Community Employment Resource
Centre
The Community Employment Resource Centre
(CERC) brings you this weekly column as an extension of our on-line
service. We provide referrals to other
agencies, advice on job search issues, as well as dates and / or information
pertaining to upcoming job fairs. We
invite you to use this service by dropping into or calling either office (Cobourg: The Fleming Building, 905-372-9372; Port
Hope:
Lakeland Place, 74L Queen St. (beside Town Hall), 905-885-2372)
or through our website: www.cercnorthumberland.com.
I have finally gotten the break I have been waiting
for and have been called for an interview.
How should I prepare? It is a
position that I am really eager about so I want to do well.
Congratulations on obtaining the interview!! There are definitely a few things you can do
to prepare yourself and to make a positive first impression:
§
Know who is
going to interview you and what the format will be
§
Research the
company –values and history, what successes and troubles have they had in the
past, where are they headed?
§
Know your
resume and who you are – skills, attributes, interests, values
§
Practice
answering questions at home, in front of a mirror or a friend
§
Go in with
some questions for the company
§
Remind
yourself that you are also checking them out!
§
Bring a bit
of humour with you
§
Expect the
unexpected
§
Dress for
the context of the organization – be slightly better dressed than the daily
dress code of the company
§
Know that
sometimes interviewers are looking more for how you respond to the question in
your tone and manner, rather than the content of your answer
Most interviews consist largely of “Behavioural
Questions”. The belief is that people
will handle new situations as they have in the past, and take the form of: “Tell me about a time when…, Describe for me….,
Give me an example of a time when…”.
Common skills/attributes that are assessed with behavioural questions
are:
§
Teamwork
§
Ability to
deal with stress
§
Initiative
§
Tenacity
§
Attention to
detail
§
Follow
through
§
Customer
Service orientation
§
Technical
skills
§
Communication
skills
Responses for behavioural questions can be managed successfully
by following the PAR (Problem-Action-Result) formula:
§
Problem: explain the situation/scenario – what was
the challenge you faced (give details)
§
Action: what actions did you take to resolve the
situation (use “I” examples, not “We”)
§
Result: what was the outcome of your efforts
To help reduce the anxiety of an upcoming interview,
try:
§
Self-talk: think about times you have been successful
at interviews rather than having the attitude “I don’t do well in interviews”
§
Stick to
your normal routine on the day of the interview but adjust the timing – i.e. do
things a bit earlier
§
Prepare
examples for each of the behavioural topics ahead of time
Good luck!!