Nail that interview. Continued..... Last week, we talked at length about preparing for an interview. We followed up with some coaching on writing a good CV - thanks to a suggestion we received from one of our readers, Ayanda Dubazana. Today, let us talk about the actual interview. You have been shortlisted, now you are sitting across this big boardroom table, with a panel of scary-looking people......! I really wish interviewers would relax and lighten up! The candidate is already a ball of nerves, the least the panel can do is get the candidate to relax! Anyway, here is our quick guide to getting out of that interview intact.. 1. Sit comfortably, with your feet firmly on the ground. Place your hands on your lap or comfortably on the table, leaning slightly forward. You need to have a stable posture - otherwise, you will visibly tremble. Do not fold your hands on your chest. Ladies, if you are wearing a short skirt, place one foot behind your other ankle and fold your feet slightly under the chair. A reasonably short skirt/dress is ok, but no one wants to see your underwear. 2. Try and keep your hand/body movements to a minimum. Too much gesticulation and swiveling on your chair can distract (and annoy) the panel. Keep still, but not stiff...you are not dead, yet... 3. Use real words when speaking. Ummh, eeehh, aaah. every 2 seconds is plain annoying and those are not words to begin with! Doing that just makes you come across as blonde and clueless. And, no, it has nothing with your ability to speak English. 4. Answer the question. If you do not understand, ask for clarity. Do not go around in circles! Get to the point. 5. Do not try to be smart. If you do not know the answer, just say so. If you can give a hypothetical answer, then ask the panel if you could rather tell them what you would do in that situation. 6. Most panels are interested in your previous experience. Let me give you a real-life example of a Competency-Based Interview, which is commonly used in recruitment. I recently conducted an interview and this was one of the scenes that played out: Question: Tell us about the most challenging team/group of people you ever worked with? What made it difficult and how did you manage the situation? Candidate A - I was a 23 year-old junior engineer at XYZ, working with a group of artisans who were in their 50s. I was tasked with supervising their daily activities and conducting their performance evaluations. Some of the artisans were old enough to be my father and they did not take kindly to being ordered by a young boy. They refused to take instructions from me and they always bypassed me and went straight to my manager. I initiated morning meetings, where I would explain our plan for the day and also congratulate the team for their previous performance. I also introduced a slot where I would ask them to suggest how they thought the work should be planned for the day. After 3 months, I had the respect of the team. They still treated me like a youngster, but they took instructions from me with respect. I still keep contact with some of them to this day. Candidate B - You will always come across difficult people. There was this guy, a long time ago. He was very difficult. He did not listen to anything I said. I reported him to the boss to sort him out. We were called to a meeting, but this guy was just not interested. Well, I decided to just let him be. I stayed out of his way. After all, I do not go to work to be liked. Which candidate would get the highest score for this particular question? Put those brains to work and tell us why you would score the candidates higher or lower. Lets hear from you! The CGL Team.
Posted on: Mon, 20 Oct 2014 17:00:00 +0000