Preparation - the key to Interview Success
Author: Eric Thompson
Eric Thompson discusses the influence that interview preparation has on interview success
In the last year I’ve been working with professional clients referred from Jobcentre Plus, under their support programme for those professionals who have found themselves without a job as a result of the recession. The “Job Search Support for Newly Unemployed Professionals” programme was launched by the Department of Work and Pensions as part of the government’s response to the sudden increase in the number of professional people who found themselves out of work.
None of these people expected to be out of work now. In many cases, as recently as twelve months previously the employers of many of these professionals were struggling to find suitably qualified people to resource what they were doing, then suddenly everything changed. Each story is different, as is the impact on each individual, but in terms of finding another job a number of common themes emerge.
Individuals talk of finding themselves as one of a hundred or more to have applied for a particular role, where a few months previously there may only have been handful of candidates. This puts pressure on the individual to make sure that it is their CV that gets short listed for interview, and if they are successful at that, there is further pressure to succeed at the interview. Many of the candidates report that feedback from unsuccessful interviews quite often is simply to say “there is nothing wrong with you, but there was a better candidate”. Faced with well qualified candidates as competition at interview, the onus is on the individual to make sure that they perform at their best and that it is them that are selected in preference to others.
The good news is that in spite of the apparent odds, people have begun to report success at interview. Individuals report that once they have been guided to focus on the right factors they can succeed in getting a job offer even in the face of stiff competition.
What makes the difference? Well interview preparation is the key. There is no need for any candidate to begin an interview looking like the rabbit suddenly caught in the car headlights. With careful interview preparation every individual can work out in advance what they want to say to the interviewer, and as a result become more confident in their approach to the interview. A confident approach leads to increased probability of success, not only because the candidate is giving the employer the information that the employer is looking for, but also because the employer can see a candidate who is in control and knows what they are doing.
"The time was well spent. I am signing a contract for a position..."
There is a price of course for each candidate to pay. Talking to successful candidates makes it clear that preparation is not cheap in terms of time. Interview preparation for a single interview may take many hours over several days before hand, but most judge that to be a price worth paying.
But, what to prepare? Are employers looking for text book answers to difficult questions? Well every interview is different, but for the most part what the employer is looking for is for the candidate to be able to explain clearly and succinctly what skills and experience they have that are relevant to the job that they are being interviewed for. For some years now, I have used a simple interview preparation checklist with a candidate that focuses on the candidate understanding what the employer is looking for, and preparing to talk at the interview about what they have to offer that is relevant to that need.
It works! As one successful candidate put it, “The time was well spent. I am signing a contract for a position which is exactly what I was seeking. It was the first interview that I went to after we met, and three interviews later, I have secured the role over twelve other candidates.”