The interview

An interview is a special form of interpersonal communication.

Interviews are conducted for a number of reasons but we will focus on job
interview that is conducted face-to-face or through communication
technology such as video or teleconferencing.

Interviews are different from ordinary conversations:

 Demand specialist knowledge for it to be successful
 Take place in control setting
 Two-sided in a predictable way
 Conducted with specific purpose in mind
 Types of interviews in an organisation
1. Job interviews
2. Information gathering interviews
3. Performance appraisal interviews
4. Exit interviews
 The job interview
 Is a recruitment and selection process
 Is a due diligence investigation of the right employees fit for the advertised job in terms of:
1. Relevant work-related skills
2. Communication skills (interpersonal skills, generating of relevant documents)
3. Work attitude
4. Creative and innovative skills
Interview is different from other types of communication
• Based on formal questions and answers
• Rely on effective non-verbal and verbal communication

Questions in interviews

Open questions: Allows you to give answer at length beyond the

‘no’ and ‘yes’ response.
An example of an open question is:
• What is your view about road rage?
Closed questions: Response to closed questions is a usually a one-
word response such as ‘no’ or ‘yes’.
The job application
• This involves letter of application (cover letter) and CV
• The quality of these documents – whether you are called for an
interview or not depends partly on these documents
• Whether you are the right person to consider
Preparation for interviews

As an applicant, prepare for an interview by practising your answers aloud, record

it, then listen to your pitch. As you listen, ask yourself the following questions? Am I
engaging? Am I rambling? Am I getting the most important points across
loud and clear?

The following are the most commonly asked interview questions that you should
prepare to answer.
 So, Tell Me About Yourself

Do not give the interviewer a walk-through of your CV. That is a different question.

The question you are being asked is intended to test your ability to answer an
open-ended question with eloquence and ease.

Do not use "um" and "ah" fillers and do not blather or start rambling or start talking
without end.

What do you do in this case?

The best answer is short, to-the-point, and highlights your career and educational
background while also shedding light on why you want this particular job.
 Why do you want to work here?
Ditch the boilerplate answer. Do not give an answer that simply addresses why you
want to work in that field.
You also want to avoid an answer that makes you seem desperate, such as, "I need
experience, "I need more money," "I got laid off.

Instead, tell the interviewer specifically how you can benefit the company and how
the job will help you achieve your own career goals.
After all, a good fit is a mutually beneficial one.
For example: "It seems like I could really benefit the company with my X and Y skills
while also furthering my own career goals to do Z."

The key is to convey why you are the best fit for this job — not just for your own benefit,
but also for theirs.
Why do you want this job?
First, identify a couple of key factors that make the role a great fit for you

For example, “I love customer support because I love the constant human interaction
and the satisfaction that comes from helping someone to solve a problem"),

Then share why you love the company

For example, I have always been passionate about education, and I think you
organisation or employees here are doing great things, so I want to be a part of it.

Another way to answer the question is:

Express enthusiasm for the company

First things first, this is an excellent opportunity for you to show off what you know about
the company.
You can talk all day about how excited you are about joining the team, but nothing
will trump actually knowing a thing or two about the place you are interviewing with.

Select a few key factors to incorporate into your pitch for why you are a good fit.

For example, you are being interviewed for a small quantitative logistic company.
The start of your answer might sound something like this:

The first thing that caught my eye when I saw the position posted was definitely
that it was a logistic company. I know that you have been around in my community
for a long time and even contribute to many community projects in my areas. Your
organisation is highly valued and I would like to join a winning and a community
focused organisation such as yours, especially for the fact that I have a
background logistic.
What Do You Know About Our Company?

Stay away from negativity — the interviewer does not want to hear what you know
about the company's most recent round of layoffs or the latest stock market tumble.

You also want to avoid giving the interviewer the impression that you have not
researched the company, which will lead them to believe that you are more
interested in landing a job, period, rather than a job with this specific company.

To answer such question, focus on things like the company's role in its industry,
its history, and any accolades, awards, or distinctions it has won.

Show that you have taken initiative and done your research.
Where do you see yourself in the next five years

The best approach to take in answering this question is to be genuine, but to follow
your answer up by connecting the dots between the specific duties in this role and
your future goals.

It is quite okay to say that you are not quite sure what the future holds, but that you
see this experience playing an important role in helping you make that decision, or
that you are excited about the management or communications skills you will gain.
Do you have any questions for us?

Some of the questions you should ask in response to the question above are:

 What do you like most about working here?

 What drew you to work for this organization?

 What do you think are the current strategic challenges facing the organization?

 What advice would you give to someone in this role?

• ers
What are your professional strengths?

When answering this question, it is better to be accurate (share your true strengths,
not those you think the interviewer wants to hear);

relevant (choose your strengths that are most targeted to this particular position);

For example, instead of “people skills,” choose “persuasive communication” or

“relationship building”.

Then, follow up with an example of how you have demonstrated these traits in a
professional setting.
What do you consider to be your weakness?
“What’s your greatest weakness?” or “What do you know you need to work on?” is
uncomfortable to a lot of people up, because who wants to talk about the less impressive
parts of your skill set or personality?

But here’s the thing: It can be really tough, but it’s important not to lie or to gloss over
your weaknesses. Ultimately, most employers want to hire someone who is reflective
about their skill sets and knows what they are not as good and need to work on.

So here’s one way that I think about answering this question. First, think about something
that is not your strong point, whether it is delegating to others or attention to detail, but
think about it back in the past.

Show how you’ve taken steps to overcome it, or worked hard on getting better, and
mention that you are still working and working at becoming even better at this skill set.
For example, if someone said, “What’s your biggest weakness?” you could answer:

Well, I used to be pretty horrible at public speaking. When I started college, it was a
massive problem, and I was just terrified of doing it, and I didn’t do a very good job.
So first I took the small step of promising myself that I would speak up in front of
really small groups, for example in class. Then, I worked up to taking a public
speaking class, which made a big difference. Now, even though I get nervous, I feel
like its something that doesn’t completely hold me back, and, in fact, recently I gave
a speech at a conference to over 100 people. My hands were shaking the whole
time, but I got really good feedback at the end.

See, that was not so bad. Now just make sure you do not say something like, “I am
too perfect,” or “I struggle with perfectionism,” because nobody really believes that is
your biggest weakness.
Why did you leave your last job? Or why do you
want to leave your current job?

Never cast blame. Do not bad-mouth your last employer or your former managers. Do

not go into the gory or bad details. If the interviewer gets the feeling that you are trying

to cover up something related to your departure, he or she will most likely assume

there is skeleton in your closet.

Be honest and succinct in explaining why you left.

Experts recommend sharpening your focus on how your past job has prepared you for

the future.
For example, instead of saying a company “laid off good people” and “hires lazy workers,”
you might say, “I believe I am better suited to work in an organisation that has a strong
commitment to mentoring and developing executives, where there is a strong sense of
loyalty on both sides and a culture that fosters career development and growth.”

You could further say, “I realize that there are some companies that are in highly intense
growth mode, or have over-arching financial or business pressures and problems that
cannot possibly foster this type of culture. While this is all well and good for some, I do
not want to work for the latter. It just does not feel like a good fit for me.”
This approach allows you to be honest without being negative – or saying negative directly
against the current company or any one person in particular.

The unbiased approach on your situation is that your company has gone through a lot of
organisational changes, has hired new management, and has an evolving corporate culture
and strategy, and the company is no longer a good fit for you.

The more you can adopt this unbiased view, the better for you.
Bad Interview

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