The Interview coaching sessions I hold to help someone look for a new job vary enormously based on the area that the job seeker wants or needs to focus on, so I’ve gathered up everything that I’ve been asked or that I cover so I could put it in one place for you.
Job Role
When I’m interview coaching I ask whether there is a specific role in mind as this is a great place to start. Even if you don’t have an interview arranged, if there’s a role you’ve applied for and you’re confident about securing an interview, or if you know the type of job you want but haven’t yet got a interview, get the job descriptions if possible as these will tell you what a potential employer is looking for.
The job description will drive the questions they ask you in the interview and it will give you subtle clues about what’s important to them and where to focus your preparation. If you have more than one for similar roles, then compare them and look for themes to identify what’s important for that role type.
Make sure you are clear on what the potential employer is looking for, and how you compare against that. Remember, you don’t have to be able to do everything that they’re looking for, but you do need to know where your gaps are and think about how you address these. For example, if you don’t have a qualification they want, are you prepared to study for this? Do your preparation and make sure you know what that entails so it’s clear you’re serious about it.
Bring your CV
Where your CV tells a potential employer what you’ve done, and the results and impact you’ve had, the interview is all about HOW you did it. Expect them to probe to find out more. These are your examples and successes so make sure you can talk about them confidently. For each item, think about what was driving you forward, why you chose that particular course of action, what you learnt, and what you might do differently in the future. You need to be prepared to talk about the metrics you’ve achieved and know the numbers and impact. You also need to be able to talk about each role you’ve held, although the potential employed is likely to be more focused on the recent roles.
Prepare a Summary
When an Interviewer asks you to tell them about yourself, make sure you have a punchy and well thought through response ready. Under no circumstances take them through your CV in chronologic order, reading from the page (yes, I’ve been there and no, they didn’t get the job!). Think back to the key things the potential employer is looking for and use this as the opportunity to show you’re a perfect fit. For example “I’m a qualified project manager with ten years experience of delivering projects successfully in the construction industry. My background really complements this role as I have X experience in Y. I recently won an award for a project I’d led which was key for the business and delivered Z amount of growth to the business, plus I’m passionate about learning and continuing to develop my skills and experience.” Tailor your summary to talk about you and how you fit into that role.
STAR - Framework for Responses
STAR stands for Situation, Task, Action, Result. It’s a helpful framework for making sure you answer an interview question in a logical and thorough way, and usually makes sure you cover everything you need to.
Situation - this is a short background and context setting for the example you’re going to share.
Task - this is the problem that needed solving or the goal that was set.
Action - this is what you did, the action you took to move this forwards.
Result - possibly the most important section in my opinion, the outcome you achieved.
Example question
Tell me about a time when you had to persuade someone to change their mind. How did you do this?
Example answer
Situation - I was working in the service team with Lucy and she had failed to meet the quality standards for the month and was not eligible for a bonus payment, so she felt it wasn’t worth putting the effort into the remainder of the months workload.
Task - as a team our results made a difference to our team bonus so I needed Lucy to perform at her best.
Action - I prepared a few points I wanted to discuss with Lucy to show her that the team needed to all perform well to success. I wasn’t sure if she knew her efforts counted for the rest of the group. I wanted to ensure she knew that we all worked hard to achieve this together. I also wanted to give Lucy the opportunity to ask any questions or raise any issues with me. She mentioned that she was frustrated because she hadn’t been trained on the quality issues she failed on.
Result - I was able to get Lucy some additional training to help her meet quality standards and she’s now one of our top performers and buddies others who are at risk of failing. That month she went on to support the rest of the teams performance and has achieved bonus ever since.
This format is really helpful when you’re in the interview. You don’t need to say “this was the situation” and “this is what I did” but you can if you like. By ending on the result you have a firm and positive outcome that you’re leaving the interviewer with. You can always ask whether that covers everything they’re looking for at the end of the example too, this gives the interviewer a little time to consider whether they’re happy that answers the question and if not, gives you an opportunity to provide more detail.
Competencies
An interview might also focus on specific competencies that you need to demonstrate, to successfully do the role. These could be things like Leadership, Communication, and Problem Solving for example. If your interview is competency based you’re likely to receive information about this, and usually it will detail what they are looking for in each competency. Make sure your prepared examples include items you would need to demonstrate for these. For example if you know that Leadership is a competency and one of the areas of that is motivating a team, make sure you have an example of doing that. It doesn’t need to be a work team, it could be your PTA team or your kids sports team, but be prepared to demonstrate both what you did to motivate the team, and how you did it.
Make sure you have prepared examples for each of the competencies and each of the areas within them. It's unlikely an interview will cover all of these but you need to be ready with a great example as you don't know which they will ask. Much better to over prepare in this instance as it will increase your chance of success.
Technical Skills
An interview might include specific technical skills too. You need to be able to demonstrate you’ve used these and talk about the results and impact you’ve achieved as a result. Expect more detailed questioning and probing as the potential employer will want to be sure of your level of experience. If you’re not as experienced as you’d like to be but you’re willing to learn, don’t be afraid to say that too. Honesty is the best policy. If you could demonstrate another occasion when you’ve had to learn quickly and explain how you did that then bonus points! When you’re talking about technical skills, think about how you keep your skills up to date. How do you stay abreast of developments in your industry? Are you a member of any appropriate bodies? These are all things to consider your responses on ahead of time.
Presentations
Sometimes an interview demands a presentation. We all groan inside when that happens because, well, who loves presentations? Not many people that I know, so if you’re one of the lucky ones, great! If not, I’m afraid it’s a necessary evil. The biggest mistake I see when I help prepare for presentations is that the candidate hasn’t answered the question, either they’ve slightly misinterpreted it or partially answered. So the most important thing you can do is make sure you are crystal clear on what is being asked of you. If you get chance to prepare in advance, great. Run it by a couple of people you trust and get them to give you feedback. And film yourself doing it, watch it back (likely to be painful because who likes watching themselves) and then work out how you can improve and keep practising. Don’t read, either from your slides or notes, you should know it well enough that you can do it with a few prompts. And remember you’re speaking to real people, look at them, hook them in early, and don’t be afraid to use humour. You want to keep them interested and make your points at the same time. Talk confidently and you will sound more confident. Make sure your body language also conveys comfortable and confident. Being well prepared, practised, and knowing your stuff will all help with this, but if you haven’t already watched the Ted talk by Amy Cuddy (Your body language may shape who you are) then please do so, it’s full of valuable information to help you.
Practical Preparation
Pre-interview prep (on the day) is really important. Always get there early, not too early, but a few minutes at least. Before that I always suggest a power pose and some music. Standing in a power pose changes your biochemistry and makes you feel more confident. You can do it in the ladies and it will make a difference to your body language which is so important. While you’re doing the power pose, play a song that also gives you confidence and motivates you. Mine is an Eminem song called Lose Yourself so if you don’t have one, try that (if you don’t appreciate bad language then find a different song). One of the lyrics is that you have one shot, don’t miss this opportunity, so it’s a good reminder to get focused. Next, smile. Broadly. Make eye contact with those you meet, greet them warmly and shake hands when offered. Have some small talk ready about the weather or your journey, and if you’re sat in a room with other candidates don’t be afraid to strike up conversation with them too. Putting others at ease demonstrates leadership.
Before the day itself, make sure you know where you need to be, how to get there, and how long it will take. Do a trial run if you can. And double check you’ve got the date / time / location right too.
After the interview, thank them for seeing you and tell them you look forward to hearing from them soon. Personally I don’t feel that sending a thank you note is important, it feels a bit like overkill in my very British opinion, but if you feel it’s appropriate then please send one.
Questions to Ask
Don’t forget that in the interview you are also interviewing them. So you need to make sure you ask everything you need to so that you’d be comfortable accepting a role there (except salary, see next point). I always ask a few questions and write down the responses so I can play them back in the future. These are:
What does high performing look like in this role?
What do you see as the key priorities for the first three months in this role?
Are there any areas where you don’t feel you’ve got enough information from me today? Is there anything else you need to know?
Can you give me an indication of timescales and next steps please?
Salary & Negotiation
Personally I don’t think the place for salary negotiation is within the interview because that’s about determining if you’re the right fit for the role. When the potential employer has decided that you are, I believe that’s the time to discuss salary.
You might be asked about your current salary, which I think is poor form, because it’s largely irrelevant, but if you are then you can try and side step the question by replying to say what you’re looking for.
For example
I’m looking for a salary in the region of X. My current package includes a generous holiday allowance, flexible working, and a significant bonus. I’m really excited about this new job, especially now I know more about it, so I’m sure we can find a package that's mutually agreeable.
Finally
Don’t forget to say I! In this world of collaboration and teamwork, a lot of people are reluctant to take the credit themselves for work they’ve done. An interview is definitely not the time to be humble. Talk about what you did, how you contributed. The interviewer wants to know about you, and it’s important you can show them the impact you’ve made. If you say we and talk about being part of a team it won’t instil them with confidence that they should recruit you.
Once you’ve had your interview, come away and write some notes about it. Reflect on what went well and what you could do better next time. Taking the time to focus on this will prepare you well for your next interview so do this while it’s all fresh in your mind.
Similarly, if you find out you weren’t successful, be sure to ask for feedback so you can add the perspective of the potential employer. Hiring managers are often busy and so feedback doesn’t always happen but if you don’t ask, you don’t get. It’s often useful to know what they thought and of any perceived shortcomings so you can address these next time.
One last point to make here. Interviews take up a lot of time and energy, and if you’re not successful you’re likely to feel dejected and as though you’ve wasted your time. You haven’t. If you never try, you’ll never know. All of these experiences build your learning and make you better. Congratulate yourself on trying and celebrate that you put yourself out there. The more you do it, the easier it gets and the better you will get at it. Keep going. Keep trying. Keep improving. Your time will come.
If you’d like a helping hand preparing then I offer an interview coaching power hour to help you perform at your very best. Message me to book.