Keep your head

When interviewing, one of the worst mistakes you can make is to lose your composure – some interview questions can be difficult and even at times uncomfortable, so the best thing you can do is to keep your wits about you. 

Preparing for your interview in advance is a good way to avoid losing control of the situation on the day – but even if you are caught off guard, don’t worry!  Most interviewers will be happy for you to take a minute to compose yourself if you lose track of your thoughts.  Don’t take too long though!

Don’t argue – discuss!

The worst mistake an interviewee can make is to get into an arguement with the interviewers.  Even if you don’t full agree with a point being put across, you should debate it – put forward a logical arguement to the contrary – certainly don’t argue.  Don’t tell the interviewer they are wrong or just end the discussion in a stubborn outrage!

Many interviewers will choose to put forward illogical arguments just to test how you react to them – your test is how you convey your answer, not the answer itself.

Turn off your mobile phone!

If you really didn’t think of this, well…

Be patient!

You may be on your lunch break and need to get back to your current job or you might have an appointment to go to.  Either way, an interviewer doesn’t want to see a candidate who looks like they want to just get out of there.

If you have time constraints, then let your interviewer know beforehand – if the interview does run over time they should respect that.  If not, then politely bring up your aforementioned arrangement and perhaps offer to schedule a second interview to discuss things in more detail.

This can actually work to your benefit – it shows you are assertive and considerate of possibly competing interviews and it opens the door to further communication at a later date.

Good luck!

Here are some questions to start off with and some notes on how to answer them…

• Why do you want to work for our company?

This is a common question – try not to kiss too much ass when answering it.  They basically want to know if you’ve done your homework.

• Where do you see youself in 5 years?

This is aimed at finding out how long term an employee you may be.  For low level positions they may ask this if you are over qualified but that can be a good thing – many companies will be happy to recruit qualified staff willing to work their way up.

• What are your strengths and weaknesses?

Fairly straightforward – try and relate your answers to the job you are applying for.

• Why should we recruit you?

A tough question – this is essentially your “elevator pitch” – sell them – tell them why you’d make a good employee.

• Do you prefer working in a team or individually?

Very role specific – judge your answer based on how you are likely to be expected to work within the company.

• Why did you leave your last job?

Check out this article: Reasons for leaving your job.

• What are your salary expectations?

Check out this article:  What are your salary expectations?

• Describe how you feel you can contribute to our company.

Similar to the question about why they should recruit you – sell them!

Good luck!

Preparation is the key to any interview and lot’s of people don’t realise this.  You wouldn’t go to pitch a new client without any preparation would you?  Interviewing for a job is just the same.

Here are a few ideas for things you can do to not only prepare for the next day, but also to calm your nerves and allow yourself to be satisfied that you have done everything you can to be ready.

• Check the company website.  Long gone are the days that company information is held in a dusty archive somewhere – get on the Internet and check out their website.  Get familiar with their products and services – their mission statement – their other vacancies even.  These can all be great talking points at the interview and will get your some brownie points!
• Check out company news.  Try something like Google News to search for recent news items about the company – another good talking point for you.
• Get your clothes ready!  Seems simple, but you don’t want to be panicking an hour before the interview because that shirt you were going to were has an unknown stain on it.
• Make notes.  Think about what questions you want answered by the end of the interview.
• Get directions.  Either take a wander to the place of your interview or check out something like Google Maps to plan your route.   Check bus and train times if appropriate as well.  There’s nothing worse than planning a 30 minute journey just for it to take an hour.  And you don’t want to be late!

Good luck!

Not an easy question to answer at your interview – as I’ve looked at other tough interview situations over the past few weeks (such as “reasons for leaving your job“), I thought it was worth covering how to deal with being asked what salary you expect to get.

First of all, you need to know that you don’t have to disclose your current or past salaries and you don’t need to respond to this question.  But given you are interviewing for a new job, the manner in which you deal with the question can affect the outcome of the interview, so it is worth being prepared.

In a lot of cases, especially early on in your career, you will be expecting an increase in salary when you move to a new job – usually because the new job may be a step up for you and as such has more responsibilities.

You also need to remember that your new employer really has no way of finding out your previous salary, so if you want to exaggerate a little to help justify an increased expected salary, then feel free to do so – it’s not a big deal, but please do be conscious that you shouldn’t go to far with this.  Adding a couple more £k to your current salary isn’t a big deal.

How to respond when asked what your salary expectations are

Let’s assume you want more money than you are getting just now.  If the salary hasn’t been disclosed for the job, then you need to carefully discuss the potential with your new employer.

You can start off by saying something along the lines of, “Well, obviously I would expect a salary that is in line with the level and responsibilities of the job and my experience - what starting salary do you offer for this job role?” – this is a great counter to the question.  It doesn’t commit you to a specific figure, and moves the discussion back to them.  They will always have a figure in mind from the start of the interview – most employers just want to see if they can hire you for less money!

There are several responses they can give to this:

• A figure that is way less than you want (in which case you need to think about if the job is really suitable for you)
• A figure that is a little lower than you want (then you need to put an argument forward for a higher starting salary)
• A figure that is suitable or higher than expected (take it – or haggle some more if you’re feeling cheeky!).

How to haggle for more money

It isn’t easy and you could quite easily mess up the entire interview if you go to far with this – all the same, it is worth it in many cases – you should take whatever chances you can to improve your own person situation.

There are several arguments you can give:

• I would have expected a higher starting salary for this position
• My current salary is higher than that
• That salary is a little lower than I think I need right now
• I think my experience would warrant a higher salary than that

Regardless of the approach you take, you should always end it with a question.  You do not want to put forward a staunch argument with no scope of discussion – you need to keep the discussion moving in your favour by always giving your interview a tight breadth to respond (rather than leaving the conversation wide open which could result in them changing the subject).

Your goal should be to maintain control of the discussion until it is resolved in your favour – the danger is that you can come across as to stubborn / greedy / etc so it is worth preplanning your approach.

Good luck!

OK, so you are an honest person and your gut is telling you to say, “my manager was a complete asshole – he spent too much time with his head surgically attached to the owners butt that he made life hell for me”.  While that is a completely valid motive, you still need come up with something slight more diplomatic for your interview.

After all, although it seems they want to know why you are moving on - they really want to see how you deal with the question and that is the way you need to approach the situation.

To help you out a bit, I’ve knocked up a quick list of reasons you can give for leaving your last job – some of them are useful, and others…well, not so useful but if you are feely cheeky you could go for it anyway!

Good reasons for leaving your previous job

• There was no scope for progression within the company.
• You’ve heard good things about the job you are applying for and saw that a position was available.
• You think this would make a good career move for you.

These are all positive responses in that they don’t in any way reflect negatively on you.  This is important because although there may very well have been negative reasons for you leaving (or you got fired), you still need to be giving a good impression at your interview.

Reasons that could be a bit of a minefield, but still reasonably acceptable

• I wasn’t happy in my old job.
• I had some disagreements with my manager / coworker.
• I didn’t like the company.
• My contract wasn’t renewed.

While these aren’t inherently bad grounds for deciding to change your place of work – they are honest and frankly, they are reasons that everyone has at one time or another in their life – they still open the door to a series of questions that might get tricky.

Obviously if your departure from your previous employer wasn’t entirely amicable, then you need to be putting as good a polish on it as possible.  That means possibly venturing into this territory, which could be difficult.  If you find yourself in this position, you should definitely go to the interview prepared to be grilled on the subject.  Usually the specifics of your answer won’t be that relevant to the interviewer (as long as you don’t reveal facts that you omitted earlier!) – the manner in which you answer will be relevant.

Pretty bad reasons for leaving your job

• I was just bored and thought I’d try something else.
• My manager was an idiot.
• I had been late a lot and they let me go.
• You pay more money.

Responses like this paint a very negative picture of you – even though that most people may have been in these situations before.  You just can’t say that at an interview though – you will look uncommitted.  Regardless of how you left your old job, you need to convince your new employer that you are 100% committed to them and if you get the job you won’t potentially cause problems later on.

The interview process is NOT them finding out more about you – it’s YOUR chance to build their confidence in YOU.

Never – I mean NEVER – criticise your previous employer.  It doesn’t matter how pissed off you are at them or how “down to earth” the interviewer may seem - it will not go down well.

Absolutely terrible reasons to give…

• I habitually urinated in my supervisors tea.
• I called my pregnant colleague a “fat skank”.
• I watched Fight Club then decided to reenact one of the scenes at work.
• My boss caught me with his wife at the Xmas party.
• I never liked working with children much – whiney little bastards.
• The court said I had to stay at least half a mile from the premises.
• Some stuff in my past came up and they wouldn’t let me teach anymore.
• I went on holiday for 2 weeks and forgot to mention it to them.
• Stuffy bastards wouldn’t let me enjoy a whisky with breakfast.
• I didn’t realise the mute button on my phone was broken while I was mocking my client.
• Too many (insert ethnic / racial slur).
• I brought in my pet cougar for a laugh.
• The company expenses account paid for these new teeth (then smile).
• I won’t go into details, but let’s just say there was an incident involving a bucket of sand and a length of rope.
• Screw you!  Mind your own damn business!
• All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy…
• They were too anal about their “don’t steal from work” policy.
• The corporate firewall started blocking porn.
• They don’t know I’m gone.
• Arrrrrgh!  AHHHH!  AHHHHHHHHHH!  STOP YELLING!
• Haha, good one!
• They found out about… (awkward pause) … there was no scope for progression in the company.
• I still maintain all offices should allow paintball guns in the mornings.
• Friday afternoon in the pub ended Wednesday morning.
• They just couldn’t deal with my fucking genius.
• They are prejudice against people who enjoy swinging at lunchtime.

Good luck!

So with that in mind, I’ve decided to prepare you a kick ass list of questions you can ask your interviewer.  Keep in mind though – not all of these questions will be appropriate for every job interview out there.  The one thing you should take away from this is that every job and every interviewer is different – these are just some generic examples so make an effort to think of questions relating to the job when you are preparing for your interview.

Also, these questions aren’t just a list of stuff you can say just to be a smart arse at your interview and get the job.  Many of these questions will help you understand more about the job and company you are applying for.  Use this list as a basis for your research – take notes where appropriate so you can have an intelligent discussion with your interviewer and prepare yourself for starting employment should you get a job.

Questions to ask in an interview (in no particular order!):

1. How many other people work in the team?  What are there job roles?
2. If the job is in a new department, ask about the reason for establishing the apartment and what the plans for growth are.
3. If the job is an old one, ask who you are replacing and why they have moved on.
4. Ask about appraisals and performance reviews – how often, will they be tied to pay increases or bonuses?
5. How will my performance be measured?
6. Can you describe your ideal employee?  This is a great one – use it early on to find out what they are expecting so you can tailor your later responses to suit them!
7. A slightly more subtle approach than the last point would be to ask, “what skills and experience would you say are necessary for someone to succeed in this job?”.
8. Not suitable for senior management really, but asking interviewers what they like about working at the company can be a good way to start a conversation about your new workplace.
9. Likewise, asking your interviewer when they started with the company and why they have stayed with the company?  In a polite way – try not to ask this with a grimace on your face!  You want to get them talking a little – it strengthens your relationship with them just that little bit more which can make a difference.
10. (If you are being interviewed by the MD / owner) Hypothetical question – if you had to leave, how would you like to see the company be managed?
11. What scope for progress and promotion is there within the company?
12. What kind of work will I be responsible for over the next year?
13. Will I be expected to work late nights or at the weekend?
14. Can you describe a typical day or week in the job?
15. What makes this company stand apart from the competition?
16. In your opinion, what is the most important attribute / achievement / quality you would like to see from me within my trial period?
17. Do you have any questions about my ability to do this job?  This one ain’t great most of the time – they would have brought any questions they had already.  However, the point you are trying to make with this is to show them your proactive attitude and confidence.  This could add a positive to your interview if other areas haven’t been great (lack of experience, etc).
18. Having reviewed my CV and interviewed me, what qualities do you see in me?
19. Are you interviewing more people for this position? 
20. Are there any areas you feel I would need to work on in order to become your top choice for the job?
21. Do your employees socialise outside of the workplace?  OK, with this one you don’t want to seem like you will be out of the door 4pm Friday and straight to the pub!  But it is worth getting an idea of how the office life will be – perhaps ask if they have any company sports teams, etc.  Basically ask them to quantify the atmosphere of the office.
22. How would you describe the core responsibilities of the position?  Only if this hasn’t been covered – you don’t want to seem stupid!
23. Will the job involve much traveling?  If so, how much?
24. When are you looking for someone to start?
25. When can I expect to hear from you?
26. Would you like a list of references or any additional information from me?
27. Does the job involve any form of training?  How will this be implemented and monitored?
28. (If there are other people in a similar job role to you) What attributes / traits would you say are necessary for someone to be successful within this job role?
29. Could you explain the company structure to me?  This lets them clarify the management and departmental structure within the company.  It will also help you get a better idea of how your role will fit into the company.
30. Does the job role have any pressing concerns that you will need me to tackle as soon as I start?  This could refer to accounts / clients that need managed because someone left, or it could be asking them for a timeline of priorities if you are setting up a new department.
31. Does the team or job role I’ll be working in have any specific weaknesses right now that you would like to be address?  This is a softer version of the previous question really.
32. What software / systems does your company use?  Know your industry so you know how to ask this question properly.
33. What are the company’s plans for the future?  This can be a great question – it will allow management to boast and you can nod and seem like you are interested.   Try to keep this discussion going with some follow up questions about the interviewers answer.
34. What challenges might I face in this position?
35. Have any previous employees failed to perform in this position and what would you say was the reason for that?
36. What misconceptions do people have about the organisation?
37. What are the company’s core business goals?
38. How effectively have these goals been communicated over the past 12 months?  These 2 questions are great although they can throw off less organised managers and could work as a negative!
39. How does the company reward or recognise outstanding work and excellence?
40. Will my roles be limited to what has been outlined in my job description or will I be expected to take on other tasks as needed?  If so, to what extent do you foresee this being the case?  This is good for you – you need to know if you are going to sign up to be a shoe maker and eventually end up being a belt maker or not!
41. How do I compare to the other people you have interviewed so far?

The key is to use each question to your advantage.  In most cases, employers will be looking at what you ask as a factor in their decision making process, but it is also possible to essentially “close the deal” if you have enough charm!   Many of these questions will allow you to discuss in-depth issues with your employer – getting down to the nitty gritty!  From there, it is only a small step to them making a decision there and then.  However, it is important to not and try and force that decision – being confident is good – being pushy is not.

Good luck!

This doesn’t need to be the case.  It is natural to get nervous before important events in your life – you can turn this fear into your ally that will help you succeed at your interview…

The key way to prevent your fear overcoming you in any situation is to prepare for that situation as much as you can.  This is easy for interviews because you will always know about them beforehand and you will be familiar with the subject area (to varying degrees).

What can you do to prepare for an interview?

• Think about what questions you interviewer may ask you and prepare responses for them.
• Chat with friends and family who may work in a similar area and get an idea of what to expect.
• Research the company – what do they do?  What will your team be doing?  Even if you can only get a little information from their website or news articles you can use these starting points to come up with intelligent questions to ask them.
• Prepare a list of questions to ask them.  These should ask about the company, the team you will be working with, the job you are applying for and perhaps even some general questions about the industry the company is in.
• Plan your route!  This may seem stupid, but go to the company the day before (don’t go in – just to the front door).  How long did it take you?  Did you take the bus (if so will it be slowed down by traffic at different times of the day)?  You’d be surprised how many people leave this to the last minute and end up realising the company is in some obscure office estate that they can’t find.  Aim to arrive at your interview around 10 minutes early.

When you go through this process, not only are you increasing your chances of a successful interview, but you are increasing your self confidence - preparing for an interview is as much about the confidence boost as it is about the actual preparation!