Interview Guide prepared by Claremont Consulting Ltd

THE INTERVIEW You are being interviewed because the interviewer has a position to fill. Through the interaction, which will take place during the interview, the interviewer will be assessing your strengths and weaknesses. In addition, specific characteristics will be probed such as attitude, aptitude, stability, motivation and maturity. Other areas that will be evaluated will include progress in your career to date, job changes, and progress and achievements within each job that you have held.

PREPARING FOR THE INTERVIEW Preparation is the first essential step towards a successful interview. Interviewers are continually amazed at the number of candidates who have not prepared and who possess little or no information about the company. It is imperative that you go to the interview armed with as much information as possible about your potential employer.

Ensure that you know the exact location and time of interview, the interviewers full name, t he correct pronunciation and title held. Find out specific facts about the company where its offices are located; what its products and services are; what its growth has been; and what its growth potential is for the future. The simplest way to obtain this information is from the company's own web site, one of the biggest complaints from clients interview feedback is that candidates have not even looked at the their website. Refresh your memory on the facts and figures of your PRESENT/FORMER employer. You will be expected to know a lot about a company that you are currently working for or have previously worked for. Be fully prepared to discuss the contents of your CV in detail. Prepare the questions you will ask and remember that an interview is a two-way street, in other words it is for giving and receiving information. The interviewer will try to determine through questioning if you have the qualifications necessary to do the job. You must determine through questioning whether the company will provide you with the opportunity for growth and development that you seek. Remember, asking intelligent and probing questions demonstrates to the interviewer that you have thoroughly prepared for the interview, you are showing a genuine interest in the company and that you take your career seriously. Probing questions you might ask. Can you describe the culture of the company? A detailed description of the position and the technology environment? Can you show me an organisation chart of the department? Why has this position become available? Can you tell me about your induction and training programme? If I exceed expectations where can I expect to be in two years time? What types of people have done well and why? Company growth plans? Best-selling products or services? The next step?

Dress in a smart business suit with black shoes and tie (if applicable) and a clean, ironed shirt/blouse. Dont wear casual clothes even if you know its the company policy.

FUNDAMENTALS OF A SUCCESSFUL INTERVIEW To a large degree, the success of your interview will depend on your ability to discover needs and empathize with the interviewer. You can do this by asking questions that verify your understanding of what the interviewer has just told you, without editorializing, or expressing an opinion. By establishing empathy in this manner, youll be in a better position to freely exchange ideas, and demonstrate your suitability for the job. In addition to establishing empathy, there are four intangible fundamentals to a successful interview. These intangibles will influence the way your personality is perceived, and will affect the degree of rapport, or personal chemistry youll share with the employer. 1. Enthusiasm. Leave no doubt as to your level of interest in the job. You may think its unnecessary to do this, but employers often choose the more enthusiastic candidate in the case of a two-way tie. Besides, its best to keep your options open -- wouldnt you rather be in a position to turn down an offer, than have a prospective job evaporate from your grasp by giving a lethargic interview? 2. Technical interest. Employers look for people who love what they do; people who get excited by the prospect of tearing into the nitty-gritty of the job. 3. Confidence. No one likes a braggart, but the candidate whos sure of his or her abilities will almost certainly be more favourably received. 4. Intensity. The last thing you want to do is come across as flat in your interview. Theres nothing inherently wrong with being a laid-back person; but sleepwalkers rarely get hired. Both for your sake and the employers try not to leave an interview without exchanging fundamental information. The more you know about each other, the more potential youll have for establishing rapport, and making an informed decision.

BE PREPARED TO ANSWER QUESTIONS LIKE

What do you know about our company? Why would you like to work for our company? What interests you about our product/service? Why did you choose a career in IT? Why do you want to leave your current job? What have you learned from some of the jobs you have held? Which did you enjoy the most and why? What have you done that shows initiative in your career? What would you say has been your greatest achievement in your career to date? Describe your strengths and weaknesses. What do you think determines a persons progress in a good company? Where do you see yourself five years from now? What does teamwork mean to you?

What style of management gets the best from you? What are your hobbies and interests? Can you give a breakdown of your current remuneration package? When was your last salary review?

THE SHORT AND LONG OF IT. There are two ways to answer interview questions: the short version and the long version. When a question is open-ended, the recommended suggestion is to say, Let me give you the short version. If we need to explore some aspect of my answer more fully, Id be happy to go into greater depth, and give you the long version. The reason you should respond this way is because its often difficult to know what type of answer each question will need. A question like, What was your most difficult assignment? might take anywhere from thirty seconds to thirty minutes to answer, depending on the detail you choose to give. Therefore, you must always remember that the interviewer is the one who asked the question. So you should tailor your answer to what he or she needs to know, without a lot of extraneous rambling or superfluous explanation. Why waste time and create a negative impression by giving a sermon when a short prayer would do just fine?

NEGATIVE FACTORS TO WATCH FOR During the course of an interview, the interviewer will be evaluating your negative factors as well as your positive attributes. Listed below are negative factors frequently evaluated during the course of an interview and those that most often lead to rejection.

Poor personal appearance and hygiene. Overbearing, aggressive, conceited superiority complex, opinionated. Inability to articulate thoughts clearly, poor diction or grammar. Lack of planning for career no purpose or goals. Lack of interest and enthusiasm about the company and the opportunity. Lack of confidence nervousness, shyness. Over-emphasis on money interested only in remuneration. Evasive making excuses for unfavourable factors in record. Lack of tact/diplomacy/maturity/courtesy. Condemnation of past employers. Failure to look the interviewer in the eye. Limp handshake. Failure to ask good questions about the job and company. Lack of preparation for interview failure to get information about the company, resulting in an inability to ask intelligent questions.

DONT GIVE THE INTERVIEWER AN EXCUSE TO REJECT YOU! SOME DOS & DONTS CONCERNING THE INTERVIEW.

Pre-Screening preparation Increasingly clients are using social media (Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace, Bebo, Twitter etc) to pre-check on candidates, please ensure that your Social Network profiles dont contain anything that could be considered unprofessio nal or give a negative portrayal of you. DO plan to arrive on time or a few minutes early. excusable. Arriving too early can also be disruptive. Late arrival for a job interview is never

If presented with an application form DO fill it out neatly and completely. Even if you have your own CV, you must fill out the companys own application form as this is often a Personnel/Human Resources requirement. DO greet the interviewer by their surname, if you are not sure of the pronunciation; ask the interviewer to repeat it. Shake hands firmly. DO wait until you are offered a chair before sitting. Sit upright in your chair, look alert and interested at all times. Be a good listener as well as a good talker. Smile. DO look a prospective employer in the eye when you converse. DO follow the interviewers leads but try to obtain a full description of the position and duties expected early so that you can relate your appropriate background and skills. DO make sure that your good points get across to the interviewer in a factual, sincere manner. Keep in mind that only you can sell yourself and make the interviewer aware of the potential benefits that you can offer to the organisation. DO always conduct yourself as if you are determined to get the job you are discussing. Never close the door on opportunity. It is better to be in the position where you can choose from a number of jobs rather than only one. DONT answer questions with a simple yes or no. Elaborate whenever possible. Describe those things about yourself, which relate to the position. A trained interviewer will ask you open questions, which will give you the opportunity to do this. DONT LIE. Answer questions truthfully, frankly and to the point. DONT make derogatory remarks about your present or former employers. DONT enquire about SALARY, HOLIDAYS, and BONUSES etc., at the initial interview unless you are positive the interviewer is interested in hiring you. However, you should know your market value and be prepared to specify your required salary or range. Dont price yourself out of contention for the job. If you are offered to be shown around the department, DO accept the invitation it shows commitment and interest.

CLOSING THE INTERVIEW

IF you are interested in the position enquire about the next interview stage if applicable. If the interviewer offers the position to you and you want it, accept on the spot. If you wish for some time to think it over, be courteous and tactful in asking for that time. Set a definite date when you can provide an answer. DONT be too discouraged if no definite offer is made or specific salary discussed. The interviewer will probably want to consult with colleagues first or interview other candidates before making a decision.

IF you get the impression that the interview is not going well and that you have already been rejected, dont let your discouragement show. Once in a while an interviewer who is genuinely interested in your possibilities may seem to discourage you in order to test your reaction. THANK the interviewer for the time spent with you.

How to Answer Competency Based Interview Questions This is a description on how to succeed at competency based interviews, and gives advice on how to use the STAR technique in order to structure your answers to demonstrate effectively your ability to do the job. In an interview situation you may be faced with competency based questions, which at first may seem a little daunting, and can potentially be fairly disastrous in you dont know how to make the most of your answer. However, using the right technique this type of questioning at interview actually gives you an excellent opportunity to provide evidence of your suitability to the job. In this article I will explain what a competency based question is, why interviewers use this technique and how these questions can be easily and effectively answered. The aim of this article is to help you prepare and structure your responses, make the best use of the opportunity you have to demonstrate your suitability and very importantly to avoid the dreaded nervous rambling response! What is a Competency Based Question? Competency based questioning is a technique used by interviewers to assess your suitability to the job you have applied for, by using questions based on the competencies required to perform the job. These competencies will relate to the job role and the values of the company. Key competencies are specific skills you need for the job, i.e. decision making, leadership, problem solving, conflict resolution, customer service skills, management, project management, budgetary control or team working. Why do Interviewers use Competency Based Interview Questions? Faced with perhaps 6 good candidates who on paper may all have similar or equal attributes for the job, the hiring manager will have to make a decision based on a meeting with the candidates often lasting no more than an hour. The outcome of this meeting will be the appointment of one of the candidates. The hope is that the successful candidate will become a valuable and long lasting member of their staff. This person will be able to fulfil the role, fit in with the company ethos, prove profitable, be happy in the role, and not present unexpected problems or require training and development above and beyond what the hiring manager had initially envisaged for the role.

Competency based questioning is an effective way to assess the suitability of candidates in a short time, and is an unbiased method of comparing one applicant against another. The interviewer will ask a series of questions relating to the key competencies for the job. The best indicator for the future performance of an applicant is to look at their previous performance in these key areas, this will demonstrate clearly if they have the required experience, behaviours and potential to fulfil the new role. How to Answer Competency Based Interview Questions You will be able to easily rehearse for this type of interview, and some good preparation at this stage will help you answer your interview questions fully and also reduce your interview nerves. The first task is to identify the competencies for the job. Look for the competencies for the particular job you are applying for, you should be able to spot these in the job description. You may come up with a list something like this: team working, project management, quality service, liaising with clients, working to deadlines, commercial awareness. You should also identify the mission statement and values of the company as you will probably be questioned on these too, remember they are looking for a fit for the company as well as the role. The type of areas company values and mission statements often cover are quality, team working and budgetary considerations, so be sure to revise these too. The key to answering this type of question is to be specific in your response. You should avoid generalisations, it is important to remember why they are using this technique and what they are looking for. So do not generalise, use actual specific instances when you have demonstrated the competency they are questioning you on. The STAR Technique I would strongly advise you to use the STAR technique. By sticking to this method of answer you will be able to keep your response to the point and structure your answer effectively. To explain, your answer should incorporate the following elements: S Situation T Task A Action R Result Situation For the particular competency describe the background of a particular situation when you used the key competency in question. For example if the competency is budgetary control , you may answer In my last job I was appointed to lead a project involving a 600,000k engineering factory shutdown lasting 2 weeks, and I had overall responsibility for the budget for this project. I did face some challenges on this project which required careful management to keep to budget.

Task Describe what you particular task was in relation to this, i.e. My responsibility was to ensure that the project came in on time and to budget, which required very close liaison with the discipline heads, maintenance managers and cost and planning team. As it was very important the project ran to timescale and costs were maintained as per estimates. This was my ultimate responsibility. Any overspend, delay or conflict had to be resolved immediately to keep the project to budget. 1 week into the project we were faced with unexpected delays due to unavailability of essential maintenance equipment which threatened the completion of the project on time and would ultimately have prevented the plant from becoming operational again on time. This would have obviously created a loss in production and so revenue.

Action I worked long hours with the buying and contracts manager, sourcing alternative suppliers and negotiating price, to keep to the original estimates. I worked closely with the planning team to reschedule some of the other work to ensure no time was lost. It was key that I kept in very close contact with the whole team throughout, as any delay would affect the budget. I examined all aspects of the project to ensure that there were no wasted costs and that despite the tight budget safety standards were never compromised.

Result I am pleased to say that through perseverance and my determination to deliver on time and to budget, the long hours paid off and a new supplier was found who have since proved to be a new and more effective supplier for us. The project was completed to time and came in a little under budget, and the whole project was carried out without accident or injury.

Remember the interviewer will probably score your response, and you will gain marks by giving a specific instance, quoting what the situation was, what you did and what your motivation was to do this. Think about what did you say and what was the outcome? You might also add your observations about what you learnt from the experience. If you give a generalised answer it will be very difficult for the interviewers to award you any points on this part of the interview. Try not to use any scenarios which are too personal and which will cause any awkward moments in the interview. Try to think of a situation that you are quite familiar with, and one which involved interacting with other people, you may also be asked about your personal feelings in this situation, i.e. how did you feel about that? be prepared for this. Finally, the interview may not be overtly competency based and if your interviewer is not very experienced may include questions such as: This job deals with a lot of confidential information, have you done this before? This question is in fact a closed question which could be answered with a yes or no. However, in order to make the best of this opportunity to demonstrate your suitability, think of it as a competency based question and answer with a specific example of when you have dealt with confidential information. Use the STAR technique and you will find that you will be able to stick to the question, demonstrate your suitability and present clear evidence to show you are capable of fulfilling the role. Good Luck, although Im sure using the STAR technique and with some good preparatio n into the key competencies and the mission statement of the company you will succeed.