1

Interviews

Robert Donovan and Mark De Freitas

2 Introduction
• Different stages / types
• Employer’s perspective
• Preparation
• Types of questions
• Making an Impact
• Interaction
3 Different stages / types of interviews
Association of Graduate Recruiters survey of their 900 members

• Preliminary telephone interview (used by 46% of AGR members)

– graduate recruitment staff
– outsourced to specialist agencies

• 1st round interviews (61%)

– On campus / regional centres / head office

• Assessment centres (90%)

– Further interviews / case studies/ group tasks / presentations/
written exercises

• One to one or panel?

4 The Employer’s agenda
• To verify the claims in your application form and to dig
deeper…

• Can you do the job?

– qualifications, experience, skills…

• Do you want to do the job?

– knowledge of organisation / department, job
knowledge, motivation, enthusiasm

• Will you fit in?

– values, attitude, personality
5 Types of Questions

• biographical
• motivational
• behavioural/ competency
• brainteasers/ hypothetical
• technical

See example interview questions handout

6 Practise interview scenario 1

• group yourself into 3’s and assign following roles:

interviewer, candidate and observer

• STAY IN THE SAME ROLE FOR ALL QUESTIONS

Observer’s feedback:
• focus on ‘first impressions’
• other: structure, length/ clarity of answer
 7 Making an impact
• walk confidently into the
• what we say
interview and shake hands.
• how we say it • make eye contact and smile
• use mirroring techniques

•unspoken – e.g. leaning forward,

laughing
• stay alert

signals – sit upright, nod

• don’t stare or look down
• slow your movements
• breathe
8 Competency Question Strategy
Can you do the job..?
– behavioural / competency

• You need to prepare evidence of the personal qualities that are

required for the role
– eg teamwork, interpersonal communication, research etc

• STAR
– Situation 10%
– Task 10%
– Action (What you did) 70%
– Result (& Reflection) 10%
 9 ‘Tell me about a time when you showed good
organisational skills and the ability to plan effectively.’
Scoring between 1 and 4
• planning and anticipating problems in advance
• prioritising in order of importance
• scheduling time/ resources eg – project status documentation, rdaily
activity lists
• delegating/ assigning tasks
• taking timely decisions
• supervising/ overseeing
• reviewing performance - eg milestones, progress meetings
• supervising and overseeing
• coping/ persevering in face of obstacles
• meeting deadlines
10
Provide evidence from a range of sources
Evidence required by employer:
• research ability, an analytical
approach to work and problem-
solving skills
• communication skills including
presentation, persuasion and
diplomacy skills
• team working and interpersonal
skills
• organisational skills
• commercial awareness
Examples:
– Degree/ thesis/ tutorial
presentations
– student society/ part-time &
voluntary work/ careers
workshops
– Summer internship
– elected Postgraduate rep
– Fund raising for local charity
– Student football team captain
11 Interviews preparation
Evidence required:
• research ability, an analytical
approach to work and problem-
solving skills
• Communication skills including
presentation, persuasional and
diplomacy skills
• team working and interpersonal
skills
• organisational skills to meet
deadlines and work under
pressure
• Commercial awareness
Examples
– Degree/ thesis/ tutorial
presentations
– student society/ part-time &
voluntary work/ careers
workshops
– Summer internship
– elected Postgraduate rep
– Fund raising for local charity
– Student football team
12 Practice interview 2
13 Difficult questions
• Tell me about yourself

• What are your weaknesses?

• How many hairs are there on a dog?

• What is the angle between the clock hands at 4.30?

• Are you applying to our competitors?

• Why should we employ you?

• What are your salary expectations?

14 Practice interview 3
15 Your questions.....
• Can you give me a fuller picture of your training programme?

• Can you tell me what roles the graduates recruited in the last
3 years are now doing?

• I understand your firm operates appraisals – can you tell me

more?

• What are the possibilities of using my xyz skills?

• I read that your company is going to do abc, but I do have a

further question…

• In your annual report I notice that…

16 Hints and tips - preparation
• re-read your application
– what might interest/ worry an interviewer

• familiarise yourself with job description/ person specification

– what skills, qualities and experience are they looking for?
what examples can you give?
– plan key points you want to make

• research the company and the sector

– what: usp’s, customers, competitors, ‘swot’, values
– where: website, annual report; industry press presentations,
fairs, alumni
17 Hints and tips - general
if it seems to be going wrong
• keep calm if interviewer is aggressive / doesn’t seem to like you
• ask for a question to be rephrased if necessary
• don’t know the answer? offer sensible guess / ask for a clue
• try not to panic – you are unlikely to fail because of one answer

closing the sale

• Ask them questions, thank them, know what the next step is

afterwards
• review your performance and ask for feedback
18 Further resources and
Careers service support
• 1:1 practice interviews with a careers adviser
– on confirmation of ‘real employer interview’

• The Careers Group: ‘How to succeed at interviews’ booklet

• video guides:
– how to succeed in interviews and assessment centres

• ‘Top answers to tough questions’

– Matthew J Deluca/ John Lees

• employer/ CA led interview skills workshops