The People Magic Guide to Success at a Job Interview
Published by People Magic
at
Smashwords
Copyright Anne Drury-Godden and Robert Godden
Smashwords Edition License Notes
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The
People Magic Guide to
Success at a Job Interview
Key Tips to improve your chances
Anne Drury-Godden and Robert Godden
© Copyright 2009/2011 People Magic
Table of Contents
Out-Preparing Your Competition
Introduction
Yes!
You got the interview!
Well done! It's often only a small percentage of applicants that are deemed worthy of a face-to-face interview.
So, what does it mean?
Well for starters, with most recruitment situations, one of the initially-selected group who get an interview will be offered the role.
You've gone from being one of 20, 50 or 200 to one of 3-6.
Assuming there's only one job up for grabs, that still leaves you a handful of people to beat.
And beat them you must! There's no second prize. No runner-up. You win it; or miss out.
Let's assume there's five people left, including yourself.
In that group, the recruiting team is going to have some idea of ranking.
However, at least one in five candidates is likely to self-destruct at an interview. And let’s assume it's not you.
You could be in a good position – the favoured candidate from the CV's and initial screening – or you could be number five, relying on everybody else to blow it.
Wherever you're ranked, you can improve your chances by out-interviewing everybody else.
You must realise that you have little or no control over what anyone else does. Sure, there's a great French film where a candidate hunts down and kills all his rivals on a shortlist, but that can be messy, expensive and lead to some legal trouble, so that course of action is best avoided.
What you can do is ensure that your interview goes as well as possible by leaving nothing to chance.
Over the various chapters of this e-Book, we'll look at how you can prepare better, perform better and follow up better than anyone else.
It won't guarantee you success; but it will give you the tools and the confidence to give it your best shot.
If you can improve your chances by even a little, then maybe you won't have to settle for the consolation prize - nothing!
Out-preparing your competition
Part One: Prepare for any interview
Your CV is out there...
If you're applying for jobs, then you are aware that the next step is an interview.
So, what can you do in the meantime to improve your chances of landing that interview?
Start with learning to understand and respond to behavioural questioning. That way, if you get interviewed by someone who knows what they are doing, you will be prepared.
Sidebar: You can practice tricky interview questions at home; or else you are effectively doing your practicing in front of the interviewer; that's an easy choice!
Technically speaking, behavioural questioning is an interview technique that uses examples of past behaviour and achievements in the workplace as a predictor of future success.
In a nutshell, you need to be able to describe a situation, explain your actions and outline the results. There are many sites where you can find out about this type of questioning.
Please, do the research! Others will. It’s not just an edge, it’s making sure you are not left behind.
So, understand the basics and arm yourself with several good quality anecdotes that might cover a range of situations.
At some point, you hope to get a call – one of two types of call.
Each of them can be handled in a similar, but not identical, manner.
Possible call example one:
“Hi, it’s Robert from People Magic. You’ve applied for a role as a Gravy Chef through us. Can I ask you a few questions?”
This is what recruiters call a screening call.