Soft Skills
Acing the Job Interview Who is interviewing whom? Rowena Morais Curated Learning, Communication, Content TEDx Speaker, Editor, Writer and LinkedIn Profile Writer
“
Recruiting done right is not about filling seats, it’s about building the future of a business.
Edith Cooper,
”
Goldman Sachs
This is a powerful statement which, at first glance, seems pretty ordinary. Yes, we know that recruiting is about getting people on board. When you have many roles to fill, however, it can feel a little like a race to fill seats. As a potential recruit, you want to see any role you are interested in as part of something much bigger. It helps you approach your role and contribution within a wider context, enabling you to see more opportunities, threats and risks. Acing the job interview is a tough thing to do. There is no finite set of things you should do to get through an interview successfully. There are a myriad number of factors that can affect the interview.
1. An interview is a two way street. This means that the interview is not just about the organisation. They may have called for the interview and may appear to control many aspects of the recruitment process but this is also your interview. It is your opportunity to ask questions about the organisation. It is incumbent on you to do as good a job as you can to find out all you need to know about who you want to work for.
2. Do your research on the organisation and who will be conducting the interview. Preparation is key. The better prepared you are, the better you can cope with any changes that come your way. There is more opportunity to get background information on an organisation today than there was before. It’s not information for the sake of information. It’s pulling together the right information which together presents a picture of the organisation.
3. The interview itself – scare tactics, psychometric tests, stress, format (phone, video, out of office, group interview). Large organisations typically have a range of tools and techniques to help them make an accurate assessment of candidates. Some interviewers use scare tactics for one simple reason. When you put a person through a stressful situation, a candidate’s real nature will show up from under all the polish and preparation. Stress in any interview can come from many aspects. The best way to prepare for these situations is to stay as true to yourself as you can and remain as calm as possible.
4. How will you deal with the salary question? You can either get this question very early in the process or at the end. You cannot control this but you can spend time to prepare for this in advance so you know what to say. They may believe they can ask but you also have a choice as to what you want to say, how much information you want to divulge as well as the timing of delivery. Frankly, the older you get, the better you get at handling these sensitive questions, in my opinion. When you’re young or inexperienced, you may feel not in control of the situation and so, cave in at these points. Over time, you realise that salary is really the last of the big issues. Sure, money and the reward package are relevant factors but so is the timing of these issues. If they have the wrong person for the role or the interviewee is not interested in what’s on the table, salary is irrelevant.
5. Have questions for the interviewer. How can you not? They are considering having you come on board and you need to do the same. You will be curious, you will have many questions. Your job is to figure out which are the most important questions to ask during the interview and which should be follow up questions.
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ECHO - Feb 2019
