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Print media jobs sections On-line jobsearch and recruitment tools Work will find you if you are good How to tell it is time to move on On this page: Key points to remember when jobseeking Key skills sought by leading companies about
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Other Careers Information "There is no such thing as a career path - it is crazy paving and you have to lay it yourself." Dominic Cadbury (from the quotations section)
My old office in Germany ... please note the atrocious approach towards documentation management! First impressions
that count It is perfectly possible to leave a job interview feeling frustrated and bewildered. Here are some of the things that can go right but also very wrong A good many years back I recall emerging from a job interview in a state of complete bewilderment. I felt I had acquitted myself abominably. Not one question had I answered with even an ounce of flair. It was clear that before I submitted myself to another experience of this kind I would have to brush up my interview technique. No one was as surprised as I was when the organisation in question offered me a position. After my unpolished performance they must have been pretty desperate. But looking back on the event I think I can discern the cause of the problem. It was not so much that I the interviewee was at fault, but that the conduct of the interview had been so bizarre. Most people prepare for an interview
in the belief that the meeting will follow a certain logical pattern.
A good interviewer starts off by putting you at ease, goes on to
review your background and experience, and then tries to assess
how you would cope with the job you are after. A really competent
one will be content to let you do most of the talking, interrupting
just occasionally to extract information or move the discussion
on to another topic. Generally speaking, an interview along these
lines will afford Unfortunately, not all interviewers even approach the ideal, and while you can usually count on recruitment consultants and personnel officials having been properly trained in the mysteries of selection, it is best to assume that anyone else you meet has not until proved otherwise. Some interviewers appear to be completely at sea, and you get the impression that they have been detailed to carry out this vital task much against their better judgment. They need something to cling to for reassurance, and this generally turns out to be your cv or application form. As a consequence, the exercise turns out not to be an interview at all, but a detail checking session. "So you're Arnold Cuthbertson." (Yes). "Born in Keswick, were you?" (Yes). "And you're married?" (Yes). "I see your address is in Harrogate." (That's right) - and so it goes on. There is a strong temptation to provide more elaborate answers, but this does not necessarily work. The poor chap might be put off his stroke and start confusing your educational attainments with your work experience. When he actually gets round to an open-ended question (one that cannot be answered yes or no) it may be entirely irrelevant. Don't get steamed up about this. After all, he's only doing his best. But you must resist the urge to take over the interiew. Your best policy is to cope as best you can with his queries and try to put him at his ease. This may sound a tall order if you are pretty nervous yourself, but you may well earn his gratitude in the long run. And that's the whole point. If the man behind the desk feels satisfied with the way the interview is going, you are bound to go up in his esteem. There is another type of interviewer who exudes complete self-confidence, so much so that it is difficult for you to get a word in edgeways. He is likely to chunter on endlessly about the job or the organisation quite oblivious to the fact that you have already received a detailed job description which you have digested with care. After a long and possibly misleading digression on some minor aspect of the post, he throws out a question like "would you be able to manage this?" And before you have a chance to utter either "yes" or "no" he is off on some other tack. An interviewer like this can be quite self-important and you may well become distracted or prone to boredom. Don't yawn or twiddle your thumbs. Above all, don't interrupt the monologue, for this might be construed as bad manners. Remember that the goal of any job interview is to impress the selector, and if you are able to impress without saying a word, why worry? Indeed, this should be a matter for rejoicing since the opportunities for you to make a faux pas are thereby diminished. People tend to forget that the ability to listen is every bit as useful as the ability to hold forth. In circumstances like these it could prove to be your trump card. There is one kind of interviewer whom I dislike intensely, and that is the person who regards an interview not as a meeting of minds but as a form of interrogation. He (or she) appears motivated by the desire to trip people up and expose their limitations. And unless you happen to be a hard-boiled politician who is used to such confrontations, you could get quite flustered or even angry. Don't. Try to keep a sense of proportion. After all, if he's nasty to you, the chances are that he'll be nasty to all the other candidates, some of whom will not be able to cope with his barrage of abuse as well as you can. At times like this you need to keep your cool. No candidate is perfect, and during your preparation for an interview you should have identified your weaknesses as well as your strengths. You should also have developed a strategy for steering the selector away from your weak points to your strong points. And if he turns out to be the adversarial type this may prove easier than you think. He may wish to dwell on your undistuiguished six months with Tom Pearce International, in which case you admit quite freely that things didn't work out as planned on that occasion. But at the same time you point out that your distinguished record of service with Bill Brewer & Co is much more relevant to the job you are after. Don't go out of your way to pick an argument, but be firm and polite. You may find this apparent ogre is quite impressed by a candidate whom he can't reduce to incoherent mumblings. Unfortunately there is no knowing in advance what sort of interviewer or interviewers you are likely to encounter. But it won't take you long to assess what sort of experience you are in for once you step inside the interview room. If later you feel you have not been given a fair hearing, do not despair. You can always send off a letter of thanks for the interview in which you highlight one or two points that you fear you did not get across. Where do you see yourself in five years?
Assessment centres are selection days which include a range of activities. These might include:
1 Don't read your presentation verbatim - refer to brief notes 2 Speak clearly and not too fast 3 Aim to be heard at the back of the room 4 Maintain periodic eye contact with the whole audience 5 Introduce it and have a conclusion Writing letters In-tray exercises Aptitude tests Personality questionnaires Final interviews Great Expectations Subject related skills:
What is strategy consulting? What strategy consultants do:
A small number of graduates enter directly as strategic consultants.Those who do spend a least a couple of years as research associates. They may then be sent to business school to pursue an MBA. Salaries Depending on the size of firm and its location, the few graduates who gain direct entry start at about £20,000. After five years, this can rise to £33,000. Professional Bodies Institute of Management Consultants Management Consultancies Association the ideal salesman is ...
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updated
3 Sep 04
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