4 Preparation: before the interview
If you have attended job interviews before, you will, doubtlessly, have developed your own ways of preparing. In the next activity, you will compare your preparation tactics with those of other people.
Activity 2 Preparing for interviews
Read the following comments about how others have prepared for job interviews. Look out for points on why they prepare and how they went about it.
San San Win:
Firstly, I'd want to find something out about my employer and if I could spot some of the issues that they would regard as important to them.Hla Myint:
Do a bit of research. Always find out the business that the employer is within.Tin Win:
I usually do a background on the company where I'm attending the interview to see how the company has evolved during the last few years, in what direction they are aiming to go and how I can be an asset to that organisation.San San Win:
I'd want them to feel that I'd actually made the effort to find out something about them.Hla Myint:
Try and put yourself in the position of the employer. What is the employer going to want to see and hear from you?Tin Win:
I'll see to it that whatever's mentioned in the job spec I'm fully aware of it, and what are the plus points from my side that I can put forth in the interview which will contribute or aid in getting the job.Hla Myint:
They're going to want to hear and see that you're a confident person, that you're not overly confident and cocky. But they're going to want to see that you can get your point across. They're going to want to see that you know the industry that you're going to want to be working in and that you have a technical competence that is at the level, or above, what they've stated in the job advert.
Now compare the thoughts above to your own preparation strategies using the prompt questions provided. Add any other thoughts you have, and keep a record of it all in your notebook.
- For past interviews, what things have you tended to do to prepare for them?
- How long before the interview did you start your preparation?
- What did you spend most or least time on?
- Have you had any experiences that left you wishing you had prepared some aspect better than you did? If so, what?
- Did the comments of the interviewees suggest any new ideas you might use in future?
Discussion
Your thoughts and experiences will be very personal to you, but most people have been in interview situations that don’t quite go as well as they would have liked. Hopefully you picked up a few new tips from the comments to help you in the future.
Some people find the preparation for interviews difficult. Others find preparation easy but then struggle to use it in the interview. You will learn, in the next section, strategies for strengthening both aspects. The basics of preparing remain the same whatever the interview type, but there are also some tips on specific types of interview that need to be considered.
3 Types of interview you might encounter