Interview Tips

PREPARE

What are the key skills sought? Do you know enough about the organisation?

ENGAGE

Find out about the people you will be meeting, what are their interests and job responsibilities?

RELAX

Try to be yourself, dress appropriately.

MATCH THE JOB DESCRIPTION

Check and ensure you align your skills and experience with the job specification the employer has provided.

SELL YOURSELF

Be clear about your key qualities for the job, and make sure you talk about them at the interview. There is a balance to be struck between being overly ambitious, confident, and underselling your abilities for fear of being arrogant. Using facts about what you have done and its impact will help ground you.

WHAT WILL YOU LEARN?

Asking pertinent questions can show you came prepared and are thoughtful, as there are always plenty of things you need to find out. What are the company’s goals for the next few years? What progression opportunities will exist, how is the company structured? Use your contacts, the web and social media to do your company research.

ABOUT YOU

Come prepared to talk about yourself. People will want to know about the person they potentially could be working with.

YOUR CORE VALUES

Know yourself and be ready to talk about how your values fit with the organisation, especially if it’s values are prominent on their website.

ABILITIES, STRENGTHS AND LIMITATIONS

It is your unique skills that the interviewer needs to fully appreciate. Having clear examples of what you have done, how, the results achieved and being honest about skills you wish to develop will help you at interview.

YOUR WORK STYLE

Let people know a bit about how you go about your work, how you engage with colleagues and the type of work atmosphere you enjoy.

AMBITIONS

Be clear about what you are seeking, to avoid a mismatch between your expectation and the actual role.

DON’T BE TOO EMOTIVE

Interviewers respond to calm, clear and confident Candidates.

YOUR HISTORY

Do not speak in negative terms about past employers whatever you may feel – it will start to sow doubts that you are not the most positive person.

PRACTICE

The better you prepare and the more you practice the more comfortable and effective you will become at delivering a great interview performance.

Armed with these tips you can do some useful preparatory work which can help you perform well at interview and ease any pre interview nerves.

Remember once you get an interview through ASA, your Recruitment Consultant will help you prepare for your interview.

Interview Techniques: If you are looking for more advice on interview preparation the briefing note below has helped many ASA Candidates as they look to secure their next job – take a look:

• Preparation
• Day of the interview
• The interview
• End of the interview
• Dress to impress
• Overall impression