Interview top tips for candidates

Although most of our services are targeted at employers rather than employees our long years of experience has prompted us to publish the following tips for prospective employees to consider prior to attending a job interview. These apply whatever your level.

1. Arrive on time – this means that you should aim to arrive 10 minutes before your arranged time. This creates a good impression on the prospective employer and gives you time to compose yourself and your thoughts before you meet the panel.

2. Research the organisation – when applying for a job with organisation X, it isn’t sufficient to state when questioned about your motivation that you have always wanted to work for organisation X or that you would like to live in the city where the organisation is located.  Organisations like to believe that they are unique and that you are specifically interested in working for them so it pays to at least surf the organisation’s website before you turn up so that you have some idea of what the organisation’s core business is and how they see themselves. This advice counts double for NGOs. Interviewers except to hear credible answers usually related to the area of work in which the NGO is specialised not that you have always wanted to travel or make the world a better place.

3. Know why you want the job. When asked why you want the job, or why you would be the ideal candidate, or what you will bring the organisation, even if your mind goes blank, try to avoid communicating this to the panel. Relate your answer to your skills or interests and the organisation if possible and make sure you have already thought about this before you arrived.

4. Be concise. If you need a few moments to think before responding then take a few moments. Don’t ramble on hoping for inspiration as you go.

5. Be specific. Illustrate your answers with examples from your past experience. This experience can be professsional or non-professional but you cannot rely on assertions if you are asked what skills you have to perform x,y,z function.

6. Refer to your CV. Don’t expect that the interview panel has spent an hour or even fifteen minutes looking at your CV. Refer to your CV to indicate where you have had experience that is related to the role for which you are being interviewed.

8. Prepare a couple of questions for the end. There is nothing more disheartening than an interviewee who cannot think of a single question to ask about the organisation or the role at the end of an interview.