’re not going for a job you really want the chances are you won’t get it. You may feel under less pressure because the stakes aren’t so high but the lack of enthusiasm is likely to come through. If you’re suffering from a passion gap then How to Get a Job You’ll Love is a great guide to help identify what gets you enthusiastic.

Communication

Once you’ve found that source of enthusiasm then start communicating it. In all your networking activities and conversations with friends make sure they know what you want to do. Treat anyone new, who may be able to help you, with the respect you would reserve for an interviewer, even if they called you first. You need people on your side.

Standard Answers

There is a relatively standard list of about 200 interview questions, including ice-breakers, toughies and competency-based. As part of your ongoing career development strategy you can prepare stock answers to these questions that can be upgraded as required. If that sounds a bit extreme imagine asking one of the business leaders on Dragons’ Den about the value they can bring to your organisation. You’d get a concise, convincing answer wouldn’t you? You too should be prepared.

Resources

A guide to the list is featured in Job Interview: top answers to tough questions. If you haven’t got time to find that you could look at this no nonsense HR site, it’s a bit daunting but if you have a strong answer for all the relevant questions you can only do well. The only questions that change dramatically each time are the ones about the recruiting organisation; you have to be up to speed on that. Do your research, no excuses!

Practise!

The final tip is to practise. Practise your prepared answers with a friend or relative, you can add polish so quickly this way. You may be expecting a verbal or mathematical reasoning test; practise that too! Here’s an online site where you can practise for free.

Other than that just do everything you can you make sure you turn up on time looking, feeling, smelling and sounding confident and enthusiastic. You’re ready; it’s all about you, so enjoy it.

Good luck!