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Archive for the ‘Interview Tips & Assessment Centres’ Category
Wednesday, July 21st, 2010
I’ve coached a couple of clients recently who want to work for themselves, but they aren’t making enough money, and so need to get a job. Sometimes they are too truthful in what they say to the interviewer. Here are a couple of questions, their answer and my reply
Tell me about a time when you had to make a difficult decision
“One of my difficult decisions was choosing to set up my own business after being made redundant. I was worried about not having a stable income and worried whether I would make enough money to cover a comfortable life style. Especially at the age of 29 when a lot of my friends were getting married and looking to buy a house.”
Denise says:
This sounds like a reasonable answer, but it can raise some questions for the interviewer. Are you still interested in working for yourself? Why are you now applying for a job? Will you only be looking to take on a job in the short term and leave once your own business takes off? An additional thing to consider is disclosing your age, which is almost never appropriate to do during an interview.
Are you applying for any other jobs?
“I’m very interested in this job, hence applying. However, I’m not applying for anything else at the moment due to concentrating on my business. I have had a few good jobs that have come in recently which is positive. I’ve been thinking about possibly looking for part-time work so I can run both my business and get further income to support my business and lifestyle.”
Denise says:
Be very careful about telling the interviewer that you are looking to develop your own business. The interviewer will be concerned that too much of your energy will be focused outside of the job that you are being interviewed for. Why mention part time working if the job you are applying for is full time. Keep focused on what will help you get the job.
Need help with interview coaching? Please don’t hesitate to get in touch.
Posted in Interview Tips & Assessment Centres
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Tuesday, June 29th, 2010
Answered a question on the Guardian Forum regarding Interviews. Here is my reply:
Interviewers will often ask questions about how you dealt with a particular situation and what they want is a specific reply, using STAR (Situation, Task, Activity and Result). I’m sure there have been situations they could have lead to conflict at work, but because you smoothed things over you are downplaying what you did or said. The example you provide has to be your own, but it could be along the lines of ‘Working in a team we don’t always agree with something and occasionally this can lead to disagreement. It could be easy to argue but I don’t think that is helpful. On one particular occasion … and describe how you were able to deal effectively with conflict perhaps through working in collaboration or through compromise. You may find it helpful to read up on different means of dealing with conflict to help you develop your answer, for example see – http://www.amazingpeople.co.uk/thomaskilmann.htm
Think also about a time when you have been under pressure. Rather than think generally about how you ‘just get on and do it’ think about how exactly you get on and do things. Again think of a specific time when there has been a deadline and how you delivered. It may be that you stress your organisational skills, or your ability to focus and willingness to stay late to meet a business objective.
Finally you asked about what will impress people. If we are thinking about what will impress the interviewer it will include being prompt, dressing smartly, being well prepared, which includes thinking through answers to probable questions and providing specific examples, like I’ve suggested above. Also demonstrate that you have done your homework and have researched the company and have developed some questions to ask at the end of the interview.
Finally, developing your self confidence is important, if you go into the interview thinking that you are rubbish at interview that is likely to have a negative impact. Do your prep and tell yourself why you are right for the job and that you are going to do great.
Good luck!
Denise
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Tuesday, March 30th, 2010
Paul – successful through interview coaching
‘I am writing to give you some extremely positive feedback following the Interview Training that we conducted by phone 3 weeks ago. I am pleased to say that during the week following the training I successfully attended 5 interviews with 2 companies and was offered both jobs !! Exhausting but thrilling too. I truly feel that the interview preparation I undertook with you was the defining factor as I approached each session thoroughly prepared and with anticipation. Whilst I am sure that much comes down to experience, CV and skill set I know that the prep I did with you set me apart and really was the difference. Thank you again for the training, money extremely well spent as far as myself and my family are concerned. Brilliant. Paul, Senior Manager.
Rahul – successful through interview coaching
Your bespoke approach, including professionalism, dedication and understanding, has helped me to build a platform for me to plan and implement winning interview techniques as well as gaining confidence in other areas of recruitment processes.
Rosie – successful through interview coaching
Interview Coaching ‘I would highly recommend Denise’s Interview Coaching sessions. I decided to try them after making it to interview stage but no further on several occasions. Denise was able to quickly pinpoint where I was going wrong and provide me with the confidence and skills to break the pattern. I put these into practice at my next interview and was offered the Job!’ R Hignett
David – successful through interview coaching
‘Interview coaching with Denise was instrumental in me passing the selection panel’ David W.
Want some help? Do get in touch with Denise
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Friday, January 8th, 2010
Career Change is scary when you are trying to do it all alone.
Do you feel stuck in a job that doesn’t excite you? Are you bored to tears or even stressed out by your job? Does Monday morning fill you with dread?
Perhaps you’ve dreamt that there must be something out there more fulfilling, exciting and worthwhile for you to do? You may have even considered changing career but don’t know how or what you could even do.
There’s a free series of tele-seminars with guest experts, and I’m one of them!
Come and join the Free Career Change Formula Tele seminar series, which starts on the 11th January
2010. During this unique Tele-seminar Series you’ll:
· Discover how to change career in a less than favourable economic climate
· Learn how to start your own business – become aware of some of the pitfalls and how to overcome them.
· Develop the mindset for career change success
· Learn how you can put fear of making a career mistake to bed
· Learn ways that you can connect with what you truly want from your career
· Discover ways you can get your finances in order before making the change
· Understand why knowing your “Why” is the missing ingredient for career success.
Don’t miss the chance to learn from some of the most respected people in personal transition and
career change industry today.
Posted in Career Discovery, Career Motivators, Interview Tips & Assessment Centres
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Wednesday, September 9th, 2009
I’ve helped 2 clients yesterday with their forthcoming assessment centres. Both had to make presentations and both were over wordy on their first attempt.
I really enjoy helping people with presentations; so much easier to critique someone else’s than do it myself! I’ve assessed so many that I know what assessors are looking for and how to help people stand out from the rest.
Firstly it is about addressing the question – think of exams, it’s not saying what you want to say on the topic but making sure you address the, for example, 3 points in the instructions.
Secondly it is about not being overly wordy – this is not to be ‘death by PowerPoint’ you are not to stand and read out each slide – that’s why you have your cue cards. Cut them back so they make more of an impact.
Thirdly it is about being confident in what you are saying. If you have been given the topic in advance the assessors will expect a finished product with you pretty much word perfect, so practice, practice, practice.
Fourth is keep to time. One of my clients took 23 minutes for a 10 minute presentation, on the trial run, this is not ok. If I was assessing her I would have cut her off at 11minutes. So make sure you keep to time, and cut out slides if necessary.
Finally it is about branding, can you use the company logo and colour scheme? Make the presentation fit with the company you are applying for and they will begin to see you as belonging to the company.
If you have a presentation coming up, and you would like my help please get in touch.
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Monday, August 24th, 2009
Do you have an interview lined up but lacking confidence? Then booking an interview coaching session with Denise can help.
Last week I had a phone call from Emma, she was getting very worried about her forthcoming interviews – she had already been shortlisted twice before and failed to get both jobs so wanted some help in how to improve.
Emma had lots going for her – she was getting shortlisted and had a successful track record in health and safety, but was getting fed up and a little depressed that she didn’t get the job offer.
She lived some distance away (a 6 hour round trip) so we opted for a phone interview coaching session. I never used to do these but clients are finding them helpful and time efficient. The first hour followed this process
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I asked questions
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She responded,
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I then gave feedback from an interviewers perspective
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We then reviewed it from an interview coaching perspective
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She then answered the question a second time
Like other people I’ve worked with she was modest, and didn’t want to sell herself, but if she didn’t describe her strengths and achievements who would? She also had a tendency to waffle and to loose the key points amongst the rest. So we practiced answering questions in the same style as a newspaper article – the headline, next important and then the rest.
We also practiced how to answer the salary question, especially as their range covered 10,000 and she wanted to be offered a salary at the top of the range as she had previously earned more than that. We worked out why she was worth that amount of money and she told them this.
I talked through how she should follow up afterwards, and she was delighted to learn that not only was she to be offered the job, but also they would match her previous salary.
Emma had bought my book – How to get a job in a recession, which she had found very helpful, and the interview coaching was a great addition as the support was personalised to her.
Posted in Interview Tips & Assessment Centres
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Friday, May 29th, 2009
A&DC provide have an online competency based interviewing tool. They’ve been researching the most popular questions. Late Autumn it was on managing conflicting demands, The most popular question is now
‘Tell me about a time when you have taken action to ensure that you are providing the best possible service to customers’
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Tuesday, March 3rd, 2009
I’ve probably written before about the interview coaching sessions I do. I often do these by phone and send my clients a numbe rof questions to prepare and then ask them, give my client feedback from an interviewers point of view and then go into my career coaching mode.
Today was great news, Anne has just got the job she went for in environmental consultancy – she was told that she interviewed exceptionally well.
There are still jobs, and people will still be interviewed, and you need to make sure that you perform as well as you can as there will be stiff competition. Anne said that another person scored higher on paper but she interviewed best.
If I can help you, please do get in touch.
Posted in Client Feedback, Interview Tips & Assessment Centres
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Saturday, January 31st, 2009
One of my clients has got a competency based interview next week, so I have been helping her to prepare. She has the organisations competency framework so I’ve used this as a start. I’ve then gone through picking out questions she might be asked so she can run through some replies.
The best way to respond to a competency based question is to use the STAR technique
- Situation
- Task
- Action
- Result
It’s not good enough to be broad and vague, you have to talk through a specific example.
I have my client practicing her questions by actually answering out loud. We’ll then do a practice session next week.
Want to know more - do get in touch
Posted in Interview Tips & Assessment Centres
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Tuesday, December 16th, 2008
 A client called me today; she had just had an interview for a job.
We’d spent time planning how to respond to interview questions, how to present herself well, really excellent interview questions, all the ways to handle the experienced interviewer who wants deep specific answers.
But sometimes the interviewers are not that skilled.
The one Karen had seemed to be on speed or working at the pace Royal Mail wants postal staff to work at. No sooner had she entered the room then she was asked the first question, little time spent on putting her at ease.
Her interviewer didn’t seem interested in what she had to say but was rushing her and over talking to ask the next question.
Within 30 minutes she was out the door and the next one invited in, so no time for any reflection on how she had done.
So yes we had covered the less experienced interviewer but not the person who is just rushing someone through, we do need to be prepared for a range of interview styles.
Karen may not have performed as well as she could as she benefits form time to settle down, like most of us do. So what to do? I’ve suggested she sends an email and confirms her interests and her strengths. Then fingers crossed. She has a couple more interviews in the diary which means she won’t be too fixated on this one.
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