Page 59 - You're Hired! Interview Answers
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You’Re hiRed! inteRview anSweRS LASTING IMPRESSIONS
At a practice interview session we staged some years ago, the young
woman being interviewed was asked ‘What do you do in your spare time?’
She answered – with great enthusiasm – ‘I breed rats’. With the years that
have passed we doubt that the interview panel can remember anything of
the woman in question – but we bet they remember that she bred rats!
The way you answer questions
In the coming chapters we provide a lot of guidance and examples of the best
ways of answering questions, but it is worth making some general points here.
A good interviewer will give you a lot of guidance about their expectations –
particularly in the context of a competency-based interview, where they will
have a clear structure that they want to follow.
From your point of view, you are likely to leave the best impression if you are
focused, professional but conversational in your style of answering. You will get
a lot of guidance on this later, but here are some specific ‘dos’ and ‘don’ts’.
do
n Listen carefully to the questions you are asked. As well as noting whether
the interviewer is expecting an answer about task, thought or people,
you should pay particular attention to phrases like ‘can you give me an
example?’ This means that the interviewer wants you to describe something
that really happened.
n Make it clear what your role was in any situation you are describing. Try
to find a balance between using inclusive terms like ‘we’ did something
(shows team orientation and modesty) and ‘I’ did something (shows much
more clearly what your personal role was). Overuse of ‘we’ will leave the
interviewer unsure about your personal involvement.
n Avoid using too much jargon in your answers. Don’t assume that the
interviewer will be impressed – or indeed will know what you are talking
about – if you pepper your answers with too many technical terms or
business acronyms.
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