Compiled by the Career Development & Counseling Center • Founders Hall, Room 121
100 Training Hill Road, Middletown, CT
06457 • Ph: (860) 343-5826
SUCCESSFUL
INTERVIEWING GUIDELINES
The interview process may be a stressful one for those new to it and
for experienced workers as well. Being
prepared and understanding this process will assist you in being
self-confident. We hope you will read and
use these tips. They will help you in
the interview process.
BEFORE THE INTERVIEW
·
Understand yourself, your
strengths and abilities. By identifying
these you will be able to understand what you have to offer an employer.
·
Research the company. Know the principal products or services provided
by this company. Understand how these
products are made and sold and who purchases them. This information may be obtained from the Internet, company
annual reports, brochures, and from literature in the Career Development &
Counseling Center.
·
Be prepared with several
questions concerning the company which will show your interest in what it
offers.
·
Be able to clearly state your
abilities and potential.
·
Review the list of most often
asked questions by employers. Think of
how you truly feel about them. Practice
your responses.
·
Do not chew gum and do not
smoke even if invited to do so.
·
Look professional on the day
of the interview. First impressions are
important.
·
Be on time. Whether you are going to be interviewed on
campus or at the company site, promptness is a must.
·
Relax and enjoy the adventure
of meeting new people and promoting your career!
DURING THE INTERVIEW
·
Be yourself. Present yourself in an honest and sincere
manner.
·
Be self-confident but not
conceited.
·
Maintain a pleasant, friendly,
and courteous demeanor.
·
Know the name of the
interviewer. Don’t be afraid to ask for
clarification on the pronunciation when being introduced. Ask for a business
card.
·
Express your thoughts
clearly.
·
Answer the questions that are
asked of you. If you do not understand
a particular question, ask for clarification.
·
Avoid slang and “yes” and
“no” responses. The interviewer needs
more on which to base a judgment of your skills and interests.
HOW TO
PRESENT YOURSELF: A POSITIVE APPROACH
A.
Although
qualifications are very important, the hiring decision is based more on
interview performance and chemistry.
Following are a few suggestions on how to create that chemistry.
1.
Smile 4. Nod you head
2.
Eye
contact 5. Sit erect but not rigid
3.
Lean
forward 6. Show enthusiasm and interest in the
position and company
B.
No
matter how good you are, or how great the demand for your type of experience,
you must sell your assets to the employer.
You must do this on your own during the interview. You must approach the interview and the
entire process with a positive attitude.
Do not be arrogant, nor too hard to get. Never undersell. Always
speak and think in positive terms.
C.
Remember,
the most qualified candidate doesn’t always get the job offer. But, an employer always hires an
enthusiastic candidate!
D.
Offers
of employment are extended to candidates for many reasons, but the decision is
based, to a large extent, upon how the candidate interviews.
E.
The
candidate who interviews well gets many job offers. Some people with average abilities can change jobs easily because
they interview well. The quiet
candidate for whom every word must be tediously extracted, the over-confident
braggart who exaggerates their experience, or the candidate who has established
a minimum salary objective which represents an outrageous increase, are all
examples of the type of candidate who will receive more negative replies than
offers.
F.
The
entire concept of job hunting revolves around the ability to sell. You must recognize that in job hunting and
interviewing, you must be a “salesperson”.
G.
Approach
each interview with a limited objective, to get an offer. Rather than deciding if you want to work for
a company on the basis of the appearance of the building, the individuals you
meet, and/or the information you receive about the specific assignment, decide
in advance only that you alone want to make the final decision. To do so, you must approach each interview
with but one thought in mind—GET AN OFFER.
Since offers are extended to those candidates who appear to be the most
qualified, you must emphasize your good points and eliminate or avoid
discussion of negatives. Without lying,
you must answer all questions with whatever positive comments you can
make. Every time you answer a question
with the word “no”, you decrease your chances of an offer. Therefore; even if your experience is quite
limited in a particular area, it would be better to respond with a comment
about what it is you know, rather than any reference to what you don’t know.
PREPARE SEVERAL INTERVIEW QUESTIONS
Your
dual role on an interview is to market your skills and interview the
company. Timely, appropriate questions
not only provide you with valuable information about the company, but questions
help create a positive conversational atmosphere between yourself and the
company representative.
1.
What
are the daily responsibilities of this position?
2.
Do
you have a written job description?
3.
How
many people would I be working with?
4.
To
whom will I report?
5.
What
is the organizational structure of: a)
this department? b) the company?
6.
Where
does this position lead?
7.
Why
is this position open?
8.
How
long was the last person in this position?
What made this person successful?
Are there additional skills needed in this position now?
9.
What
would you expect me to achieve during my first six months to a year? What obstacles do you foresee that I would
have to overcome?
10. Why do you enjoy working
here?
11. What is you background?
12. Who are your
competitors? Where does your company
stand in relationship to them?
13. What distinguishes you from
you competitors?
14. When will you be making a
decision on this position?
15. How do we proceed from here?
THE
BEHAVIORAL INTERVIEW
In order to gain employment,
you will meet with the potential employer to ascertain the appropriateness of
your candidacy for the available position.
You may interview a number of times with various representatives of the
organization. Throughout this process,
the employer will have the opportunity to gather information concerning your
background and experience and its relevancy to the position. Employers will ask you a series of questions
which are work-based and which seek to link your past behavior to behaviors
required in the organization conducting the interview. Since the goal is to “predict” success in
their environment, based on your actions and reactions in another environment,
the common name for this type of interview is the “behavioral” interview. Be prepared to describe prior employment,
experiences, class projects, and college activities.
Questions may be similar to the following:
Describe a time when you were
faced with a major problem and how you dealt with it.
Identify, from your
background, a situation where you needed to take control.
How have you dealt with
conflict? What was the result?
Describe an incident where
you have applied a theory in class to an actual project.
Give an example of when you
had to utilize your communication skills.
There also may be follow-up questions such as:
Can you give me an example?
What did you do?
How did you respond?
What was your role?
What did you say?
How did you feel?
In preparing for the
behavioral interview, it is useful to review your entire background as it may apply to the position for
which you are interviewing. If you are
interviewing for a position which will utilize computer skills, be able to
respond to inquiries designed to allow you to demonstrate your expertise in the
field. When meeting with an employer
for a position where your creativity is being reviewed, consider from where in
your background you can give actual examples of these skills. If the primary function you will have in the
position involves working and communicating with people, consider how you may
best demonstrate your abilities in this area.
In general, when preparing
for interviews:
- Concentrate on incidents in which you had
favorable outcomes.
- Prepare a short
but complete story with a beginning, middle, and end, which
demonstrates the behavior that is being evaluated.
- Attempt to be specific in responding to the
question.
In addition to the behavioral
interview, some companies have also started to incorporate the use of a
group/case study into the interview process.
Here, the employer is attempting to determine a number of your
qualities. Typically, your leadership
potential, ability to work in a group, and analytical/problem-solving skills
are all being evaluated.
As with any interview, remember to research the company prior to the appointment and prepare several well-thought out questions. Interviewing is a two-way process: both you and the corporation need to evaluate the appropriateness of your employment with the organization.
Suggestion: Contact the Career Development &
Counseling Center to make an appointment to meet with a career counselor. You may want to schedule a video-taped mock
interview to practice your technique.
Call the CD&CC at 860-343-5826 to arrange an appointment.
RESPONSES TO INNAPROPRIATE QUESTIONS
You should
anticipate how you would handle sensitive questions and plan your responses (as
you prepare for any interview). First
of all, do not take an immediate defensive stance. You should try to determine the intent of the questions to
ascertain if it has a legitimate relationship to job performance. You may choose to answer the question,
rather than risk alienating the interviewer.
Or you may choose to rephrase the question (to get to its intent) and
answer it. As an example, if you are
asked, “How available are you to work on weekends?”
Instead of
saying “It’s against the law for you to ask me that”, “I am not required by law
to answer that”, or not answering it at all, you may try out this response:
“If you are asking whether I am motivated, I can
demonstrate that I am fully capable of performing the job. As you can see on my resume and letters of
reference, I have performed this function for the past four years and have
received exemplary evaluations…”
Suppose a
question related to religion, marital status, favorite birth control method,
national origin, etc., is asked. You
could say, “Excuse me, this is inappropriate; let me call the EEOC”; however,
this is not the best way to win the employer over. You could do the following:
Ø Answer the question if you
do not feel compromised:
Ø Ask whether this is an issue
of major concern, and how it is related to the job;
Ø Decline to answer as
tactfully as possible without insulting the employer.
Candidates can
appeal to the law in obvious cases of prejudice. In order to successfully appeal, the sensitive questions must
have been asked for the purpose of discriminating against you because of an
illegal reason, or have the effect of discriminating against you. This is not often easy to prove.
After you are hired, you are still protected by equal
opportunity. However, the employer may
ask you to supply information/items such as birth certificate, proof of
citizenship, a photograph, proof of residence, name of person to be contacted
in an emergency, take a drug test, etc.—only if they have a bearing on your job
duties and responsibilities.
DEALING WITH SENSITIVE INTERVIEWING QUESTIONS
Most
interviewers are very aware and sensitive in their interviewing
techniques. At times, however,
candidates are caught unaware by sensitive or potentially discriminatory
questions that occur during the interview.
Simply asking a question is not illegal. It is the use to which the answer is put that may involve
illegality.
Interviewers cannot discriminate on the basis of:
gender, race, age, religion, height, weight, citizenship, nepotism, marital
status, number of children, provision of child care, economic status, language
skills, educational background, arrest record, discharge from military service
or availability to work weekends and holidays.