Interview Questions UK

So, you’ve submitted a killer Curriculum Vitae and supporting documents. You’re ahead of the pack and have just received a call for an interview. What do you do next?

The interview is the most stressful and important part of job hunting. This is where the employers make a decision based on his or her impression of whether to hire you for their job. You will want to do your best in this part because here lays the culmination of all your job hunting efforts. Flub it here and all your efforts from application to examinations will go down the drain.

1. Make a Great Impression
Always dress in your best attire for the interview. Your attire should be appropriate. No matter what the company may require for their employees, the first impression for applicants should be conservative business attire.

2. Do a Little Research
One of the best ways to make a good impression on your interviewer is to do a little research on the company you are applying for. This will equip you with material to answer many of the questions the interviewer will ask. One of the main points of the questions you will be asked is how your skills can benefit the company. If you know a thing or two about the company, you will find it a lot easier to answer this question. Plus, dropping a few meaty tidbits about how much you know about the company will go a long way in impressing the interviewer.

3. Watch Your Body Language
Many of the interviewers are well versed in body language, and you will find that, throughout the interview, they will be looking for hints about your personality from the way you act, talk, and move. It would be abnormal to assume a different set of body language during the interview. What you should do is to take note of your body language so that at least it communicates openness and honesty.

Avoid telling lies or embellishing your answers. Experienced interviewers will notice this in an instant. Always keep your palms open and avoid crossing your legs or your arms together. Do not be afraid to make eye contact while speaking; just make sure that you do not come across as intimidating.

4. Confidence
Walk in with a purpose. Answer with a purpose. Try not to be too self-conscious. Make sure you are confident in what you say. If you hit a snag and find yourself in a compromising situation, make sure you handle the situation confidently – even when saying that you do not know an answer to a question.

Confidence reflects competence. Employers always look for competent people to fill their ranks.

Anyone going for an interview literally has to live and breathe preparation in order to give a good account at interview. Times are competitive: it is pretty much an employers market, in the sense that they can hire and fire who they will. In addition, rising unemployment means you could well be up against people who are more experienced and better qualified than you are. So how do you regain an edge? How do you compete on equal terms? Well you do the 3 Ps: Preparation, Preparation, Preparation!

First of all you need to research the company you hope to be working for. You need to ensure that you find out relevant details, which you can then work into some of the answers you give at interview.

This rolls into the second thing you need to do and that is to examine the job description/person specification and start to think about questions the interviewing panel may ask you. Think carefully and then once you have come up with a few questions devise your answers: practice them until you feel that you are capable of answering a question with ease. Next you need to think about how you can get certain key points across: a bit like a politician, with key messages they try to weave in to answers they give. So if you think they may ask you why you want the position and you answer about how you want to work for a dynamic company, you have a lot of skills to offer, you feel that your skill set is well suited to the job description and that you understand that they are really equipped to deal with the economic challenges that lie ahead etc then you need to think about what other questions you could answer with these same points. Then if they don’t ask you why you want the position, but do ask why you want to work for the company, then you answer with roughly the same points. The only thing to remember here is not to just have one or two stock answers!

So preparing for an interview is not too difficult but it does take time and a lot of patience. But it really can help your career and get you a job where you enjoy coming to work. And after all that hard work : Don’t be late for the interview!