My girlfriend is currently in that phase of life between jobs when she’s having to deal with recruiters and agencies and attend interviews and so forth. A wonderful part of everyone’s life that I am not keen to revisit myself..
Anyway, all the talk of interviews made me think it might be a nice idea to write a post listing some of the things that I hear horror stories about from friends who have to interview people for jobs in various organisations. So here are some things which I think young people (or people who haven’t done an interview in a while) should bear in mind when going for interviews. Feel free to suggest your own interview tips in the comments!
Handshakes
Any time I encounter someone with a weak handshake I am amazed no one has ever said anything to them about it. I don’t have a strong opinion about handshakes but I know a couple of people who’ve said that a limp or weak handshake puts them off the person so much that it’s an immediate “No hire” decision for them! You don’t have to crush the bones in the other person’s hand, but a decent handshake goes a long way.
Research
Google the company and google the people who will be interviewing you. Know the background of the company, what’s going on there at the moment and as much as possible about the job. Don’t go crazy though.. you don’t need to do what one interviewee did and bore the interviewers by reciting your knowledge of the entire history of the organisation! The information you gather helps inform the questions you ask the interviewers and helps you put a context around what the interviewers are telling you – don’t lecture the interviewers or try to show off your knowledge to a ridiculous extent.
A Happy Medium
There are two extremes to avoid when interviewing: Being too keen and not being keen enough.
An interviewee who comes across as too keen about the job or the company may come across as someone with unrealistic expectations of the job – why hire someone who is probably going to be unhappy with the job once the honeymoon period wears off?
I’ve seen people attend interviews who obviously have no interest in the job and I never have any idea why they even apply for the job or don’t call to cancel the interview. If you DO want the job, show an interest – asking relevant questions when appropriate is a good way to show an active interest. Another way to show a keenness is to try and sell yourself in the interview – if you aren’t promoting yourself it may come across as a lack of interest in the job rather than a lack of confidence..
Know your CV
This may seem self-evident but if you are editing your CV a lot, or tailoring it for each job you apply for (which you should be doing) then it’s easy to lose track of what was on the CV or what you wrote in the cover letter that you sent to a particular job. Check the emails you sent and refresh your memory of your CV. Be prepared to discuss any aspect of the information on your CV.
Do your best
You will never know everything about the role you’re applying for, or about the company you’re applying to – there is always internal information that an outsider won’t know before they attend the interview (assuming you don’t know anyone working in the company already). All you can do is prepare as well as possible, present yourself well in the interview and give it your best shot!
Links
I did some digging (i.e. googling) and found a number of sites that have interview tips for graduates. It’s worth remembering that a lot of large companies will have interview tips, or an explanation of their interview process, on their website and you should review this as part of the preparation for your interview.
Allied Irish Bank interview tips (note the “Interview FAQs” link too)
“What HR Directors want” – a very good page on the AIB site
Tips for panel interviews
FAS interview tips (Fás is the Irish state employment agency)
KPMG interview tips
Manpower interview tips (Manpower is a multi-national recruitment agency)
Monster.ie interview tips
“How to turn an interview into a job” (see the related links at the bottom too!)
Post a comment to share your interview tips or to comment on the above!
