by Richard Smith

Created on: July 16, 2008

At some point in time most people will have to go through an interview process either to get into university or to secure a place in the work force and an interview can be a pretty daunting prospect for some people.

Increasingly companies will hold selection days rather than a straight one to one interview and therefore my advice will cover all parts of the interview process. In addition there is a wealth of literature on the subject and sources on the internet indeed most corporate websites will also give advice on the interview process that they adopt.

Know your Objective

Now this might sound pretty obvious, after all you are applying for a job however whilst that is your ultimate objective in many cases it is not always that simple. You need to understand what the objective is on each part of the process and ensure that your behavior and own activities match that.

For example some companies will use a screening process before applicants get to the final interview day, this screening could be either over the phone or a face to face meeting, at this part of the process you will not get the job however fail and you definitely will not get it. Just as the purpose of your CV is to secure an interview so at a screening interview your objective is to make the interviewer sufficiently interested in you to want to find out more. They will normally have a number of boxes they are looking to tick as part of the screening process and these will be linked to the job advert. They will usually expand upon the points raised in your CV and also ask some general housekeeping questions regarding flexibility and availability.

When defining your objective it should probably be two fold. The first is to decide definitively that you do actually want to work for the company and secondly to show the employer that you are the best candidate for the job. The fact that you applied for the job in the first place implies that you are interested however I have often sat in an interview and formed the opinion that either the company or the person I could be working for is not for me. This can sometimes only come to light in response to the questions I have asked or can just be a gut feel and my gut is not very often wrong.

Selection Criteria

Most top companies recruit against a set number of competencies that they see as being necessary to fulfill the role. Each competency will have a number of behavioral indicators against which the assessor is looking to match the applicant. Having an understanding

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