PREPARING FOR THE INTERVIEW
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not only give you a general sense of what your competence levels are at this moment in time, but it can also advise you when you are revising the content of your curriculum vitae. Perhaps some of the terminology I have used here has caused you to think ‘Yes! That’s exactly what I do!’ If so, I’m glad. Use these terms to expand on your role and responsibilities detailed in your CV. It is often difficult to find a form of words that fully describes what it is you do exactly. I’m sure there are some phrases here you can adapt for your own use.
RESEARCHING THE ORGANISATION An obvious place to start preparing for your interview is to research the organisation you’d like to work for. There are many, many sources from which to gain the kind of information you need, ranging from the Internet to periodicals, annual reports, etc. All of these have their own part to contribute in building up the picture you have of the organisation. The Internet will obviously give you access to the organisation’s own website. However, be aware that the organisation will use this medium to present the face to the world that they want, and it may be heavily ‘spinned’. Putting cynicism aside for a moment, make sure you read as many of the web pages as you can and jot down salient points as you come across them. You will often find information on their markets, their products, their employee numbers, their green credentials and usually details of how you can contact them directly. For larger companies, call up their public relations department (it may have many other titles) and ask them to send you any brochures or literature that they have all about the company. Now most employers will have expected you to do at least a basic Internet search on them and I’ve lost count of the number of times a candidate has recited verbatim statistics published on the website. To