Interview Skills www.kent.ac.uk/careers/slides.htm Bruce Woodcock University of Kent Careers and Employability Service bw@kent.ac.uk You can download a copy of this presentation at www.kent.ac.uk/careers/slides.htm

Skills gained on a degree Gather and analyse relevant information from a wide variety of sources Identify and propose solutions to problems Project management Technical skills Work independently (individual projects) Communicate with others in a clear and articulate manner Present ideas and arguments verbally in presentations and seminars, and informal discussions Sell these on your CV, applications and interviews! “Sell” your degree List relevant modules (plus marks if good!) Projects – especially if relevant IT skills Soft skills – evidence of teamwork, project management, problem solving etc.

HOW NOT TO INTERVIEW Candidate had a fizzy drink just before interview and spent the whole interview burping. Announced she hadn't had lunch and proceeded to eat burger and chips during the interview. When asked him about his hobbies, he stood up and started tap dancing around the office. Without saying a word, candidate stood up and walked out during the middle of the interview. Dozed off during the interview. Said he never finished high school because he was kidnapped and kept in a wardrobe.

Preparation for the interview

Carefully research the employer and the job Commercial Awareness What do you know about our organisation? What are our main products/services? What are the problems facing our organisation? What changes have there been in our sector recently? Who are our clients? What do you think the job you would be doing entails? www.kent.ac.uk/careers/sk/commercialawareness.htm

Dress Smartly Men - conventional suit with a conservative shirt - plain pastel shades or modest stripes and dark shoes. Don't wear light coloured socks or too much aftershave! Women - conventional suit or coordinating jacket and skirt. Dark colours suggest authority but bright can work with care. Wear tights. Don't wear lots of frills, trousers unless smart, very high heels or lots of make-up, perfume or jewellery. www.kent.ac.uk/careers/ivdress.htm

BODY LANGUAGE Shake hands warmly but wait to be invited to sit down. Smile! Eye contact Try to relax: don’t sit on the edge of your chair, but don’t slouch. Speak clearly and not too quickly Don’t fidget www.kent.ac.uk/careers/interviews/nvc.htm

Interview nerves Nerves are expected in the first few minutes. The interviewer may be nervous too! It's not that important: there will be other interviews in future. Preparation: makes you more confident. Dress smartly: if you look good, you feel good! Start in a positive way and you will continue in this vein: smiling, eye contact, a firm handshake. Don't worry about making a mistake: everyone fluffs one question. The day before write down everything you are worried about: “downloads” your worries. Visualisation: the night before, visualise yourself undergoing the whole interview, step by step, and imagine everything going well. Mindfulness techniques help to reducing stress. Listen to empowering music beforehand! Adopt power poses before (not at!!!) the interview: standing upright with hands on hips,  steepling hands. For more see www.kent.ac.uk/careers/intervw.htm#nerves

PREPARE ANSWERS TO OBVIOUS QUESTIONS How long should interview answers be? Why are you applying to our organisation in particular? Tell me about yourself Why should we take you rather than the other candidates? What are your weaknesses? Do you have any questions you would like to ask us?

COMPETENCY-BASED QUESTIONS Describe a situation where you had to ..... show leadership make a difficult decision overcome a difficult obstacle refuse to compromise work with others to solve a problem

Person specification Experience/Knowledge Essential Desirable Experience of prioritising competing demands √ Experience of working with a diverse client group Skills/Abilities Ability to achieve targets within agreed timescales Ability to work autonomously and as a team member Ability to work with people at all levels Interview questions will be largely based around the competencies in the person specification e.g. “Describe a situation where you had to achieve targets within agreed timescales”

Competency Questions The hardest part of the form for most applicants - asking for examples of specific skills such as teamwork, leadership, problem solving e.g. Describe how your personal planning and organisation resulted in the successful achievement of a personal or group task. Give an example of where others have disagreed with your views. How did you deal with this? http://prezi.com/0y-aknjsspdh/making-applications-using-the-star-approach/

COMPETENCY QUESTIONS: STAR APPROACH Start by briefly outlining the Situation Keep the focus on your specific Tasks and responsibilities Say what Action you took, then try to summarise what you achieved. If it’s a group task, make sure you define your own role and contribution. This is the biggest part Give concrete Results when possible. If you cannot be totally positive about the experience, say what you learned from it and what you might do differently next time. Situation/Tasks/Action/Result = www.kent.ac.uk/careers/compet/skillquest.htm

HYPOTHETICAL QUESTIONS "How would you deal with an irate customer?” (customer service interview) Interviewer picks up a cheap biro from the desk. "Sell me this pen". (sales/marketing interview) BA pilot interviewee: was asked what he would do if he met the captain wearing a dress in the hotel bar. (British Airways interview)

HYPOTHETICAL QUESTIONS Used because it's impossible to work out your answer beforehand. Test your ability to think quickly, logically, produce practical solutions. Don't panic! Take a few seconds to think - this shows confidence. Just try to think of one or two sensible things to say to start off. There may be many possible solutions.

PREPARE QUESTIONS TO ASK DON’T ASK about holidays, pensions and parking facilities. DO ASK about training, career development and the work itself.

REAL QUESTIONS FROM CANDIDATES What is your Zodiac sign? Do I have to dress for the next interview? I know this is off the subject, but will you marry me? Will the company pay to relocate my horse? When is pay day? Would it be a problem if I'm angry most of the time? Why am I here?

PREPARE QUESTIONS TO ASK How is performance at work assessed? What is a typical career path in this job? Can you give me more details of the training programme? What is the ‘‘work culture’’? i.e. informal, formal, do people work autonomously, does everyone come in early, stay late? What are the challenges that the organisation is facing? What is your personal experience of working for this organisation?

FOLLOWING UP The interviewer will probably let you know when you’ll know the result. If they haven't made this clear, ask! After the interview, make notes on the questions asked and what you could have answered better.

PRACTICE INTERVIEWS ONLINE Teaching, postgrad. study, scientific research, IT etc. www.kent.ac.uk/careers/interviews/mockivs.htm Answers to 150 interview questions www.kent.ac.uk/careers/interviews/ivquest.htm Telephone interviews www.kent.ac.uk/careers/ivphone.htm Streamed Videos online On-line Applications Interviews Assessment Centres www.kent.ac.uk/careers/IntVid.htm

Assessment Centres Assessment Centres www.kent.ac.uk/careers/applicn.htm#Selection Coping with group exercises www.kent.ac.uk/careers/sk/teamwork.htm Presentation skills www.kent.ac.uk/careers/presentationskills.htm ELECTRONICS CAREERS PAGE www.kent.ac.uk/careers/electronics.htm

Duty Careers Adviser A Duty Adviser is available to help with queries between 10.30 am to 12.30 p.m. and 2 to 4 p.m. every day. No appointment needed - just drop in. Other Presentations. www.kent.ac.uk/careers/casevents.htm

Moodle Careers Employability Award 14 Quizzes: need 75% to pass Employability skills quiz Employability skills quiz: drag and drop How to develop the skills employers want? Test your spelling and grammar! What makes you happy at work? How commercially aware are you? Special interests topic lesson Interview preparation Practice interview What are the most common interview questions? Aptitude tests and assessment centres CV quiz CVs and covering letters: drag and drop quiz Career planning drag and drop quiz Assignments: complete 3 of these Analyse your skills and learn how to make top quality applications Do you want to live to work or work to live? Researching careers Choosing a career Submit a CV Social media Action planning DX_CEA Careers Employability Award (2014/15) www.kent.ac.uk/careers/moodle.htm

IBM Mentoring Scheme IBM are mentoring first-year students looking to do a placement as part of their degree or second year students considering life after University. Mentors are Kent graduates and interns. You can be studying for any degree and don't need advanced computing skills. Why? IBM is keen to encourage students to consider their careers sooner. We want to make students aware of how competitive today’s job market is and give them guidance on how best to promote themselves. This will give them the best chance of applying not just to our schemes but other employers’ too. The scheme also provides a fantastic chance for students to improve and enhance their skillsets before they begin applying. It is a virtual mentoring scheme where the majority of contact with students is either via email, telephone or by Skype. The scheme will run between January and April. If you would like an IBM mentor please email bw@kent.ac.uk with a copy of your CV and an answer in not more than 200 words to the following question in the next week. "How would you benefit from having an IBM mentor and why should you be selected for this scheme rather than other students who apply". The students with the best answers will be selected to take part in the scheme. The earlier you apply, the better your chances of acceptance. More details are at www.kent.ac.uk/careers/IBM.htm

Interview Skills www.kent.ac.uk/careers/slides.htm Bruce Woodcock University of Kent Careers and Employability Service bw@kent.ac.uk You can download a copy of this presentation at www.kent.ac.uk/careers/slides.htm

Careers Employability Award www.kent.ac.uk/careers/moodle.htm Email bw@kent.ac.uk if you have problems enrolling

Application Process The smaller company process is much simpler and you can apply much later (often after final exams) but salaries are usually lower and they offer less training and less chance to specialise.

Every question is designed to assess you against set criteria “I tried to work out which of these criteria a particular question was pertaining to, and address that, rather than just the specific question. In the public sector there are no really spontaneous questions and nothing is asked without a purpose: they have to do everything fairly and openly. So there’s a grid of criteria, with questions that relate to those criteria, and each question you get asked will result in the panel writing down the evidence that shows you meet that criteria. Each question is given a score, then the highest total score wins so you have to be hitting those criteria. It’s a question of asking yourself, what do they ACTUALLY want from me with this one?” Successful candidate for a library post