Job interviews are stressful and whist a little anxiety is normal and even help you focus,
totally stressing out will sabotage your chances. This is Alex from Lifelong Learners. I have
conducted many interviews and today I will share with you my 4 steps to help you
win in interviews. Firstly, you need to research your company,
industry and your own value. What are the company's products, competitors
and Industry? What regions do they operate in? This is not as simple as it may seem. Consider
Facebook. Many people feel their product is Facebook and their customers are you and me
but their product is targeted advertisements using our data and their customers are the
companies and people that buy the ads. Research the industry that the company operations
in. What are the forecasts for the future? What challenges does the industry face? What
opportunities are there? Is the industry expanding? Thirdly, know yourself. What attributes, experience,
or qualifications do you have that make you a great candidate for the role? What is your
market value? What should your salary be? Use resources like Glassdoors to find out how much people in a similar role earn.
Once you have researched, set yourself up
for success by having the right mindset for the interview.
Don't go into an interview thinking that it is you verse the interviewer where you
have to convince them that you are perfect and they need to eliminate as many people
as possible Rather you should be working with the interviewer
to consider if you are the right person for the role AND if the company and the role is right
for you. Consider the culture of the company, the location, career development options,
networking opportunities. By the end of the interview you should try to be confident that
you want to work there You should aim to use body language to support
your mindset. Research has shown that a closed body position can actually make you nervous
and stressed while an open body drive confidence. So smile, make eye contact, actively listen
and avoid slouching, fidgeting or chewing gum
Now you need to prepare for the interview questions. Broadly speaking there are 3 types
of interview questions. General questions, behavioural questions and problem questions.
For each of these question types follow the following guidelines:
Carefully listen to the full question before answering. Don't assume you know the question
and interruption them Pause before you answer to gather your thoughts
and prepare your answer Provide short answers that specifically address
the question. This helps the interviewer understand your answer and allows for them to ask additional
questions on areas of interest Be positive in how you answer questions.
Never blame things on your old manager, company or co-workers
The general questions are predictable. There are only a small number of questions asked in many
interviews. The most common of these questions are:
Tell me about yourself What do you know about this company?
What are your salary expectations? What are your strengths?
What are your weaknesses? What are your goals?
What did you like most or least about your
last position? Why did you leave your last position?
What motivates you? Do you have any questions for us?
There are good and bad answers to each of these but perhaps that's a topic for another
video. I suggest you prepare a response for each of these questions and practice with
a friend before the interview. Your responses should be no more than 60 seconds and directly
answer the questions. Where appropriate, provide short examples. Short responses with examples
make your response more digestible.
Behaviour questions always start with "Tell me a time when...." For example, tell me
a time when you had to deal with conflict or tell me a time when you had to learn a
lot of content in a short time. These questions are designed to help the interviewer
understand not what you may do in a particular scenario but what you actually did. The best
way to respond to these questions is with the SAR approach:
Situation: Provide a short description of the situation or problem
Action: What action did you take and why? Result: What was the impact of your actions?
Did it resolve the problem? Make sure that the result you describe links
back to the situation or problem you highlighted. The final type of questions are problem questions.
These are very common with companies like Google, Amazon and Microsoft. They ask these
questions to understand how well you think and specifically ask you to narrate your thinking.
They expect that the role they hire you for will change over time so rather
than hiring someone with specific qualifications they are looking for good thinkers.
An example of this type of question is: How many petrol stations are there in China? The
interviewer doesn't know the answer and nor do they want to know the exact number
but rather they want to see how you address the problem. For instance, a good response
may be: Well, there are about 1.3 billion people in
China Assuming that there are approximately 3 people
per household and 1.5 petrol vehicles per a household then there must be about 600 million
petrol vehicles in China Assuming that there is approx. 1 petrol station
for every 200 vehicles then there must be about 3 million petrol stations
Again, the interviewer is not interested in the final answer but rather the way that you
think.
Most companies will provide an opportunity for you to ask questions at the end of the
interview. Not having questions may indicate that you are not that interested or not prepared in the role
This is an opportunity to leave a positive memory in the interviews and also confirm
if the company is a good fit for you. Resist the temptation to ask about salary
or package, if not already discussed, you will have an opportunity to discuss this if
you are successful in the role. Asking about salary can make it seem like that's all you care about
Focus on questions about next steps, the job and career development opportunities. Perhaps
How would you describe the work place culture? Or show interest in the interviewer: What
do you like about working for this company? How does this company support staff development?
When can I expect to hear from you? Prepare these in advance.
Finally, keep in mind that normally there are more applications than job openings. It
is possible that you are unsuccessful because you not the best person for the role. Use
this as a learning opportunity. Contact the interviewer afterwards, thank them for their time and
ask for specifically feedback from them. Be a lifelong learner by treating every situation
as an opportunity to learn. I hope that these steps help you succeed in your next interview
This has been Alex from life long learners. Give me thumbs up, share and subscribe. Thanks for watching.
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