Employability Skills Training

Interview Preparations
Learning outcomes:

• Differentiate between the interview types & Questions types

• Recognize how to prepare for an interview

What is an “Interview”?

The interview is a conversation in which you and an employer exchange information. ... Your goal is to
present yourself as the best candidate for the position and to learn more about the position and
the interviewer's organization to determine whether both are well suited for you and your career goals.

There are Two main elements in the interview:

1- Interviewer Perspective:
The interview is the perfect chance for the interviewer to evaluate the following:

• Qualifications:
The interviewer wants to know more about your qualifications in more details.

• Self-Awareness:
By self-awareness we mean how much you know about yourself (Skills, Knowledge.
Experience...)

• Potentials:
You have to show up the right interpersonal skills, personality, and
overall potential within your company.

• Expectations:
To see if your expectations are suitable to your experience and skills
2- Interviewee Perspective:
The interview is the perfect chance for the Interviewee to:
• Brand Yourself:
During the interview it’s your complete chance to show up yourself, your skills,
Knowledge, and everything you have related to your career.

• More information
The interview is a two-way process, As the interviewer is asking you questions to know more
about you and your qualifications, Also you have the right to ask him any uncovered
questions during the interview to help you know more about the culture of the company, the
work environment, and more deep details about the job responsibilities

• Evaluation:
You are not only allowed to ask questions to gain more information about the company you
applied for, but also you have the right to evaluate the company and the people working in it.
Types of interviews:
Phone Interview:
This kind of interviews happens during the phone call, so you have to be prepared and ready whenever
you receive this call.
• Make sure there is a good connection in your phone.
• Stay in a quiet place away from destructions.
• Always keep a notebook with you to take notes during the call.
• Listen carefully and don’t interrupt the interviewer.

Face to face interview:

The most regular and known kind of interviews.
• Relax and don’t stress out.
• Maintain a good and positive eye contact.
• Keep a positive body language during the interview.
• Stay calm and listen actively in order to understand the conversation, so you can answer wisely.
Group interview:
In this interview you are not the only interviewee, there might be 2-3 other interviewees
with you at the same time.
• Be patient and wait for your turn to answer the questions.
• Don’t interrupt the other people in the room let them have their chance as you.

Panel interview:
During the panel interview there will be 3-4 interviewers in the room interviewing you.
• Don’t stress out be calm.
• The only aim from this kind, is to put you under pressure
and testing how you will act and deal with them.
• So, remember to maintain a good eye contact with all of them.
• Have a nice smile on your face and just be you and be more confident.
Interview Preparations:
Before the Interview:
Make sure you are well prepared with the following:
• Do some research about the interviewer and the company on LinkedIn.
• In case you don’t know where the company located or haven’t been there before, please make a visit before
the interview day.
• Search about the company’s dress code before the interview.

On the interview day:

• Make sure to be there at least 10 minutes before the time.
• Your clothes should be clean and looks good.
• Be professional.
• Smile and be positive.
• In case you didn’t understand any question, you can repeat the question again in
a different way to make sure you got it right.
• Ask about all the information you might need to make your decision.
• If the interviewer didn’t tell you when to expect a call from them, you can nicely
ask him.
• Be friendly.

After the interview:

• Send a thank you email/message to the interviewer.
• When closing the interview ask for information about the next stage in the hiring process. Ask when you can
contact the company to find out the status of your application, By asking when you can make the call rather
than when you can expect to hear from them gives you an element of control over the follow up process.
• Make sure you have the full name and title of the interviewer plus his/her contact details. You need this
information for your interview thank you Email and to make the follow up call.
Types of questions:

Behavioral:
The aim of this question is to talk more about your achievements, and the best way to
answer this question is to follow STAR technique:
• (S) Situation
• (T) Task
• (A) Actions
• (R) Results

Situational:
The interviewer will list some situations related to the career life and will ask you how
you will handle each situation.

Technical:
Technical questions is a way to test your knowledge regarding the tasks and responsibilities
needed for the job.

Stress:
Their only aim from this kind of questions during the interview is to see how you
will react.
Acting rude or sarcastic, disagreeing with you, or simply keeping you waiting for
a long period.

Most common questions & answers

• Tell me about yourself

• Why did you choose this career field?

 • What makes you qualified for such position?

• What are your weaknesses?

• Why should we hire you \ what makes your different?

• What is your expected salary?

Questions to Ask the interviewer:

• How would you describe the responsibilities of the position?

• Can you tell me more about the Day-to-Day tasks?
• How can you describe the job environment?
• For how long have you been working here? And why?
• When can I expect to hear from you?

The Follow-Up process:

There are different ways to follow-up with the company within the time frame you have been given to
follow-up with:
• A Phone Call
• Email
• LinkedIn