Tips for a Perfect Job Interview (1)

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TIPS
FOR A PERFECT

JOB
INTERVIEW

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TIPS FOR A PERFECT JOB INTERVIEW



Table of
Contents
Introducti
on .. 3

Types of Interviews
... 4
Types of
Interview Questions
5
The STAR
Principle .........
6
Interview
Preparation .........................
.....7
Interview
Preparation Tips ..
8
Answering Tough
Interview Questions 10

Tell Me About Yourself
... 11

Where Do You See Yourself in Five Years
.......................................
17
Arent You
Overqualified for This Job .
21







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TIPS FOR A PERFECT JOB INTERVIEW



Introduction

An interview is
typically a conversation between

a job applicant
and one or more representatives

of the
prospective employer to determine if the

applicant is
qualified for the job they have applied

for. It is also
an opportunity for both parties to

decide whether or
not the applicant will fit in

with the company culture.

The interview is
without a doubt, the toughest stage of the hiring
process.
But,
although interviews are generally nerve racking
and can cause you some

anxiety and stress, they actually present
the perfect opportunity for you to

back up all of
the statements youve made in your resume or CV
and show
the
potential employer that youre a perfect fit.

This short eBook
will teach you how to prepare for your interview.
Lack of
preparatio
n is the biggest reason why people perform poorly
at interviews.
You
ll also learn how to deliver perfect answers to
three of the most

challenging questions that are commonly asked at
interviews.







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TIPS FOR A PERFECT JOB INTERVIEW


Types of
Interviews
There
are several types of job interviews. Interviews
can be held in-person, conducted

over the phone or
via video or Skype. The specific interview
process will depend on

the company, the role they are looking to
fill and the pool of job applicants.

In some cases,
selected candidates are offered the job after one
interview. In other

cases, the process may take longer and involve
more interviews with HR, different

managers and
potential colleagues.

Here are the most common types of job
interviews
Telephon
e Interview This is usually an initial
pre-screening call to determine

whether they want
to invite you in for an in-person interview. Many
employers use
this
as a quick and cost-effective way to whittle down
candidates in the first round.

This ensures that all of the
candidates meet the minimum requirements of the

position.

One-on-one Job
Interview This is a face-to-face meeting with a
representative of
t
he company which is usually the manager of the
position you are applying for. The

interviewer will
usually have a pre-defined set of traits that he
or she is looking for.

Panel Interview A panel interview typically
consists of two or more of the

companys representatives, generally
people from HR and management. This type of

interview is
popular within the public sector
.







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TIPS FOR A PERFECT JOB INTERVIEW


Types of
Interview Questions

Traditional Questions Traditional
interview questions tend to be

straightforward questions that
focus on your personality, preferred ways

of
interacting with others and how you would handle
hypothetical

situations. Typical questions include What are
your greatest strengths or

What do you know about our
organization?

Behavioral Questions Behavioral interview
questions are based on

discovering how you acted in specific
employment-related situations. For

example,
you may be asked about a time when you used
specific skills to

solve a particular problem. Behavioral
questions generally indicate how

well you
may handle similar situations in a new
role.
An
example of a behavioral question is, "Describe
the toughest challenge you

faced at your last job. How did
you handle it?" Essentially, the interviewer

wants to
see how you handle specific problems, and what
you do to
so
lve them in order to predict how you will act in
a similar situation.

You need to be well prepared, so make an
effort to inquire what type of

interview will be conducted so
you can best prepare for it. Ask your HR

contact for
the names, titles and roles of everyone who will
be
interview
ing you so you can research them. This is
important, so dont

skip this step.

You should also ask for an overview
of the hiring process to get a sense

of how many
interviews the employer will conduct prior to
making
offer
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TIPS FOR A PERFECT INTERVIEW


THE STAR
PRINCIPLE
The
STAR Principle is a popular interviewing
methodology that is

highly recommended by most interviewing
experts. It allows you to

follow a certain structure when
answering interview questions.

STAR is an acronym for
Situation, Task, Achievement and Results.

Situation
a description of the situation from a previous
job, volunteer

work or coursework. It is important to be as
detailed as possible so that

the interviewer gets the full
picture.
Tas
k a brief and concise description of the
specific task that had to be

accomplished. This is also the
problem or challenge that you faced or

were
required to deal with.

Achievement a description of the
actions you took. It is important to

keep the
focus on your specific contributions to the task
rather than the

collective efforts of the team.

Result what was the
outcome and what did you end up

accomplishin
g? How did it benefit the company?

The STAR principle is based
on the notion that previous behavior is

the best
predictor of future behavior, which is why the
best strategy is

to answer each question by describing what
you accomplished in a

specific situation and explain how the
results benefited the company.







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T
IPS FOR A PERFECT INTERVIEW


Interview
Preparation
Good
planning and preparation is key to a successful
interview its important to

maximize the opportunity that has
been presented to you. You need to give yourself
the
best chance
of getting a job offer. Your resume or CV has
helped you get your foot in

the door and you now need to show why
youre the perfect candidate for the job. Being

fully prepared
for an interview is paramount to your success.

The phrase,
knowledge is power has never been more
appropriate when it comes to

interviewing for a job. The more
information you have about the company, the
better. It
is
tremendously important to understand the job
description and have a working

knowledge about the company,
including its services and products.

Start by
reviewing the job requirements so that you can
clearly demonstrate how you

precisely meet those needs. Beyond
knowing the companys needs and goals, it is
crucial
to know
how you plan to make a difference within that
company. You need to know the

problems and challenges being faced
by the company and how your background, skills

and experience
can make a difference to the company.

Additionally,
its imperative to know how to sell yourself.
Taking a self-inventory of

personal skills, prior to the
interview, is vital. Yet, the true key to selling
yourself
accordin
g to your skills is providing real-life instances
where those skills were

exemplified.

Often times, individuals applying for a new
job tend to amplify their skills. This is

acceptable, as
long as you truly possess those skills. However,
discussing personal skills is

not about misrepresentation. It is
about knowing personal strengths that are
relevant to
the
job at hand and being able to highlight how you
can use those strengths to benefit

the company.





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TIPS FOR A PERFECT JOB INTERVIEW


Interview
Preparation Tips
Here are the main
areas you need to work on to be fully prepared
for your interview.
Train your
voice. Learn to speak in a strong, outgoing and
engaging tone. Monotone voices
do
not sound pleasant, and could cost you a job
offer. Work on this. You need to avoid

sounding quiet or boring when
making a point. Check out videos on how to train
your
voice and work on improving
the tone of your voice, especially for phone
interviews.
Dress appropriately.
You want the first impression you make to be
strong. This means you
need a
conservative suit, well-groomed hairstyle,
trimmed nails, briefcase and no gum or

cigarettes. Try to match your suit
to the type of job youre interviewing for.

Engage the interviewer. It is
important to show the interviewer that you are
attentive, alert
and a good
listener. Maintaining eye contact with the
interviewer is a good way to do this.

However, while it is important to
make eye contact, dont stay so intensely focused
on making
eye contact that you
creep the interviewer out.
Check
your attitude. One of the most common mistakes
that interviewees make is
complainin
g about their former boss or co-workers at
interviews. If you make the mistake of

criticising your former boss, you
wont get the job, no matter how justified your
claim is.
Be honest. One lie often
tends to lead to another, and is a sign that you
cannot be trusted as
an employee.
Never be dishonest about your education, skills,
qualities or anything on your
resume
.
Be ready to explain how your
skills match the position. Youll need to
articulate how you
intend to use
your background, skills and experience to solve
the companys problems and
perform
the functions of the role.



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TIPS FOR A PERFECT JOB INTERVIEW


Interview
Preparation Tips
Be friendly and
respectful to everyone you meet. Be as respectful
to the receptionist as
you would
be to the interviewer. They just might have a lot
more influence than you might
real
ize.
Be confident. In todays job
market, lack of confidence will cost you a job
offer. It is
important to be calm
and confident. Before you get to the interview,
breathe deeply in and
out for 5
minutes. Breathing exercises help calm the nerves
and reduce stress.
Dont be
overconfident. Overconfidence can be off-putting
to potential employers. To
success
fully master the art of interviewing, you need to
strike a balance between confidence

and overconfidence.

Prepare intelligent questions to ask. It is
important to prepare focused and open-ended

questions to ask about the
position, your manager and the company in
general. Not asking
good
questions could easily cost you a job offer, no
matter how well the interview has
gone.
Know your resume or CV
inside out. You should know the information on
your resume
like the back of your
hand so that no question takes you by surprise.
You need to be able to
provide
detailed explanations of everything that is on
your resume. You should know all of

the employment dates and company
names, exactly what you did in each job, and how
you
contributed to the success of
each company. You should be able to recite these
facts
confidently and without
stumbling.
Be punctual. Arriving
late is the worst possible start for your job
interview. Theres just no
excuse.








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TIPS FOR A PERFECT JOB INTERVIEW


Interview
Preparation Tips
S
tudy the job description and person
specification. Analyse the job description

thoroughly so
that you can match them to your skills. By
analyzing them thoroughly, you

can determine what the company is
looking for and how qualified you are for the
role.
Adjust your
style and tone to match the role. Beyond obvious
things like mannerisms

and clothing, use words and expressions
that are common in the industry. If youre

interviewing for
a community strategist role, dont adopt the
mannerisms of an

accountant. It is also important to be conscious
of the impression you make on the

interviewer.

Keep up-to-date with
developments in your industry. It is important to
keep up-to-
date
with the latest news and developments in your
industry. Interviewers commonly ask

questions about
current industry events, popular blogs and
thought leaders to test your

knowledge of the space and their
industry.
Researc
h the company. Research the company to study its
values, mission statement,

leadership principles, products,
services, etc.
Sh
ow your enthusiasm for the role. Potential
employers like to see that you are

motivated about
the role. This is why it is not always the most
qualified candidate that

gets the job. Rather, it is that
candidate that is able to show his enthusiasm for
the role.
Research
the interviewer. Your aim should be to connect
and build a rapport with the

interviewer(s) by engaging in a
two-way conversation rather than a
question-answer
s
ession. Researching the interviewer beforehand
would play a key role in making this an

easier process.








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TIPS FOR A PERFECT
INTERVIEW

Answ
ering Tough Interview Questions

The main purpose of the job interview
is to get some insight into your personality and

abilities, and to
assess your suitability for the role. Most of the
type of questions you will

be asked are typically behavioral
questions that are strategically placed to try to
predict
your
future behaviour with the company if they decide
to hire you.
Just
about every interviewer asks the same or very
similar questions. Keep in mind that

there are only
around 25 - 30 interview questions that you need
to master. Yeah, there

might be hundreds of ways that an interviewer
may choose to ask these questions, and

they may not
actually match up to the exact way you are asked
the questions in actual

interviews, but the fact of the matter is
that every interview question is really just a

variation of these
key themes.
Practice
articulating answers to interview questions.
Dont try to memorize the

interview answers word for word. That
would be a big mistake. A lot of people do this

and end up
sounding like a robot and then begin to panic at
the interview when they

forget specific wording. The best way to
practice the answers is to first of all
understand
the
intent of the interviewer in asking the question,
understand the various ways in which

the question could
be phrased and craft a strong answer that totally
makes sense to you.

Capture the key points of the answer and study
them.
Once you
understand the points you are making in your
answer, practice until you feel

comfortable
talking about them off the cuff. It is
recommended that you use something

like a digital
recorder to rehearse until you are comfortable
talking about these questions

with others. Get a friend or a member
of your family to take part in a mock interview.

Give them a short
list of the most challenging questions and then
record the interview.

Review your performance, and work on areas
that need to be worked on.







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TIPS FOR A PERFECT
INTERVIEW

Buil
ding Rapport With the Interviewer

Building Rapport with the
interviewer is a great way to stand out from the
competition.
Aim
to connect with the interviewer(s) by engaging in
a two-way conversation rather than

the typical
question-answer session.

Although the interview is typically a
question and answer session, aim to connect with

the interviewer on
a personal level. The best way to do this is to
engage the interviewer in

a conversation by seizing the opportunity
to ask sensible, relevant questions once in a

while, and not
waiting until the end of the interview. Not every
question will present an

opportunity to ask questions, but a few of
them will, and it is important to take the

opportunity to ask
a question at that point.

For example, if the interviewer asks you
to tell them about your strengths, after

answering the
question, ask him what he thinks about the value
that your strengths can

add to the role. In asking subtle questions
like this, the interview will gradually turn into
a
conversation.

Now, this does not
mean you should do this with every question
because that would only

end up irritating the interviewer. But you
can follow up every third or fourth question

with a
clarifying question.

One Word of Warning Do not get too personal
with the interviewer. Find out enough

information to
impress him or her, but dont cross the line by
getting familiar. Doing this

will only cost you the job.
Furthermore, some interviewers are not interested
in rapport,
so
youll have to be careful. Take your cues from
the interviewer. If they are not

responding to your
overtures, keep it formal. Speak as you would
speak with someone of

authority.







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TIPS FOR A PERFECT
INTERVIEW


After the
Interview
After
the interview, effective follow-up is a must so
that you dont lose out to a more

proactive
competitor. Take a set of positive actions and
steps that show your enthusiasm

and desire for
the position.
Here
is a list of steps you could take

Send a Thank-You Email It is
important to send a thank-you email within 24
hours of
the
interview. And to really stand out, you may want
to say more than simply thanking

the interviewer
for his time. You can really demonstrate your
industry-knowledge and

enthusiasm for the role by referencing an
article that is related to a topic that was

discussed during
the interview.
For
example, if you are interviewing for a search
engine optimization position, one of

the main topics
that is highly likely to have come up is your
link building strategies. You

could reference a little-known but
highly effective strategy.

Even before the interview, you should
have already pin-pointed the article youll be

sending to the
interviewer which means you should make sure to
orchestrate the
d
iscussion about the articles topic. You would
make even more of an impact if you

actually
authored the article.

In any case, after the interview, send an
email to the interviewer with a link to the
article.
This
will help you stand out strongly from your
competitors.







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TIPS
FOR A PERFECT JOB INTERVIEW


Tell Me About
Yourself
This is
one question that is virtually guaranteed to be
asked at just about every job

interview you attend. Although it may
seem like a simple and somewhat innocuous

question, this is
actually one of the toughest interview questions
that youll face because

of its apparent simplicity. It is likely to
be asked at the beginning of the interview, so it
is
crucial to nail
down your response, because the way you answer
the question will set the

tone for your entire interview.

Generally, job seekers hate
this question because they get frustrated trying
to figure out
exact
ly what the interviewer is really looking for.
Should you talk about your personal

history, your work
experience, all of your accomplishments,
qualifications or something

else? Where should you even
start?
Quite
frankly, a lot of job candidates do a poor job of
answering the question. Some

people talk too much, going off on a
tangent about hobbies, private information that

should be kept
private, and other irrelevant information.

Some people make the
mistake of asking the interviewer to clarify what
he or she wants
to
know in the interests of keeping their response
focused on relevant details. Big

mistake.

Asking an
interviewer to clarify what they want to know
might seem logical, but in

reality, it is a bad move that will
create a weak first impression. From the
interviewers
persp
ective, if youve done your homework like you
should have, youll know exactly

what theyre
asking for just like the very few candidates
that do really well when

answering the question.






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TIPS
FOR A PERFECT JOB INTERVIEW


Tell Me About
Yourself
There is
no reason to dread this question being asked.
Over 90 of interviews start off

with it, so the
question is almost guaranteed to be asked at your
next interview. You need

to perfect your answer because if you
dont impress them with your answer, the

interview is
going to be on the back foot, and its going to
affect the way you answer

every other question. Essentially, the
interviewers first impression of you will be
based
on your
answer to this question.

The fact is, you can use this question to
set the right tone and lead with your strongest

points. It is
also the perfect opportunity to share some
information about your biggest

accomplishments in a manner that
will help you stand out from the pool of
similarly
qualifi
ed candidates.
Bef
ore you start talking, you need to understand
exactly what the interviewer is asking

for. The
interviewer is not interested in hearing about
your fantastic accomplishments,

qualifications
or your 10-year work experience unless they are
directly relevant to the job

you are interviewing for. If there is
no way to tailor your accomplishments to this
job,
talking
about them will be a complete waste of
time.
You need to
understand that the hiring manager is trying to
solve a problem. You need

to present yourself as the ideal
solution to that problem by demonstrating that
you have
the
specifics skills, attributes and experience that
they are looking for in their ideal

candidate. That
is what you need to be focused on answering. You
need to show that you

understand what they are looking for and
present yourself as the ideal candidate.







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TIPS FOR A PERFECT JOB INTERVIEW


Tell Me About
Yourself
You can
usually identify the qualities a company is
looking for through your research of

the company and
by analysing the job description and person
specification documents. If

you find that the company values good
customer-focused and problem-solving skills as

key qualities
they are looking for, youll need to tailor your
entire answer to show that

you possess those qualities.

Other ways in which an
interviewer might phrase this question
include
?
Who are you?
?
What skills and abilities do you have that are
relevant to this job?

? Talk me through your resume (or
CV).
? What
qualities, skills or abilities do you consider to
be relevant to this job?

? What personal characteristics do you
have that can solve our problems?

? What makes you a good fit
for this role?
?
What attributes and strengths do you have that
make you the right candidate for this

job?

With this
question, the interviewer is trying to assess
whether you understand the skills,

experience and
competencies that are required for the job you
are applying for. This is

why, in answering this question, you
need to tailor your background, skills,
qualifications
an
d experience to the job.

Furthermore, as mentioned earlier,
although you may have had a lot of
accomplishments
i
n your career, the interviewer is only interested
in those achievements that are directly

relevant to the
position you have applied for. Consequently, in
your answer you need to

emphasize only the qualities that the
company is looking for in their ideal
candidate.







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TIPS FOR A PERFECT JOB INTERVIEW


Tell Me About
Yourself
Highlight
your strongest selling points for the role The
strongest selling points that you

should highlight
in your answer will depend on what is specified
in the job description

and person specification.

If the ideal
candidate is required to have certain skills and
youve gained those skills in

your last role, this is highly
relevant, and youll want to highlight this in
your answer. Your

main focus should be on the specifics in the job
description and how you meet and

exceed the
requirements.
How
to Answer the Question

Lets say that youve applied for the role
of customer service manager and, according to

the job
description and person specification, qualities
that matter most in a candidate are

customer
service-oriented and problem solver.