Tip Number 1 - Know The Interview Questions Before You Attend The Interview!
Tip Number 1 - Know The Interview Questions Before You Attend The Interview!
Essential:
The interview panel are likely to ask you these questions to get to
know you, and to also give you the opportunity to talk about
something your feel comfortable about – your motivations and
reasons for wanting this job.
Not only will you most probably have a touch of interview nerves, but
you will also feel worried about the type of questions you could get
asked and how you are going to answer them.
All of the above should be avoided, and whatever you do, DO NOT
SAY THE FOLLOWING:
The last brilliant thing to say (“I have a plan in place of what I am
going to do if I get the job.”) could prompt the following question
from the panel:
#1 – I will learn the role inside out in the fastest time possible by
taking notes and studying them in the evenings after work.
#3 – I will set to work on a difficult project that will make a difference
to the company, to repay the trust you have put in me.”
INTERVIEW QUESTIONS:
SUGGESTED ANSWER:
“I am loyal, hard-working, professional and conscientious and, having studied the job
description for this role in detail, I feel the attributes I possess are a strong match. Whilst at
work, I am someone who takes pride in delivering each task to a high standard and I achieve
this by working closely with other people within the team. I also make sure I obtain a clear
brief from my manager or supervisor as to what they want to me to achieve whilst working in
the role I am employed. If successful, I am looking forward to learning the role quickly and
getting to know as much about your products and services, so I can start contributing and
making a positive impact within the organization.”
SUGGESTED ANSWER
“Having researched your company you are clearly a leader within the industry and I feel I
would be able to excel within the role and put all of my skills, qualities and experience to good
use. Whilst studying your company online, it is clear to see you have strong and exciting plans
for the future and I would like to be a part of your journey through the role I am being
interviewed for today. Finally, it is also clear that you support your employees, so they can
excel within their roles. There’s lots of positive comments online about your company and, if I
am successful at interview, I would feel quite proud to have your name on my CV/resume.”
“I just want to say thank you for inviting me along to interview. I’ve really enjoyed the
experience and I have learnt a tremendous amount about your organisation. If I am successful
then I promise you that I will work very hard in the role and I will do all that I can to deliver
outstanding patient care and surpass your expectations
INTERVIEW
please enter
yeah it was really good thank you I actually came last night before the interview just to
make sure I knew exactly where to come
i got here early this morning just in case there was some traffic, sat in the car and
composed myself so it was a really good journey thank you for asking
we're going to ask you a number of questions for your suitability for the role so if
you can start with IF YOU CAN TELL ME ABOUT YOURSELF
that's great thank you COULD YOU TELL US A LITTLE BIT WHY YOU
WANT TO WORK HERE WITH US
yes so i've been aware of your organization for many years as you know you are
a market leader
you are innovative and you are creative and i believe from what i've seen you
always put your customers and clients first
so you start with your customers and then you work backwards which in my
opinion will always mean that you are going to be successful
that is good for me because i am working in an organization that is constantly
striving and moving forward and more importantly you want to improve and
develop
i'm the type of person who also wants to improve and develop i don't just want to
sit in a job and do the bare minim bare minimum I want to excel and advance
year on year i'm also at the stage in my career where i see myself staying with the
same organization for a long period of time and because from what i understand
during my research you have very ambitious plans for the future and I would like
to be a part of those
finally i have under i understand that you hire lots of talented and bright people
so again that's good for me because I will get to work alongside some people who
will push me and they will challenge me and that's great for my long-term future
career plans
so those are the main reasons i see myself being here for a long period of time
and i will be able to grow as your company grows as well
before i applied for the position I downloaded a copy of the job description
i read it to make sure that i was confident i could meet the requirements of the
role
predominantly the experience i have is first and foremost dealing with customers
and clients i'm very very good at that i have lots of experience i used to do it on a
daily basis in previous roles so if a client is demanding or they are difficult i have
the interpersonal skills and the communication skills to win them over and make
sure that we provide them with a first-class service
i also have lots of experience working in a variety of different teams
so you could say to me richard we want you to go and work in a team i may have
never worked with those people before but i will adapt i will support the team
members and I will make sure that we all focus on achieving our objectives
other experience i have is being able to plan and organize my work methodically
i am very good at working on the pressure I enjoy working under stressful
situations
and that is because i always plan and organize my work meticulously so i know
what's coming
i look ahead and i make sure that i can achieve my objectives
other experience i have is is also helping my managers and my supervisors to
achieve their goals
obviously your manager and your supervisor is always under pressure you know
they have lots of commercial goals and objectives to achieve and I understand
that
so i will work with my manager and my supervisor to help them achieve their
objectives by being basically a high performing employee and always putting the
needs of the business first
so just to summarize having read the job description i feel I have all of the
necessary experience to not only get up and running quickly in the role but to
excel also
thank you it's great to hear your comments there especially about your experience
working in a team and for this role working as a team is pivotal
um can you explain to me WHAT MAKES A GREAT TEAM in your opinion
sure there are a number of different factors that all come together to make a team
effective
the most important thing is that the team has a shared objective and a common
goal so if i was working as part of a six-person team for example everyone in that
team must be working towards the same end goal
so you have to have a common objective that everyone in the team is signed up to
the team also has to be good at communicating
and i'm not just talking about speaking you also have to be good at listening to
so for communication to be effective you have to be a good listener when you are
working within a team
you also have to be supportive of other people within the team
and if someone is struggling in the team you have to be prepared to say right let's
help that person to get back up to speed so you have to be a supportive team
member
you also have to be totally driven towards the end goal and to achieve that you
have to have different skills and different qualities in the team it would be no
good having a team where everybody has the same skills as me so the team needs
to be diverse in order to be successful
so if i had the responsibility for example to pick a team i would make sure i choo
chose people from different backgrounds different skill sets and different
experiences
and finally to be effective as a team you have to be willing to take on board
feedback
you have to constantly analyze your performance as you go along review what
you've done step by step and be open about any improvements that can be made
that's important because for a team to be effective it needs to be open to
continually improving and developing great
i did previously noticed that you stated that you enjoyed working under pressure
with this in mind can you tell me about A TIME WHEN YOU COMPLETED
A DIFFICULT TASK UNDER PRESSURE
yes no problem i'm used to working under pressure and i actually really enjoy it
one particular situation springs to mind when my manager came into the office
and he said that a member of the team had gone off sick at short notice
now this member of the team was highly specialized in a particular area they
were really good at the work they carried out
my manager said he needed a volunteer for somebody to take on their work as
well
as their own and being someone who enjoys working under pressure i put my
hand up and said yep no problem i will take on their work
now i'll be honest with you I didn't know how to carry out their particular tasks
but i wasn't afraid of the work that would come my way
so what i did i went home and i actually called the person who was off sick just
to ask them for some advice about how they approached all of their tasks
when i went back to work the following morning i sat down and i put a plan of
action in place so i assessed my own tasks i then put the other person's tasks next
to them and i prioritized what i would need to do to get everything done so i had
a plan of action of how i was going to complete the tasks
i then worked tirelessly to complete their tasks on time and also to get mine done
too now to achieve that goal i had to stay behind late a couple of nights after
work for a couple of hours but i was more than happy to do that i got a lot out of
that situation because i learned some skills that i hadn't previously managed to
undertake so i was diversifying my skill range i was improving my ability to
work under pressure as well so it was a win-win situation for the organization
because my manager got somebody to complete the task and time and i learned
something new which was as i say a win-win situation
thank you so HOW WOULD YOU DEAL WITH CONFLICT WITH A CO-
WORKER
how would i deal with conflict with a co-worker i haven't experienced a huge
amount of conflict with co-workers however if it does happen i always try and
resolve it straight away
i'm a strong believer that conflict can have a negative impact on a team it can
take away positive energy and it can deter from what you are actually trying to
achieve
so i'd resolve it as soon as possible first and foremost i would review my own
performance and my actions to assess whether i were doing anything to cause the
conflict
it's very easy for us as individuals to think well it's nothing to do with me it's the
other person but i think it's important to look how you perform yourself
i would then speak to the other person in private and i would use an open style of
communication i would be positive and i would say to them
look i can feel that there's conflict between us i'm keen to sort this out am i doing
anything that is either irritating you or contributing to the conflict so i can then
gain some information that will give me them the power to try and resolve the
situation
i would then suggest an amicable way forward for the pair of us to work so to
work harmoniously so we can achieve our common goals
so i would open dialogue with the other person try and resolve it straight away of
course if there was a situation where the conflict was too ingrained and it was too
difficult i would seek advice from my manager and supervisor as to try and find a
suitable way forward but above all i would try and resolve it quickly and
amicably thank you
excellent thank you so i'd be interested to know WHY DID YOU LEAVE
YOUR LAST JOB
why did i leave my last job my last job was brilliant up until a point so the length
of time i stayed there it was fantastic i was learning and I was growing along with
the organization
i then got to a point where i felt I wasn't personally growing and developing in
the position i basically reached my potential and I wanted a fresh and new
challenge now the organization were amazing
i still get on with the organization you know i had a really good relationship with
them and i'm very grateful the experiences that i had whilst i was there
they gave me a lot and in return i gave them a lot too but it was the right time for
me to move on and i left on really good terms and as I say i still have a really
good relationship with the organization and my previous manager so the main
reason I left was because i was ready for a new challenge and i wanted to go and
work for a different company and gain some new experiences as well
well we've reached the end of the interview now richard so only really one last
question to ask really IS HAVE YOU GOT ANY QUESTIONS FOR US
we're looking to expand operations quite quite big and we're looking to increase
product lines as well and we have really big ambitious plans for the future
okay excellent brilliant and can i also ask please um what's frustrated you about
people who've held this position in the past
that's a really thing yeah that's an excellent question
so as a company we look for people that have a willingness to learn and have
drive to move forward
as andy mentioned we're expanding our operations at the moment and to having
that driving willingness to learn is really important to us
unfortunately previous employees in the role have lacked that ambition and drive
to move forward so that's what we're looking for and the ideal candidate for
this role
and i i know i would say this but i'm very enthusiastic and ambitious so I believe
that i can bridge that gap for sure
and just one final question if i am successful what would you need me to
concentrate on within the first 30 days of starting in the position
yeah it's important for us that you get into a position where you can really help us
achieve those goals as quick as you can so we really need you to get up to speed
as quick as possible
as andy said we've got those really um massive goals that we're aiming for so we
need you to get in a position where you'll be comfortable and you can help us
drive towards those goals
perfect thank you yeah i don't have any more questions thank you very much
okay that's great thank you richard um it's been lovely interviewing you today
and we'll be in touch very soon
thank you can i just finish off and say um thank you very much for interviewing
me it's been
i've really enjoyed the process it's been great learning as much as possible about
your company if you do hire me i promise you that i will be a high-performing
employee and i will give it my all thank you very much