Before you prepare for the interview, it’s useful to understand how most organizations decide what they are looking for in a candidate, and how they use this to choose the questions they ask at the interview. It can also be helpful to know how the selection procedure works, why employers conduct interviews and what’s likely to happen at the average interview.
Most interviewers these days try to ensure the interview follows the same course for each candidate, so most interviews follow the same basic structure:
● The welcome. An introduction designed to put you at your ease, which often includes a general greeting and brief chat – ‘Thank you for coming’, ‘Did you have a good journey?’ and so on followed by an outline of the interview and a brief account of the job and the company.
● The questions. The interviewer will often start the main part of the interview by asking you an open question such as ‘Would you give me a rundown of your current post?’ or ‘Would you describe your current responsibilities to me?’ The purpose of this is to see how you apply your knowledge, skills and abilities in your current job. They will then go on to ask a set of standard structured questions they are asking every applicant. If there are things on your CV they want to look at more closely – an unusual career path or gaps in your employment history they will also ask you about these. Unlike the structured questions, these are person specific and will be different for each interviewee. Both sets of questions usually follow a logical structure and an orderly sequence. However, towards the end, the interviewer may find they want more information on something covered earlier, or they may want to go back and esquire into something in more depth, so don’t be surprised if the interviewer appears to revert to an earlier question.
● Over to you. When the interviewer is happy they’ve got all the information they want, they’ll ask if you have any questions yourself.
● The finish. The interviewer will usually conclude the interview by describing what will happen next – whether there will be any further stage in the interview process (a second interview, assessments or tests, etc), when you might expect to hear the outcome, whether they will ring or write to you with their decision. If they are offering travel expenses, they will usually explain what to do at this stage. They will usually end by thanking you for coming to the interview and wishing you well.
What sort of questions interviewer ask?
As we’ve seen above, most interviewers prepare two sets of questions: standard, structured questions; and person-specific questions.
The structured questions will be the same for all candidates and are usually compiled well in advance of the interview. They are based on a job description and a person specification more about these later – and are designed to probe how well each applicant matches the criteria for that specific job. They include questions such as: ‘What do you see as the main priorities of this particular job?’, ‘How would you deal with an aggressive client?’, ‘Tell me about an occasion when you had to motivate a team member. How did you go about it?’ and ‘Where do you see this industry expanding in the next five years?’ They want to see if you have the abilities required to do the job.
Structured questions make the interview process fair because each applicant is matched against the requirements of the job rather than being rated against each other.
Person-specific questions are designed to explore your particular circumstances more fully and are based on your CV or application form.
These questions often seek out and expose your weak spots:
‘How well do you think you will settle down to a 9-to-5 job after extensive travelling?’, ‘Do you feel that this job might be a bit of a step down for you?’, ‘Unlike your current job, this job involves a great deal of contact with the public. How do you think you would handle that?’ and ‘Why are you considering leaving your current job after only six months?’
This is often seen as the ‘sticky’ bit of the interview, but looked at positively, it’s actually your opportunity to reassure the interviewer and set their mind at rest.
On the whole, the interviewer will want to investigate anything they pick up from your CV or application form that suggests:
● an unusual career path;
● frequent job changes and/or gaps in employment;
● a lack of relevant qualifications or training;
● a lack of relevant background or experience;
● unclear personal attributes or specific aptitudes.
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