How to succeed at interviews

Before

• Ask people in good time to act as referees on your behalf. Never take this permission for granted.

• Read application instructions on advertisements carefully –don't waste time on a long letter of application if first you have to send off for an application form.

• Check the advertised job prospects and its potential. Is it really what you are looking for, or merely a dead end?

• Consider the organisation carefully – its reputation, employee relations, location, etc.

• When short-listed for interview, confirm your acceptance and then try to find out as much as possible about the firm.

During

• Above all – don't be late for the interview! You'll be flustered and the interviewer will be irritated.

• Check your appearance before entering the interview room.

• Control any nerves – deep breathing helps.

• Avoid 'fiddling' with clothes, rings, etc.

• Look at the interviewer posing the questions, and listen to them carefully – letting your mind wander can make you look silly if you have to ask for repeats.

• Don't mumble, gabble or restrict yourself to one-word answers – the organisation is spending a lot of time and money to give you a chance to promote yourself!

• Remember to pause at intervals to check whether you are expected to continue.

• Take your time over tricky questions.

• Try to think ahead and anticipate what will be asked next.

• Don't forget to ask your questions – they are just as important as the interviewer's.

• Remember to thank the interviewer(s) for your appointment.

After

• If you are offered the job verbally at interview confirm your acceptance promptly in writing.

• Let your current employer have your resignation in good time – by letter if that is the custom.

• Always part from employers on good terms – you may need another reference one day, or you may work for them again later in your career.

Remember:

Don't try to 'put on airs and graces' at interviews – it's much better just to be yourself – after all, that is whom the company will be employing.

Practice:

1. Draw up a similar checklist of what you think the applicant should be looking for.

2. What factors do you think a job applicant should keep in mind when being interviewed?

3. Assume that you are short-listed for one of the following positions:

audio-typist	junior office clerk
motorcycle salesperson	sales assistant
receptionist	computer programmer
customs officer	loan officer
designer	lawyer
hairdresser	shop manager

A panel of three students should devise:

1. a display advertisement for the chosen post

2. an application form for the post

3. details of the post-—pay, conditions of service, etc

A series of candidates should:

1. compose a letter of application for the post

2. complete the application form

3. devise a checklist of questions to ask

Role play the interviews after your preparations. The panel should award the job to the best applicant and give their reasons for preferring one application to another. Two groups of students should act as observers, one to evaluate the performance of the panel, the other the performance of the candidates. These teams should also give a report on their assessments.

At the end of the assignment organize a general discussion to determine what facts have emerged from the simulation, and what has been learned from it.

4. Devise a set of questions, and then conduct a survey by interviewing students in your department to assess their views on, for example, compulsory military service, solving the unemployment problem, participation in student association social activities, what sort of employment they will be seeking, etc. Such interviews could be conducted with a portable tape-recorder for later analysis.

Small student groups should write up the results of the survey and interviews in an account – perhaps for the University newspaper.