How to Expect the Interview

A job interview  is a big deal. Whether or not you get the job you’re going for can influence your career hugely and affect your whole life. The interviewer isn’t going to bother to call anyone for interview unless they have something promising to offer. Sothe other candidates are all going to be good. Which means that you’ll need to be even better than them to win the job.Interviews are nerve-racking and we sometimes make mistakes, or simply don’t make the most of ourselves. So arm yourself with the advantage of knowing what your interviewer is looking for and being in a position to supply it. Learn to show yourself in the best possible light and maximize your chances of getting the job.

The challenge of winning the job begins before you even trun up for the interview, and continues through your meeting with the interviewer and beyond. When you’re offered the job, you still need to decide whether to take it and-if you do- how to get the best deal you can. Before, during and after the interview, there are plenty of steps you can take to set yourself above and apart from the competition.

Winning the job you’re going for will be easy too, your preparation starts here. And the first thing that will help you give a brilliant interview is knowing just what to expect. The fewer surprises the better. So, what’s going to happen at interview?

Put your self in the interviewer’s shoes

The interviewer has to decide which of the candidates is going to be most suited to the job. They aren’t trying to measure you against each other, but against the standards for the job itself. One of you may be far more experienced than another, but experience may not be the most important thing. Perhaps fitting in with the team will matter more, or skill using a particular piece of software.

Even so, it’s going to be a hard choice. All the candidates will have strong and weak points, and the interviewer will have to balance these against each other. Do they want someone who has long experience, or would they rather go for someone with shorter but more relevant experience? What if the person with the least appropiate qualifications looks as if they’ll fit in best with the company culture?

It’s tough being an interviewer. And it’s tough for you too, because you know less about what they’re looking for than they do. however, even if you don’t know what their priorities are, you know broadly what they’re after. And if you know where your strengths and weaknesses are, you can prepare to promote your strong points and find ways of making your weak spots look less like weaknesses.

The basic materials

Well, at least your poor old interviewer doesn’t have to make their choice blind. Even before they meet the candidates, they have no fewer than four documents to help them towards their dicision. These fall into two categories; documents that help them define the job, and documents that help them assess the candidates.

You should have a copy of the job description yourself, which is how you have assessed your ability to do the job. However, very few employers will show applicants the employee spesification. It’s a bit like showing someone their exam paper in advance- they’ll prepare the answers they know you want to hear.

The format

Virtually every interview follows the same basic format. So this is what your interviewer will do:

1.      They’ll start by welcoming you, and will probably chat for a couple of minutes to put you at your ease.

2.      They will start the interview proper by asking you the list of general questions which they are asking every candidate

3.  Next, they’ll ask you spesific questions arising from your own application form or CV.

4.      After this, they may come back to earlier points and probe further if they’re still concerned

5.      Finally, when they’ve worked through all their questions, they will fill you in on a few more details about the job, and then ask you for your question.

Prepare for the expected

You can get ready for this interview by knowing what the interviewer is looking for, and making sure that you are ready to prove that you’ve got it;

a.      Assess yourself for the job in the key areas of skill, experience and so on

b.      Consider the key areas on your application form and CV that they are likely to want to ask you about

c.       Think about whether CV or application shows up anything which might – rightly or wrongly – give you interviewer cause to worry about your ability to do the job.

Sumber: Briliant Interview, what employers want to hear and how to say it by Ros Jay (2002)..