Research the company
When you applied for the role, you probably had a browse through the company website. This is all well and good, but a quick browse may not give you enough information for the questions you could be asked. Interviewers generally ask what you know about their company at the start of the interview.
They will probably have interviewed other candidates before you and may have heard the same quotes from their website many times before. You need to make sure you stand out form the crowd, so gain as much information as possible about the company and make notes on what might be relevant for your role. Look for the organisation’s products and services, business plan, company values, future projects, past achievements and any awards they may have won. Make notes on all of these topics and briefly explain what you have learned. Some companies also publish their policies and procedures. If the role you are applying for has to closely adhere to or form new policies, print them off and take them wit h you. You won’t need to quote or read from them, but if questioned on how you would carry out a certain task, you can refer to the way in which the company already does it.
It’s also a good idea to research any current government regulation or any planned changes in regulations that might impact on the organisation and the way that they work. For example, changes in banking regulations have greatly impacted how organisations operating in the Financial Services industry deliver their services and products. If you are aware of these changes, you can discuss these at interview. This demonstrates that you are interested not only in the job itself, but also the company and the way they work too. You can also use this knowledge to help you form some questions for the end of your interview. There is nothing wrong with having notes, information, your application or CV and the job description with you in the interview, but make sure you don’t read directly from them for long periods of time, you should maintain eye contact as mush as possible so try to have a summary to hand and refer to it if needed.
Relevant skills, experience and training
You may have already touched on this in your application form or covering letter, but you’ll need to go into more details about your relevant skills, experience and any training in an interview.
Make a list of the key requirements for the role and match your previous experience to this. You should also think about any transferrable skills you may have. For example; you may not have worked in a customer facing environment before, but have still provided excellent customer service. Any colleague you interact with on a day to day basis is in fact an internal customer, so whether you are showing someone how to do something, completing a project or answering a query, if you do it well
– you have provided good customer service.
Make a list of all of the computer programmes you have used over the years.
You might think that you’re not great with IT, but when you think about it – you’ve actually got to grips with a fair few in-house systems over the years.

Key achievements
If you have used our CV template (see CV section), you may have already listed some of your achievements gained from previous employment. You can go into more details about these achievements in an interview, particularly if they are relevant for the role. Interviewers sometimes ask if there is anything you would have done differently. If you are going to talk about your achievements, think about how you reached your goal. There has probably been an occasion where the end result was good, but getting there was a bit of a struggle at times. Though this may seem negative, this actually demonstrates a good level of self-awareness and an ability to learn from mistakes. Most negatives can be turned into positives so think carefully about any processes or policies that may have improved as a result of your efforts.
Positive Attitude
Employers are not just recruiting for skills and experience; they are also looking for candidates who have a positive, flexible and willing attitude.
Interviewers need to know that the successful candidate can be relied upon, so think of occasions when you have gone beyond the call of duty at work. If you’ve stayed late, taken on extra responsibilities or extra work and have displayed a willingness to do so, you’ll be looked on more favourably than someone who has done the same thing but was actually reluctant.
Be friendly to everyone you meet. This may seem obvious, but nerves can get the better of everyone and make you appear introverted. If the receptionist is making conversation, make sure you interact appropriately. Interviewers often ask the opinion of everyone involved in the process that day so make sure you are open and approachable to all.
Asking questions
It’s common practice for interviewers to ask candidates whether they have any questions at the end of the interview. It’s very easy to say ‘no, we’ve covered it in the interview’, but although you may have covered many topics, it
’s unlikely that there is nothing left to ask about. If you have done your research well, you should still have some topics to talk about. You could ask about any relevant changes in legislation/regulations and their impact on the business, any expansion plans the business may have and where the vacancy fits in, any training opportunities or the career progression opportunities. It’s refreshing for an interviewer to be faced with a candidate who has researched well and displays a genuine interest. Interviewers make notes on the questions you ask too so make sure you stand out from the other candidates by making relevant conversation and not just answering the questions you have been asked.
If you really have covered everything, you can ask about the company benefits on offer (childcare vouchers, holiday entitlements, employee assistance programmes etc) and remember to ask when they will be making a decision and how you will find out if you have been successful.
Asking for feedback

In the event that you we re not successful, it’s always good to contact the employer and ask for feedback as to why you were not selected. It’s tempting to just forget all about it; however this won’t help you in the long run. Most employers are happy to provide constructive feedback regarding your performance at interview. This feedback can then help you identify areas in your interview technique that could be improved upon and you can then adjust your approach for your next interview. It could be that another candidate was simply more experienced, but if you don’t ask – you’ll never know.
Competency based interview questions
Interviewers don’t just want to know what you have done; they want to know how you did it. Competency questioning is designed to get you thinking about how you go about producing results. They are used for all levels of vacancies but go into more detail a management levels. The interview may give you a scenario and ask how you would react in that circumstance, or they may ask how you behaved in a past experience. Here are some examples of questions you may be asked:
1. Who would you consider your customers to be at ABC Employers ?
2. What do you think are the main components of good customer service?
What do you consider our customers expect from us?
3. What impact do you feel that you have had on standards of customer services within your team/organisation? How have you achieved it?
4. Give an example of a time when you have delivered excellent customer service? What were the circumstances? What did you do? What was the outcome?
5. Describe a situation in which you felt extremely pressurised/stretched when trying to meet a customer’s requirements. What actions did you take? How did the customer react? What was the end result?
6. Give an example of a time when you were unab le to meet the customer’s requirements. Explain why you were unable to? How did the customer react? How did you deal with the customer? What was the end result?
What did you learn from the experience?
7. Give an example of a time when you have had to deal with a very difficult or angry customer. Explain why they were angry, how you dealt with them and the outcome.
8. Tell us about a time when you have empowered a customer? What were the circumstances? How did you empower them? What was the outcome?
Other interview questions you may be asked

1. Why do you want to leave your current/most recent job?
2. Why have you stayed so long with one company?
3. You seem to move from company to company very often. Why?What do you find the most challenging aspect of your current role?
4. What aspect of your job has given you the most job satisfaction in the last
3 months?
5. What aspect of your job has given you the least job satisfaction in the last
3 months?
6. Describe a typical day in your current/most recent job.
7. By what standards is success measured in your organisation?
8.
What was the most interesting aspect of……………? Why was that?
9.
What was the least interesting aspect of……………? Why was that?
10. What did you find most difficult about………….? Why? How did you get over it?
11. What did you like/dis like most about……………?
12. How many staff do you have working for you?
13. How many projects do you run in a typical year?
14. How many client complaints do you manage in a typical month?