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10 Tips Interview

  1. Prepare:  use the Job Description and Person Specification to audit yourself candidly – you can predict the vast majority of the questions to confirm your strengths and probe your weaknesses.
  2. Read the interview invitation carefully.  If you are being invited for more than a couple of hours you should expect (and prepare for) more than just an interview: personality tests; report-writing; role play….etc;
  3. Rehearse: x 3 – yes, even before you are invited to interview.
  4. Expectations: Meet them!
  5. Be early & practise ‘small-talk’.  Remember: people are forming an important opinion / impression of you even in an informal situation like a coffee break, a departmental tour or a buffet lunch.
  6. If you are about to use any technology – check it beforehand and have a ‘Plan B’
  7. Try to relax: if you really have prepared and could not have done any more to get ready, then you have nothing to be nervous about: be confident.
  8. Answer directly in a tight structure based upon ‘threes‘ – ‘voyage around’ approaches don’t work, so think like this:
    • beginning – middle – end
    • problem – analysis – solution
    • input – process – output
    • to prove – construction – proof
    • bread-basket – upper-cut – knock out!  (Not literally please!)
  9. ‘Manage’ your interviewer – make sure you get to talk about the good stuff.  Never come out saying: ‘I wish she’d have asked me that…’
  10. Hunt for relevant and convincing examples in your personal, educational and professional history and build your answers around them whenever possible.
  11. Never try to answer a Q you don’t understand : have the courage to ask for clarification.
  12. Try a personality test to see yourself as the interviewer may see you.
  13. Think in advance about awkward Qs.
  14. You should ALWAYS ask questions at the end of an interview (those that say something about you, your career ambitions etc) … but there are questions one should NEVER ask (‘How much holiday do I get?’ for example).