Category: CV & Interview tips

So, you’ve sweated through the interview, successfully dealt with those tricky questions, avoided common pitfalls like badmouthing your former employers, and parted with a solid handshake and a goodbye on your way out. Now what?

First thing to do is manage your expectations. You could be in for a long wait, depending on how many interviewees an employer is seeing. If possible, ask your interviewer when you might expect to hear back, and try to resist calling them until then.

In Ye Olde Times, proper etiquette would see a follow-up thank you letter being sent within a couple of days of the interview, which is a touch stuffy and unnecessary. But thankfully, we now have e-mail.

A quick message the next day to say ‘thanks for seeing me, hope to hear from you soon’ is a good way to ensure you stay fresh in your potential new employer’s mind, and shows you can be polite to clients and co-workers should they hire you. It also gives you a chance to throw back to the interview in question (did you mention a website you maintain? Put a link in the e-mail).

Your tone should be friendly and thankful, rather than stuffy and desperate. And unless you get a reply, make sure you don’t hit them with a follow-up to your follow-up message. It makes you look pushy in all the wrong ways.

Sometimes, you’re just going to get a difficult interview question. Often, it’s because an interviewer wants to catch you out.

A question such as, “if you were a pizza deliveryman, how would you benefit from scissors?” (asked at Apple) lets interviewers see how you think on your feet, and deal with unexpected challenges.

Sometimes, it’s just because the interviewer is bored and trying to outsmart you. Either way, it’s important to remember this: these questions aren’t the crucial ones. It’s rare someone loses a job on the weakness of their answer to a deliberately tricky question, but it is a chance for you to stand out.

Think about when these tricky interview questions crop up. It’s often at the end of your half-hour, when the interview is coming to a close. What’s important is not to let something like, “Why is a tennis ball fuzzy?” (asked at Xerox) derail you: don’t undo the hard work you’ve put in to explaining who you are and what your job history is by stumbling over a googly.

And, most of all, don’t answer with a long, “Uhhhh….” If you don’t know the answer to a logic puzzle or technical question, say so — or gently bring the conversation back to you. An answer of, “that’s not really my area of expertise, but as you can see from my CV, I have plenty of others that I’d be happy to talk to you about” might be an obvious deflection, but it helps you wrestle back a bit more control in the interview. Ultimately, they are going for the best candidate, both on paper and based on their personality, and proving you are cool under pressure could make all the difference.

Organisations are more frequently asking candidates to make a presentation as part of the interview in the hiring process. The subject of the presentation, its style, length and audience will vary from one situation to another but there are some general rules which you should follow:

General Rules:

• Stick to the guidelines you have been given, regarding content and timing
• Use the most professional presentation method you can
• Make sure the content is appropriate
• Keep slides/pages short, to the point and easy to understand
• Practise the presentation before you give it
• Try to involve the audience

Guidelines:

Find out beforehand what presentation methods you will be able to use eg. PowerPoint (projection/computer screens?), overhead projector (OHP), flipchart, white board etc.

Who will be present (titles, names, importance in the decision-making process):

If you are in any doubt beforehand as to what is expected of you, make sure you ask! If your interview has been arranged through a third party (Recruitment Agency), ask them to find out for you!

Presentation Method:

You’ll have to use whatever means are available to you, but be sure you are familiar with the method (don’t attempt a PowerPoint presentation at a final interview if you’ve never done one before!) Prepare everything beforehand, and take a backup (spare computer, paper copies or memory stick etc). Produce sufficient copies of your presentation on paper, in neatly bound files to distribute to all your audience after your presentation so that they can review all your content and all your hard work after your presentation. This will help to keep you at the forefront of the interviewers mind when they are making their final selection.

Keep it Short:

Prepare your presentation to last exactly the required length of time. If you are not given any guidelines about this, aim for 15 minutes. Each slide/page should have just a few points and each item should be short and to the point.

Get it Checked:

There must be no spelling mistakes! Practise the presentation in front of someone or at least in front of the mirror (better still a video camera if you have one!).

Personal Presentation:

Firstly, bear in mind that all eyes will be on you so look your best! Use cue cards rather than reading from a script and remember that you must look the audience in the eye! Try to involve the audience where appropriate by asking them questions and where possible do not try to tell jokes instead try to add a little humour to lighten the atmosphere. Most importantly be yourself and try to show a bit of your personality and although it is very difficult try to relax… remember it is only one part of the interview process!

Smile as you speak, record a mock interview and make a backup plan for signal problems.

Take a look at these to tips from Guardian Careers.

The quickest way to rule yourself out of the running for a job? By firing off the same old CV, time after time.

Tailoring your CV (and covering letter, if the application process calls for it) is crucial if you’re going to bag that dream role. Not only does it help your CV get through any tricky filters a company might use before it ends up in the hands of a recruiter, it also shows you’ve read the job description and understood thoroughly how the role is perfect for you. Here are five ways to tailor that CV:

1. Use names. A covering letter is a way to impress recruiters and big up your CV before they read it. It’s also a chance to prove you’ve done your research. Find out the name of the HR manager likely to read your application – if it’s not on the job ad, phone up and find out – and address them directly.

2. The introduction (that two-sentence statement at the head of your CV) is the easiest way to tailor your CV. Outline who you are (‘A Hull-based shop worker’), why you’re right for the job (‘with experience in handling cash and delegating work’) and why you’re the best candidate, too (‘looking for a new role with added responsibility’).

3. Start thinking in terms of keywords. If you’re searching for a job online, they’ll be sprinkled throughout the job ad. Pull the most unique, eye-catching words from the advert and work them into your CV. It’s a shortcut to catching a recruiter’s eye.

4. Consider rejigging your employment history. Say you’re going for an office job, but you spent the last three years working in a clothes shop. Would you highlight your trouser-hanging skills? Or would you big up the month you spent in an office, picking up applicable skills? Don’t be afraid to make a big deal of a small job if it’s more relevant to the role you’re going for.

5. Add some personality. Employers are often looking for certain personality traits in their new hires – it’s not all about the job history. Read the job ad to gauge what they’re looking for (eyes open for terms such as ‘strong’, ‘go-getting’, and ‘independent worker’) and demonstrate how you are all those and more in your covering letter.

Getting your CV right is easily the most important part of the job application. But you’re not going to get past a recruiter or a tricky HR manager if you pull one of the most common CV mistakes. Here are five to avoid….

1. Always, always tailor your CV to the role. Many job applications go through software before they make it to a human, being scanned for keywords that match the original job advert. Make sure yours has the best chance of getting through – and impressing the person at the other end – by tweaking your CV to the job.
2. Simple one, but so obvious: use the spellcheck. It’s a feature built into Word and there are free tools to use online if you don’t have it. Don’t rule yourself out of the running with a basic typo.
3. Don’t go over two pages. The ideal CV length is two sides — recruiters are busy people, and increasingly have a large number of CVs to sift through. Don’t give them an essay to read.
4. Explain the gaps. Gaps in employment happen to everyone, but don’t just leave a vague white space on your CV. Employers don’t want to guess what you were up to between jobs, so briefly explain that you were out of work and point to any transferable skills you might have picked up along the way.
5. One easy and often overlooked CV blunder is having an embarrassing e-mail address. thefunnycookie@hotmail.com might have been hilarious when you were 14, but you need a simple firstname.lastname@somewheresensible.com format when applying for jobs.

Deciding on how much career history to include on your CV can be challenging. You are keen to showcase your array of work experience, but you also want to keep to the recommended two page limit to avoid your CV becoming too lengthy, which may put-off some employers.

Whilst some recommend that you only need to go back as far as 10 years, others suggest employers only want to see the most recent job history.

Finding the balance is important; you will need to ensure that you completely understand the job description and the experience they are looking for. If the job description doesn’t give you enough to go on, then research the type of skills that are needed for the role – try looking at similar vacancies with other employers for example. See where you have already used them in your work history and make sure you highlight them.

Quality is better than quantity, so don’t include lots of detail about work history that’s less relevant. Try and highlight the most relevant experiences and skills from your current and previous jobs. There are no real hard rules in how to do this, but put yourself in the shoes of the employer; what previous skills and experiences would impress you?

Career realism.com have some good advice on what to include on your CV.

How do you demonstrate to an employer that your skills, education and experience are relevant to the job in hand?

The Guardian has some good advice.

So your CV worked and you are through to the interview stage. Jacki Graham, a work coach from Darwen Jobcentre, has some tips to give yourself an edge.

Great news – you have an interview, and an opportunity to show them why you’re the right person for the job. So make sure you do your homework and be prepared.

Here are my top tips:

1) Research the company – What do they do? How many people do they employ? What is the company’s history?

2) Sounds basic, but decide what you’ll wear. Make sure your clothes are appropriate to the job you’re going for.

3) Get some advice from your Work Coach – they may be able to sort out a mock interview or some advice about popular interview questions.

4) Have you thought hard about what questions you could be asked? Look over your application form objectively – what might you ask if you were the interviewer?

5) Relax, smile, look the interviewer in the eye and use the opportunity to tell them about the great stuff you’ve done.

Best of Luck!