Interview
Secrets

The experts tell all!

Heather Salter

Table of Contents

Cover Page

Title Page

Author’s note

Overcome your fear of interviews

Applying for the job

1.1 Pick the right job

1.2 Choose the right sector

1.3 Research the organization

1.4 Avoid rose-tinted glasses

1.5 Get on the shortlist

1.6 Deal with disappointment

1.7 Get references

Writing your CV

2.1 Present yourself well

2.2 Get the right things in

2.3 Make your profile precise

2.4 Keep it short

2.5 Be accurate

2.6 Complete the application form

2.7 Write a good letter

Preparing for the interview

3.1 Get ready

3.2 Gather the evidence

3.3 Know yourself

3.4 Look the part

3.5 Build rapport

3.6 Look at body language

3.7 Get practice

3.8 Ask questions

3.9 Deal with surprises

Types of interview

4.1 Cope with unstructured interviews

4.2 Cope with semi-structured interviews

4.3 Cope with auditions and role play

4.4 Cope with competency-based interviews

4.5 Handle telephone interviews

4.6 Face more than one interviewer

4.7 Prepare for multistage interviews

Assessment Centres

5.1 Understand personality profile tests

5.2 Know the other psychometric tests

5.3 Prepare for individual exercises

5.4 Prepare for group exercises

5.5 Prepare for ‘in tray’ exercises

5.6 Deal with the competition

5.7 Try, try and try again

The day of the interview

6.1 Make an impression

6.2 Keep to the point

6.3 Provide the evidence

6.4 Give detailed answers

6.5 Be positive

6.6 Stay confident

6.7 Don’t be thrown by poor interviewers

After the interview

7.1 Make a decision

7.2 Negotiate

7.3 Take the next steps

7.4 Make your review positive

7.5 Don’t be afraid to get help

7.6 Look to the future

Jargon buster

Further reading

About the author

Copyright

About the Publisher

Author’s note

This book is dedicated to my very first interviewer and first boss, Arthur Parr, without whose coaching and mentoring I would never have progressed to where I am today.

Overcome your fear of interviews

After 25 years working in recruitment, training and development, I’ve seen how people dread interviews, many to the point where they start to suffer symptoms of stress at the very thought. Believe me, it doesn’t have to be like this.

If the very thought of an interview strikes fear into you to the point of mental blankness, or whether you just want to perfect your techniques and understanding of what interviewers are looking for then this is the book for you.

I have trained many people on a group and one-to-one basis on how to handle interview planning and performance. The key is in the preparation. You can choose to treat the book as a training course and work through each section and prepare at the same time, or you may want to flick through it and then come back when you need to. Either way, I am sure you will find what you are looking for.

People go from being terrified and inaudible to being confident and persuasive. I have no doubt that if you follow the 50 secrets in this book, you will be able to do the same. The secrets are spread over seven themed chapters:

 Applying for the job. Have a clear idea of what you are looking for in a job and what’s important to you.

 Writing your CV. The key to finding yourself on the shortlist for the job is all in the writing of your CV, so let’s have a look at what makes a good one.

 Preparing for the interview. Now that you’re on the shortlist there are things that you can do to prepare for the big day and help you improve your presentation and your confidence.

 Types of interview. There are many types of interviews. We will take a look at the whole range, from unstructured to very structured, so that you are ready for everything.

 Assessment Centres. Many businesses now use whole-day – or sometimes longer – Assessment Centres to choose the right people. Assessment Centres involve a whole range of activities, so if you are invited to one this will help you prepare.

 The day of the interview. Let’s look at how to remain confident and calm, and deliver your very best performance.

 After the interview. Well the interview is over but what did you learn about yourself? This is an excellent opportunity to review your performance, get feedback and plan for the future.

If you currently lack confidence (or even if you are over-confident), if you use this book as a workbook and do the exercises all the way through then you will be well on your way to getting the job of your dreams.

Fail to prepare, prepare to fail. This applies just as much to job interviews as to the world of work.

Applying for the job

You’ve seen an advert in the paper or heard about a job from a friend. So what’s the first thing you do – put the CV in the post and keep your fingers crossed? Well, let’s just take a few steps back and consider what’s really important to you, so you don’t apply for the wrong job. What sector or type of company would suit you best? You spend a long time at work so let’s choose wisely. Then we’ll move on to making the application and getting onto the shortlist.

1.1 Pick the right job

It is easy to get carried away by a job title and a good salary, but at the end of the day what is really important to you about the job? You will be spending a large percentage of your day working in the job, so taking some time out at the beginning will help you focus on what you really want.

Let’s take a look at some of the areas that you may want to consider before you decide whether you really want to apply for any job.

 A two-way process. As human beings we are driven by our internal beliefs, values and goals although we are not often consciously aware of them. Finding the right job is a two-way process – the company will be looking to see if you are right for them; you need to see if they are right for you. Make sure that you have your list of what’s important to you clear in your mind before you apply.

 What are your values and beliefs? Make a list of what the important factors to you are in any job and how the job fits with the other parts of your life – time for hobbies, family etc. Do this by asking yourself the question “what’s important to me in a job” and ask this at least seven times and write down your answers. You’ll be surprised when you get to the seventh time what’s really important to you.

one minute wonder Don’t waste your time and effort applying for jobs and going for interviews if they don’t meet your own personal values, beliefs or goals. If you accept a job for the wrong reasons you will soon become unsettled and have to start the search all over again.

 Do you want a job or a career? Some readers may only be interested in just having a job, whilst others may be at the start of a career. There is nothing wrong with either, but just know which is right for you. If this is part of a career plan then make sure that the jobs you apply for fit in with your longer term plans and help you to get to your eventual goal. Don’t get side-tracked. If it’s “just a job” then go back to asking yourself what’s really important to you. We spend a long time at work so you want to get the best fit that will make you happy.

 Make up your own ‘decision matrix’. Write a list of what’s important to you down the left hand side of a piece of paper, with everything that you are looking for, including salary and benefits that you want. Then across the top you can put columns for each of the jobs that you are applying for. Do your homework and see how many ticks you can put in the box. This is known as a ‘decision matrix’. Later on if you have to make a decision between one or more job offers this may prove very useful. In putting this together you now have a start point.

Whether you just want a job or you’re thinking about a career, taking time out to really think through what you want helps focus you in your search.

1.2 Choose the right sector

Having looked at your values and beliefs in the last section you may have come to the conclusion that certain sectors of the job market place are ruled out for you, or you have some big question marks hanging over areas you don’t know about. Which companies do you really admire? What is it that you really like?

Let’s take a look at some of the areas you may want to consider and then you can do some more research if you want to know more.

 Large businesses. If we take the UK as an example, large business accounts for about 0.2% of businesses in the UK and yet employs somewhere around 52% of all employees according to a survey by HMRC in 2006. Larger businesses may be multinational and give opportunities to move abroad. If you have language capabilities or a desire to work in another country this may be a good opportunity.

one minute wonder Finding the right type of business for you to work in is critical to your long term success. Make a list of companies you admire and then try to work out what it is that you really like about them.

 Small and medium-sized businesses (SME). In the UK, statistics showed in 2009 that 0.6% of businesses employed between 50-249 people and that 99.3% employed up to 5 people. So the SME business in the UK is very large. What about the country you are in? With access to the Internet you should be able to find out more of your country’s statistics.

 Charities/not for profit organizations. There are a large number of well-known charities that work all over the world, as well as the local charities which run totally on volunteers. The numbers of jobs will be fewer as the reliance has to be on volunteers, but these are businesses like any other. The key difference is that you may want to work in an area that you can help to make a difference to others’ lives and this may fit with your personal values.

 The public sector. Local government and jobs that are government funded may appeal to some more than others. You may see this as a more secure post, or want to make a contribution to your own neighbourhood or the country you live in.

Each of us has a different vision of the perfect job. Make a list of the type of businesses you want to work in.

1.3 Research the organization

If you are considering applying for a specific job that you have seen, now’s the time to really do some research. When you are considering joining a new company you are probably committing to at least a year working with them.

It’s worth investing some time in getting to know more about the company so that you can start to decide whether it’s the sort of place you want to spend your working hours in – work is a huge part of our lives after all.

Going for an interview can feel like going on a blind date. Would you really want to turn up on a date without knowing anything at all about the other person? If you do there’s probably a 50/50 chance of success, it would be likely flipping a coin – heads you win, tails you lose. So shall we make the odds a bit better than that so that you don’t waste your time?

What would you want to know about the company? Well that will vary from person to person but here are some of the areas that you might want to check out.

one minute wonder Find out as much as you can about the company beforehand and be ready to impress the interviewer with your knowledge of their business. Make a list of some great questions to ask them.

 Are they financially sound? You can get hold of a copy of their Annual Report or research their last accounts through Companies House (in the UK – it may be different in other countries). Would you want to join a company that was in severe financial difficulties? It may be a big risk, so it’s worth knowing.

 Does the company publish their values? Most companies these days have a website where you can find out quite a lot about them. Some even publish the company’s core values and mission statement which will tell you a lot about what their intentions for the business are. Have a look at your own checklist in Secret 1.1 and see if they match.

 Has there been anything in the press recently? The Internet is a great resource and you can browse to find out where there are any mentions of the company. On some company websites they have a section with press releases. Read them and find out more.

 Do you know anyone who works there? If you can find someone who works there – someone you either know personally or through your network of friends and contacts – that will give you a better picture of what it’s like to work for the company. Finding out about the company’s culture will help you decide whether it’s the right sort of place for you.

If you are working in a financially secure business now, would you want to leap into another one without checking them out first?

1.4 Avoid rose-tinted glasses

When we start to look for another job we often only see what we want to see or hear what we want to hear. We blind ourselves to the downsides or negative aspects of the job and only focus on the positives. We only look at the areas where we have got the skills and ignore the others. Not a wise move!

Maybe we see the salary and benefits posted with the advert and are really attracted by the hope of an increase in our income. Maybe it’s

case study One of my small business clients had advertised for an assistant. This would be the very first person she had recruited to help her with the business. She received a beautifully crafted CV which seemed to have everything she was looking for. So she went ahead and interviewed the person and everything went well and she was on the point of offering her the job. Then the prospect started to unravel. It turned out that the person had very little experience on the computer and when asked to undertake a very brief test on typing a document and inputting to a spreadsheet she couldn’t actually do it! When asked why she had applied in the first place the woman said that she wanted part-time hours and this was the first job she saw that offered her exactly what she wanted. She had got her daughter to type up her CV. What was the point? Why go along to an interview knowing that you don’t have some of the key skills they asked for?

one minute wonder Look through the job advert and the requirements and make sure that you have the skills to apply for the job. You are wasting your own time applying for jobs that you cannot do. You will be found out!

the job title that we think we need, deserve or want. There can be any number of reasons why we fall in love with the prospect of the new job.

When you get the job advert or job description, go through and highlight all the requirements that you don’t actually meet with a yellow highlighter. Then go back and see if they are major or minor. If they are major gaps, then it’s not worth applying for the job. If they are minor, you may want to apply, but put in the letter that accompanies it an honest statement to say that you meet most of the criteria and are willing to learn or train on the points that are missing.

You may be lucky. If the advert does not attract the exact right candidate the company may consider making small adjustments, but don’t count on it and do be honest at the outset. If you apply for another position with this company at a later date this may count against you.

1.5 Get on the shortlist

Sometimes when we apply for a job we think we are suited for, we don’t even make it to the shortlist for interview and wonder where we went wrong. A behind-the-scenes view of what busy recruiters do to shortlist candidates may well help you to look at where you have gone wrong in the past.

It helps to put yourself ‘in the recruiter’s shoes’ and look at your application from an objective point of view. This may well be difficult at first but you could get a friend to help.

Take the advert or job description that you have received or any details you have about the job you wish to apply for. Highlight the main points that the advert is asking for.

 Essential vs desirable. If the advert uses words like “it is essential that the applicant has…” then these will be key shortlisting criteria. If

one minute wonder Put yourself in the recruiter’s shoes and draw up the shortlisting criteria to check yourself against. How good a fit are you? Do you tick all the boxes or not?

the advert says “it is desirable that the applicant has…” then these things aren’t as important, but great if you have them too.

 Shortlisting matrix. So take all the “essential” elements asked for, qualifications, location and experience requirements and write them in a list. Now go through and see how many you can tick as being a 100% perfect fit? Now ask yourself the question, how likely would you be to get chosen? If you have all the essential criteria on the list then add on the desirable criteria and see if you meet them also.

 The 30-second sift. Recruiters draw up a matrix with columns across the top headed with the key criteria they are looking for and then down the left-hand side they write the names of the applicants. In the first sift the recruiter will skim through the CV in probably less than 30 seconds and either put ticks or crosses in the boxes to show whether you have met that criteria or not. They then go back and highlight those candidates with the most ticks to look at in more detail. The more ticks you have the more likely you are to get shortlisted. So would your CV make it through the 30-second sift?

It will always depend on the competition – if there are people more closely suited to the profile, with more ticks in the boxes, then you just won’t get chosen on this occasion. If there are many applicants making the first sift, then the recruiter will add more criteria and sift again – this is when the “desirable” criteria often get used.

Going through this exercise will help you to be more realistic and more targeted in your approach. Now you have the list make sure you get everything into your CV and letter to show that you have the skills, experience or qualities they are looking for.

If you miss something off your CV, then you won’t get that all important tick in the box.

1.6 Deal with disappointment

The dreaded letter has landed on the doorstep or the email has arrived in the inbox to tell you that you have not been selected for interview. That’s a real blow if you wanted the job and thought you were a good match. What you need to find out now is why, and that’s not always easy.

There are two or three things that you can do now and it really is worth doing this because you want to make sure that you have learned from the experience so that next time you get onto the shortlist.

1 Ask for feedback. You could ring the company up and ask for some feedback as to why you didn’t make it to the shortlist. They don’t have to tell you, but if they do then you have some insight. It could just be that they had so many good CVs they were overwhelmed with choice. In those circumstances they will look for the very best, those whose CVs not only tick all the boxes of what they “must have” but also have that something extra that makes them stand out from the crowd.

“I take rejection as someone blowing a bugle in my ear to wake me up”

Sylvester Stallone, American actor

2 Review yourself. Did you read through the whole of this book and do all the exercises along the way? Did you tailor your CV well to the advert or job description that you received? Did you really show them how you matched their criteria?

3 Get someone else to review your CV. Do you have a friend, colleague or relative who you know will be objective and honest with you? Do you know anyone in your network of family, friends and neighbours who employs people? Ask them to review your CV against the advert or job description and to give you some tips on what you might have missed or could do better.

Be honest with yourself: was this really a good fit for your skills and experience or were you just taking a flyer in the hope that you might be lucky? If you did, just accept that you weren’t lucky this time. Read chapter 7 in the book. Even though you didn’t get to the interview, there are some interesting points about learning, reviewing and planning which may help.

Don’t get angry and throw the letter in the bin. Use your energy to review what you did and see what you can do better next time.

1.7 Get references

As part of your preparation and application for the job at some point you are going to be asked for referees. You need to think about who you are going to ask and who would be the most appropriate for the job that you are applying for.

Most recruiters are probably thinking about the last two positions you held as the people they want to ask for references, but maybe there’s a good reason why you don’t want to give them. Perhaps you left under a cloud, the business no longer exists, or you had a personality clash.

Let’s have a look at the dos and don’ts of references.

1 Personal references. Unless you are specifically asked for personal references don’t give them. I have known many people give best friends, their doctor or a relative as a reference. Unless these people have seen you at work, or have been your boss, they probably won’t have the opinions I am looking for. The only time personal references tend to get used is when the person has just left school, college or university and has not had a previous employer. Even then, surely there was a Saturday job, a holiday job or an evening job?

one minute wonder Make sure that you approach the people you are choosing as referees and let them know about the job you are applying for, so they can expect a letter or a phone call and prepare what they want to say.

2 Business references. Consider the job that you are applying for. Which of your previous managers would be able to comment on your ability and its match to the job that you are applying for? Choose the best fit. Ask them first before you put them forward as a matter of courtesy. Make sure you have their up to date contact details so it makes it easier for the recruiter to contact them.

3 ‘To Whom it May Concern’ references. As an HR person I tend not to accept any of these. How do I know that you didn’t write the reference yourself? With the ability to copy and paste logos from the Internet, you could make your own headed paper and forge the reference. I would always check the source of the reference by contacting the referee.

If you aren’t using your last two employers as referees, be prepared to explain why not at interview.

Writing your CV

Writing a curriculum vitae is something we all have to do at some time, yet few of us have ever been given any real training. Do you know what to put in and what to leave out? Some CVs are like reading a novel and others are so short they tell you nothing – so where’s the happy medium? This chapter looks at how to put a CV and accompanying letter together. It will help you create a generic CV, but don’t forget you must tailor it to each job you apply for.

2.1 Present yourself well

The primary purpose of the CV is to provide the recruiter with information about you and an indication of how you meet the criteria that the recruiter is looking for. The CV is the door opener – it can make or break your chance of getting on the shortlist for interview, so great care should be taken to present yourself well.

The kind of things that really annoy recruiters are:

 Poor photocopies.

 Spelling mistakes.

 Crumpled or stained CVs.

 No accompanying letter.

 A letter which is clearly a template and not even signed.

 No effort made to show how you meet the job description.

I could go on but I think you get the picture. What does all this conjure up in your mind – someone who just doesn’t take the care or attention that they need to and that’s the best way to get filed in the wastepaper bin.

Have a look at the CV you have now, show it to some of your friends and colleagues and get some feedback. Have a look at what other people do and then see your own reactions to their CVs – what did you like, what did you hate?

It is time well spent putting together a professional CV targeted at the job that you are applying for. Don’t just have the one CV that you photocopy and send to every job you apply for – this is what I would call a ‘scattergun’ approach, and you are just hoping that one of them will land on the right desk at the right time for the right job. You are really hoping that the recruiter will do your job for you and find the information they are looking for.

Sometimes you may be one of 50 or more CVs landing on a recruiter’s desk. How much time do you think they will spend looking through a CV? It can be as little as 30 seconds. You only have one chance to make a good impression, so start as you mean to go on, with an easy-to-read, well structured and targeted CV.

If you know that you aren’t very good at writing a CV and you really want to make a good impression, then invest in getting several versions of your CV written by a professional. If this is the key to the shortlist, then it’s worth spending some money.

Make sure your CV stands out for the right reasons and not the wrong ones.

2.2 Get the right things in

Having discussed how important the CV is to make that right impression, let’s take a look at what are the essential elements that go into most CVs. You could ask a number of people and you may get a different response from each of them, depending on their personal preferences, but there are four common points that feature in them all.

1 Contact details. Make sure that you put your up-to-date contact details in where the recruiter can find them easily – centred on the top of page one is usually the best place. Only give the telephone and email addresses that you are happy for them to contact you on. For example, avoid work email if it is not private to you.

 Name

 Address

 Contact telephone number

 Personal email address

2 Personal profile. This profile is designed to give the recruiter a snapshot of your skills and abilities so that they will want to read further. Section 2.3 goes into this further as it’s often the key to capturing the reader’s interest.

3 Employment history. Start with your current position and work backwards. List the company name with the relevant dates you worked for that business and then add your job title and responsibilities. If you have some achievements you are proud of, put them in. For example: ABC Services Limited, Sept 2003-present; Administration Manager, responsible for company purchases with a budget of £650k pa; Reduced stationery expenditure by 15% by centralizing purchasing. If you have worked for a long time consider just covering the last 10 years or so and then do a précis paragraph about previous history. We want to fit the CV on two pages if at all possible.

4 Qualifications and professional education & training. List your qualifications with the title of the qualification, the institute that awarded it and the date that you qualified. If you have good grades then by all means mention them. Start with the most important qualifications first, and finish with any relevant training courses that you have completed. The key word here is ‘relevant’ as the recruiter is only looking for those things that make you a good match for their job.

A well-targeted CV of two pages is far better than one of five pages irrelevant to the job you’re applying for.

2.3 Make your profile precise

The personal profile section of the CV is something that has become more common over the past 15 years and can be a real asset to your CV, designed to stimulate the recruiter to want to read further.

The whole idea of the personal profile is to be able to read a short paragraph which gives a précis that is factual, not a subjective opinion. One of the best tips I was ever given by one of the leading recruitment companies in London was to address the following points:

 What level have you worked at?

 What industries have you worked in?

 What specialist skills do you have?

“I have worked at divisional board level in the hospitality, entertainment and logistics sectors. I have 25 years’ experience in interviewing and in designing and running Assessment Centres, delivering training courses on HR related topics to middle and senior management, and advising directors and managers on employee relations issues up to and including attendance at employment tribunals.”

“True eloquence consists in saying all that should be said and that only”

François de la Rochefoucauld, French writer of maxims

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