Many well qualified and extremely able candidates fail at job interviews simply because they are unaware of
conventions of job interview and expectations of interviewer. Successful candidates, on other hand, manage to impress prospective employers precisely because they know how to present themselves.
Thus, they study job advertisement; they analyse what is required in way of skills qualifications and experience; they assess their own suitability for job; and finally, they present themselves in a thoughtful and carefully prepared manner.
Their written applications are comprehensive and business like, containing all relevant information presented neatly and concisely.They prepare themselves carefully for interview anticipating likely questions and rehearsing their responses. They study structure of interview and devise a strategy to satisfy interviewer's requirements. In short, they prepare themselves to succeed.
Let us begin by giving some general advice to candidates who are considering daunting prospect of an interview. As a candidate you should be able to express yourself with clarity and precision. To do this, you must make adequate preparation, anticipating likely questions and rehearsing your responses. However, this does not mean that you should learn your responses by heart.
To do so would make you sound unnatural. Your answers should appear spontaneous. At same time, you should come across as thoughtful, articulate and coherent. So preparation is essential.
During interview you should speak confidently, making sure to support your answers with relevant examples from your work experience. Sometimes questions might not be wide-ranging enough to enable you to present your case as fully and convincingly as you would wish. In such circumstances, it is up to you to take initiative and acquaint interviewer with whatever information you consider to be important in advancing your claims to job on offer. Remember, it is up to you to sell yourself.
Always relate your answers to job for which you are applying. This is particularly important in case of candidates who are faced with sort of indirect questions favoured by many interviewers. For example, interviewer may ask you to describe your current job. This is an indirect way of asking you to what extent your present skills and experience relate to job for which you are applying.
Always present a positive face. Having studied your application form, interviewers will have identified weaker aspects of your case. They will often use such material to build up a negative impression of you. So it is in your own best interests to examine your application critically with a view to identifying any weaknesses or negative aspects, which interviewer might spot. Having identified such negative aspects, you should be ready to answer tricky questions by preparing positive answers.
