Interview Questions UK

Like preparing a great meal, interviewing requires preparation. Get good ingredients and give yourself time. Prepare the food on the plate to make the meal attractive. All of these go into a great meal. Taking the time to prepare for an interview will give you a huge leg up on your completion.

1. Schedule interviews at times that work for your metabolism. Are you a morning person? Why would you accept a 6PM interview? If you are a person who functions best in the afternoon, try not to accept early morning appointments. If you are a person who needs to be conscious of their blood sugar, try to schedule your appointments at times when you are at your peak. If forced to accept one of your less ideal times, have a quick bite prior to the interview to avoid “fading.” Avoid overeating.

2. Give yourself extra time to get to their offices. There are few things worse than getting to an interview late.

3. Arrive at the office building 7-10 minutes early. If it is summer, you want to wait in the lobby to cool off; no one likes shaking sweaty hands. If its winter, warm up; you don’t want someone’s early impressions of you formed by shaking a cold hand. Take a few minutes in the lobby to get focused on what you will say. Allow a few minutes to get through building security so that you actually arrive at your interview on time and ready to go.

4. Properly introduce yourself to everyone you meet by saying. “My name is __________ and I have a 1:30 interview with ________________.”

5. If you are asked if they can hang your coat, accept the offer; if offered a beverage, accept a beverage. You don’t have to drink coffee or tea. Soda, bottled water or water is fine. Thank whoever helps you. Declining the offer may be rude in some cultures.

6. Take your seat in order to face the greatest number of entry points into the room so tat you can see someone approaching you. Being startled is not a good way to start a meeting.

7. If you are given an application, complete it and complete it accurately and neatly. Do not attach your resume and write, “See attached resume.” An application is a legal document and failure to complete it accurately can be grounds for termination.

8. If you are not sure about the month you started a job or your exact salary, write “approx” (for the word approximately) next to the item. If asked, indicate you are not absolutely certain of the exact month and don’t wish to deceive anyone. Obviously, if you can ascertain your salary or starting date prior to interviewing, do so; for some people, the date or salary may be so far in the past to make it impossible to determine.

9. Write legibly (or as legibly as you can). This may be the twelfth application you’ve completed, but it is the first of yours that they’ve seen. In many professions, sloppiness is seen as a flaw.

10. When you hear your name announced, stand, and smile, shake the hand of your interviewer and immediately size them up as a person. Are they smart (or not). Aggressive (or not). If you were meeting this person socially, I’m sure your instincts would be right. Unfortunately, because people think interviews are important, they think they have to feel the interviewer out. Doing that is a mistake. Hard and fast impressions of you will be formed during the next ten minutes that will be difficult to change. If you tend to be right in social situations about the people you meet, trust your instincts in professional ones, too.
Using these ten steps as a check list will get you started well than your competition. What you do after that is up to you. Good luck.
By: Muhammad Sadiq Javed - Sameers
http:www.constructionjobsnet.co.uk
Construction Jobs Network - The easiest way to find your next UK construction job.
=====================================================

Like preparing a great meal, interviewing requires preparation. Get good ingredients and give yourself time. Prepare the food on the plate to make the meal attractive. All of these go into a great meal. Taking the time to prepare for an interview will give you a huge leg up on your completion.

1. Schedule interviews at times that work for your metabolism. Are you a morning person? Why would you accept a 6PM interview? If you are a person who functions best in the afternoon, try not to accept early morning appointments. If you are a person who needs to be conscious of their blood sugar, try to schedule your appointments at times when you are at your peak. If forced to accept one of your less ideal times, have a quick bite prior to the interview to avoid “fading.” Avoid overeating.

2. Give yourself extra time to get to their offices. There are few things worse than getting to an interview late.

3. Arrive at the office building 7-10 minutes early. If it is summer, you want to wait in the lobby to cool off; no one likes shaking sweaty hands. If its winter, warm up; you don’t want someone’s early impressions of you formed by shaking a cold hand. Take a few minutes in the lobby to get focused on what you will say. Allow a few minutes to get through building security so that you actually arrive at your interview on time and ready to go.

4. Properly introduce yourself to everyone you meet by saying. “My name is __________ and I have a 1:30 interview with ________________.”

5. If you are asked if they can hang your coat, accept the offer; if offered a beverage, accept a beverage. You don’t have to drink coffee or tea. Soda, bottled water or water is fine. Thank whoever helps you. Declining the offer may be rude in some cultures.

6. Take your seat in order to face the greatest number of entry points into the room so tat you can see someone approaching you. Being startled is not a good way to start a meeting.

7. If you are given an application, complete it and complete it accurately and neatly. Do not attach your resume and write, “See attached resume.” An application is a legal document and failure to complete it accurately can be grounds for termination.

8. If you are not sure about the month you started a job or your exact salary, write “approx” (for the word approximately) next to the item. If asked, indicate you are not absolutely certain of the exact month and don’t wish to deceive anyone. Obviously, if you can ascertain your salary or starting date prior to interviewing, do so; for some people, the date or salary may be so far in the past to make it impossible to determine.

9. Write legibly (or as legibly as you can). This may be the twelfth application you’ve completed, but it is the first of yours that they’ve seen. In many professions, sloppiness is seen as a flaw.

10. When you hear your name announced, stand, and smile, shake the hand of your interviewer and immediately size them up as a person. Are they smart (or not). Aggressive (or not). If you were meeting this person socially, I’m sure your instincts would be right. Unfortunately, because people think interviews are important, they think they have to feel the interviewer out. Doing that is a mistake. Hard and fast impressions of you will be formed during the next ten minutes that will be difficult to change. If you tend to be right in social situations about the people you meet, trust your instincts in professional ones, too.
Using these ten steps as a check list will get you started well than your competition. What you do after that is up to you. Good luck.
By: Muhammad Sadiq Javed - Sameers
http:www.constructionjobsnet.co.uk
Construction Jobs Network - The easiest way to find your next UK construction job.
=====================================================

In an interview, worrying about your perceived inadequacies, or what can be viewed as negative items on your history of employment, will get you nowhere. In fact, having a negative focus on things often comes through in the way you answer.

interview questions, and even in your body language. An applicant who shifts, plays with things like their shirt cuffs, or who loses track of the subject under discussion, is sabotaging their own chance at success.

Okay, so you have some weak points. Maybe there was a time two years ago, that you were out of work for eight months. Or the job that is open demands a certain skill level that you haven’t quite achieved yet. Neither of those things can knock you out of contention like a lack of confidence in yourself.

We have a simple, two-part solution: First, make the best out of your “worst”, and then make the company’s priorities, your own.

Study the weak points in your resume and build on them. If you’ve had a period of unemployment, think about the experiences you had during that time, the businesses you visited, and what you learned about the current economy and job market. Show that you are attentive to detail, and enjoy learning from unexpected opportunities.

Express enthusiasm for the chance to expand on your present skills. Apply the same strategy to any other “weak” points you may have. Even a job that you left due to a personality conflict, can be given a positive light by emphasizing the experience you gained. Whatever you do, leave bitterness and pity at home. An employer wants someone with the desire to move onward and upward.

That brings us to the second item: presenting yourself in a way that makes you compatible with the company’s needs, and highlights how you can benefit their present or future plans. Study the company’s general business, and the department where you are applying, in particular. Find out why they are hiring someone (Did an employee quit? Retire? Are they expanding?) then emphasize the skills and experience that make you not only capable of filling the position, but of bringing new ideas and a positive attitude to it.

Find an “up” to every down point in your work history or resume. Then sell your skills and personality with an eye on the company agenda. The combination of competence and enthusiasm is often the formula for a successful interview.

This article is provided by http:www.101perfectinterviews.com, the best place for learning insider interviewing techniques.

Here’s a tip for cover letters to get more interviews.  Use a bulleted format cover letter rather than a standard letter in paragraphs.  The bulleted format is more eye catching, and is more likely to be glanced at by the hiring manager or other person assigned to sort through resumes.  This format will help you get your resume seen by more people and as a result get more interviews and more job offers.

If you follow this advice and decide to use the bulleted format, make sure that each bullet point specifies a reason for the hiring manager to talk with you.  This reason can be your number of years experience, your education, a personality trait that you have, or an accomplishment.

Examples of bulleted points would be:

•    Over 20 years experience in Human Resource Management.
Or…
•    Outstanding work ethic.  Lead by example.
Or…
•    Master of Science in Education.  Currently enrolled in Doctorate program.
Or…
•    Saved last employer £30,000 in revenue through modernization of accounting system.
Or…
•    Increased sales by 25% last quarter.

This bulleted format allows you to toot your own horn, but in a way that does not seem egotistical because it is obviously part of a resume package.

Another tip that will increase the readability of your cover letter is to use bold faced fonts on occasion to emphasize points you want read.  Bold face catches the eye, and is a common device used by graphic designers in advertising copy.  Your resume and cover letter are marketing tools for you, just as a print media advertising piece is a marketing tool for a business.  Consider using bold face as tip from the Fortune 500 ad agencies that you can use without charge.

The next piece of advice to consider concerns the final paragraph of the letter, and will help you in your follow up efforts.  When following up often times the hardest thing to do is to get past the gatekeeper.  The secretary or administrative assistant that screens calls for his or her boss has an important job to do, but so do you, and reaching the decision maker will make you look good.  The gatekeeper will try to stop you if the decision maker is busy—after all, he has better things to do with his time than speak with job seekers.  So, in the final paragraph of your letter, before the “sincerely” and your name, simply state “I will call you next week to check on a convenient time to speak with you in person.”  You’ve told the hiring manager you will be calling.  Logically he should be expecting your call.  For this reason you may tell the gatekeeper that ” Mr. HR Manager is expecting my call this week.”  This will increase your chances of getting through, and of getting the interview.  This tip is a variation on techniques that good business-to-business sales people use, and will work for you as well, bringing you more interviews and more job offers.