Bruce Woodcock
University of Kent
Careers and Employability Service
Interview skills
You can download a copy of this
presentation at
www.kent.ac.uk/careers/slides.htm
Application Process
The smaller company process is much simpler and you can apply much
later (often after final exams) but salaries are usually lower and they offer less
training and less chance to specialise.
Selection methods of top employers in 2014
HOW NOT TO INTERVIEW
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Candidate had a fizzy drink just
before interview and spent the
whole interview burping.
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Announced she hadn't had lunch
and proceeded to eat burger and
chips during the interview.
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When asked him about his
hobbies, he stood up and started
tap dancing around the office.
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Without saying a word, candidate
stood up and walked out during the
middle of the interview.
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Dozed off during the interview.
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Said he never finished high school
because he was kidnapped and
kept in a wardrobe.
Carefully research the employer and the job
Commercial Awareness
• What do you know about our organisation?
• What are our main products/services?
• What are the problems facing our organisation?
• What changes have there been in our sector recently?
• Who are our clients?
• What do you think the job you would be doing entails?
www.kent.ac.uk/careers/sk/commercialawareness.htm
BODY LANGUAGE
• Dress smartly
• Shake hands warmly but wait to
be invited to sit down.
• Smile!
• Eye contact
• Try to relax: don’t sit on the
edge of your chair,
but don’t slouch.
• Speak clearly and not too quickly
• Don’t fidget
www.kent.ac.uk/careers/interviews/nvc.htm
PREPARE ANSWERS TO OBVIOUS
QUESTIONS
• Why are you applying to us?
• Why have you chosen IT/law etc.?
• What makes you suitable for this job?
• What other jobs are you applying for?
• Where do you see yourself in five years?
• Why did you choose your degree course?
• What have you got out of University?
• What do you do in your spare time? What do you get
out of it?
COMPETENCY-BASED QUESTIONS
Describe a situation where you had to .....
• show leadership
• make a difficult decision
• overcome a difficult obstacle
• refuse to compromise
• work with others to solve a problem
Person specification
Experience/Knowledge
Essential
Experience of prioritising
competing demands
Desirable
√
Experience of working with
a diverse client group
√
Skills/Abilities
Essential
Ability to achieve targets within
agreed timescales
√
Ability to work autonomously and
as a team member
√
Ability to work with people
at all levels
Desirable
√
Interview questions will be largely based around the
competencies in the person specification e.g.
“Describe a situation where you had to achieve targets
within agreed timescales”
COMPETENCY-BASED QUESTIONS: STAR
• Start by briefly outlining the Situation
• Keep the focus on your specific Tasks and responsibilities
• Say what Action you took, then try to summarise what
you achieved. If it’s a group task, make sure you define
your own role and contribution. This is the biggest part
• Give concrete Results when possible. If you cannot be
totally positive about the experience, say what you
learned from it and what you might do differently next
time.
• Situation/Tasks/Action/Result =
www.kent.ac.uk/careers/compet/skillquest.htm
Interview nerves
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It's not that important: there will be other interviews in future.
Preparation: makes you more confident.
Dress smartly: if you look good, you feel good!
Start in a positive way and you will continue in this vein: smiling,
eye contact, a firm handshake.
Don't worry about making a mistake: everyone fluffs one question.
The day before write down everything you are worried about:
“downloads” your worries.
Visualisation: the night before, visualise yourself undergoing the
whole interview, step by step, and imagine everything going well.
Mindfulness techniques help to reducing stress.
Listen to empowering music beforehand!
Adopt power poses before (not at!!!) the interview:
standing upright with hands on hips,
steepling hands.
For more see
www.kent.ac.uk/careers/intervw.htm#nerves
HYPOTHETICAL QUESTIONS
• "How would you deal with an irate customer?”
(customer service interview)
• Interviewer picks up an object from the desk.
"Sell me this pen".
(sales/marketing) interview
• BA pilot - asked what he would do if he met the
captain wearing a dress in the hotel bar.
(British Airways interview)
HYPOTHETICAL QUESTIONS
• Used because it's impossible to work out your
answer beforehand.
• Test your ability to think quickly, logically,
produce practical solutions.
• Don't panic! Take a few seconds to think - this
shows confidence.
• Just try to think of one or two sensible things to
say to start off.
• There may be many possible solutions.
PREPARE QUESTIONS TO ASK
• DON’T ASK about
holidays, pensions
and parking
facilities.
• DO ASK about
training, career
development and
the work itself.
PREPARE QUESTIONS TO ASK
• How is performance at work assessed?
• What is a typical career path in this job?
• Can you give me more details of your training
programme?
• What is the ‘‘work culture’’? i.e. informal, formal, do
people work autonomously, does everyone come in
early, stay late?
• What are the challenges that your organisation is
facing?
• What is your personal experience of working for this
organisation?
FOLLOWING UP
• The interviewer will probably let you know when
you’ll know the result. If they haven't made this
clear, ask!
• The next stage may be a second interview or
selection centre.
• After the interview, make notes on the questions
asked and what you could have done better.
On-line videos
• INTERVIEWS
• ON-LINE APPLICATIONS
• SELECTION CENTRES
• now streamed on-line
www.kent.ac.uk/careers/IntVid.htm
• All last about 25 minutes and are
excellent!
INTERVIEW WEB HELP
Practice Interviews Online
Teaching, accountancy, banking, journalism, marketing,
retail personnel, Civil Service, postgrad. study, scientific
research, IT and law
www.kent.ac.uk/careers/interviews/mockivs.htm
Answers to 150 interview questions
www.kent.ac.uk/careers/interviews/ivquest.htm
Telephone interviews
www.kent.ac.uk/careers/ivphone.htm
Assessment Centres
www.kent.ac.uk/careers/applicn.htm
Employer Aptitude Tests
www.kent.ac.uk/careers/psychotests.htm
Other Resources
Actuarial Careers page
www.kent.ac.uk/careers/actuarial.htm
Maths Careers
www.kent.ac.uk/careers/Maths.htm
CV Examples
www.kent.ac.uk/careers/cv/cvexamples.htm
Placements
www.kent.ac.uk/careers/placements.htm
Careers Employability Award on Moodle
• Half the unemployment rate for students who complete the award
www.kent.ac.uk/careers/moodle.htm
• DP2650 Email bw@kent.ac.uk if you have problems enrolling
www.kent.ac.uk/careers Telephone: 01227 823299 Email: careerhelp@kent.ac.uk
Opening hours: Monday to Friday 9 to 5 including vacations
Drop-in times (no appointment needed: 15 minutes): 10.30 to 12.30 and 2 to 4 pm
Help given for up to 3 years after graduation
Weekly careers emails every Monday afternoon
Bruce Woodcock
University of Kent
Careers and Employability Service
Interview skills
You can download a copy of this
presentation at
www.kent.ac.uk/careers/slides.htm
Moodle Careers Employability Award
14 Quizzes: need 75% to pass
Assignments: complete 3 of these
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Analyse your skills and learn how
to make top quality applications
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Do you want to live to work or
work to live?
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Researching careers
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Choosing a career
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Submit a CV
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Social media
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Action planning
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Employability skills quiz
Employability skills quiz: drag and drop
How to develop the skills employers want?
Test your spelling and grammar!
What makes you happy at work?
How commercially aware are you?
Special interests topic lesson
Interview preparation
Practice interview
What are the most common interview
questions?
Aptitude tests and assessment centres
CV quiz
CVs and covering letters: drag and drop quiz
Career planning drag and drop quiz
www.kent.ac.uk/careers/moodle.htm
Interview Quiz!
NOW TRY ANSWERING THE
FOLLOWING QUESTIONS
• About how long should interview answers be?
• Tell me about yourself.
5 minutes
• What are your weaknesses?
• Do you have any questions you would like to ask
us? Think of three good questions to ask at
interview.
End
Coping with the recession
•
Still lots of jobs out there – 300 on our vacancy database
• Make sure your CV is top quality
• Need to be more flexible in terms of choice of job and
location – don’t wait around for your ideal job.
• Consider further study, work abroad (TEFL) or voluntary
work to improve skills.
• Ask us for help if you get stuck!
• Other hints and tips at
www.kent.ac.uk/careers/servicesforgraduates.htm
PREPARATION - THE KEY TO SUCCESS
• Research the employer and the job
• Prepare answers to obvious questions
• Think of your unique selling points
• Think of how you would answer
questions about your weaknesses
• Prepare some questions to ask
• Dress smartly
• Leave plenty of time to get there
REAL QUESTIONS FROM CANDIDATES
• What is your Zodiac sign?
• Do I have to dress for the next interview?
• I know this is off the subject, but will you marry me?
• Will the company pay to relocate my horse?
• When is pay day?
• Would it be a problem if I'm angry most of the time?
• Why am I here?
Vacancy Emails Form
IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOR FINAL YEAR
STUDENTS AND POSTGRADUATES WHO GRADUATE
IN SUMMER.
If you graduate in summer please complete our Vacancy
Email Form http://www.kent.ac.uk/careers/contact.html if
you haven't already done so.
This will then ENTITLE YOU TO GET CAREERS HELP
FOR UP TO THREE YEARS AFTER YOU LEAVE KENT
including weekly vacancy emails, use of the information
room, and consultations with careers advisers.
I enjoyed the depth of the module. It went far
The amount of time put into this is
beyond some general tips on how to write a
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It would be mad to apply for a
job or attend an interview
without doing it!
I recently had a very
successful interview largely
because I put the advice on
the module into practice.
finished the course and have
already put together a very
It has made me feel a lot more
good
CVwhen
and itcovering
confident
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applications and interviews and has
also made me think about skills that
I didn't think I had before.
Before the course I had only a vague idea of
my career path and opportunities. Now I am
applying for summer internships and know
how to effectively sell my skills to a
prospective employer and have a much more
focused plan for my future.
Duty Careers Adviser
• A Duty Careers Adviser is
available to help with
queries between 10.30 am
to 12.30 p.m. and 2 to 4
p.m. every day.
• No appointment needed just drop in.
Other Presentations.
www.kent.ac.uk/careers/casevents.htm
“Sell” your degree
• Many employers don’t know what a Multimedia or DA degree
entails.
• Lots of “Mickey Mouse” degrees out there
• Kent degree has a lot of project work and strong technical skills
• Talk about relevant modules (plus marks if good!)
• Technical skills: programming, applications such as Adobe Suite
• Group projects: work with others in preparation and presentation.
Individual projects: work independently, manage time, project
management skills, write report
• Portfolio
• Gather and analyse relevant information from a wide variety of
sources
• Identify and propose solutions to problems
• Communicate with others in a clear and articulate manner
• Present ideas and arguments verbally in presentations and
seminars, and informal discussions