Society & Culture Job interview tips

[Shell]

I know what strides are, I don't know what you meant at all though.

The velvet trousers, lol.

Hope there wasnt a memory test on there Cruyff

 

[zimma]

I found the best tactic to be putting absolutely no importance at all on the job interview, go in giving the minimal amount of care to actually look interested. 3/3 times I've gone in without caring at all about whether I get the job and place no importance and thus have no nerves I've gotten a call either the same or the next day offering me the job.

 

[Senatorguesty]

I havent read the entire thread (I know only 4 pages but still) but the BEST advice I can give, especially for "big" interviews (ie: a board of interviewers inc a psychologist) is the STAR standard.
Scenario (10%)
Task (10%)
Action (75%)
Result (5%)

With percentages in brackets meaning how much time/importance spent.
Basically when asked a question (for eg: when was the last time you used team-work in a situation where it wouldnt normally be expected) you set the scenario quickly, talk about the task with the same amount of emphasis but the majority of the answer MUST be the action taken. What happens for most people is they talk about the scenario more than anything so when it comes to reviewing your answers it looks like you made a story, you talked about what was happening far too much whereas when you talk about the action (what you did, what you said, what happened/what were the benefits etc) they can review your answer and get a clear picture of who you are and what they could expect you to do in the same situation at a later date.
Also ensure when you do the above you talk about YOUR actions and what YOU said/did, make it out like YOU were the one that setup that IT program/roster change/team setup/etc etc instead of you just going along for the ride and following what others said/did.

 

[Howard Littlejohn]

I passed the phone interview. It only went for five minutes and she just asked me questions what I think the role involves, what I will be doing and things like that.

I have an online assessment to complete which takes about an hour, if I pass that, it is the group interview.

Phone interviews are bad. I had one where the interviewer faked a fire alarm to finish it. I didn't think it was going too badly until that point.
I ended up working at that place abou six years later, and only realised after a few months there that I was working pretty closely with one of the guys from that interview (he also interviewed the second time).

Panels of more than two are the worst though. Horrible stuff.

 

[Shell]

Panels of more than two are the worst though. Horrible stuff.

Working in education, Ive now worked at 2 schools. The first school I was at, I had to re-interview for the job in between years. And it was a panel and I had worked with these people for half a year already.

Was so uncomfortable.

On the flip side, the next year, I interviewed at another school. I was interviewed by the Principal and the Faculty Coordinator, in comfy chairs with a coffee table between us. Never been more relaxed in an interview in my life. (And yeah, i got both jobs )

 

[BotsMaster]

 

[Catfish Alley]

I hope I don't have to do an interview for a while. I'm not too bad at them though. For my current job I had to have 2 phone interviews, a panel interview, a group interview where I had to do a presentation and finally a one-on-one with the Vice President. Was fairly stressful

I think the key is to realize that they want you for a reason. I like to try and turn it around a bit and think that I am also interviewing them to make sure it's the right fit.

 

[Piss Poor]

I hope I don't have to do an interview for a while. I'm not too bad at them though. For my current job I had to have 2 phone interviews, a panel interview, a group interview where I had to do a presentation and finally a one-on-one with the Vice President. Was fairly stressful

I think the key is to realize that they want you for a reason. I like to try and turn it around a bit and think that I am also interviewing them to make sure it's the right fit.

what were you going for a CEO position. That's way too many stages of interviews, better of been a good job.

 

[Catfish Alley]

what were you going for a CEO position. That's way too many stages of interviews, better of been a good job.

Yeah, it's a good job with a large company. Otherwise I probably wouldn't have bothered with all that! It had a couple of extra stages to it because the head office and a lot of my team are in a different city.

 

[FootyJunkie]

Phone interviews are horrible if you can't understand the interviewer due to accent.

 

[Illinois Nazi]

Phone interviews are horrible if you can't understand the interviewer due to accent.

Don't apply for a job in the Telstra call centre then.

 

[Cruyff14]

I hope I don't have to do an interview for a while. I'm not too bad at them though. For my current job I had to have 2 phone interviews, a panel interview, a group interview where I had to do a presentation and finally a one-on-one with the Vice President. Was fairly stressful

I think the key is to realize that they want you for a reason. I like to try and turn it around a bit and think that I am also interviewing them to make sure it's the right fit.

What did the group interview involve?

 

[checkraiseulite]

Have a couple of beers before. Take the edge off a little bit. I'm guessing this is a grad job of some description. You wouldn't be getting an interview if your marks weren't upto scratch so just focus on building rapport with the interviewer(s).

Let people know that you'd be good to spend 40+ hrs per week with. Show some personality and make sure you know what your message is.

Be self aware.

 

[Shell]

Have a couple of beers before. Take the edge off a little bit. .

Lmao, yeah thats a great idea.

Go in there smelling of alcohol at 1 o'clock in the afternoon. Will be hired on the spot

 

[checkraiseulite]

It works. Nerves are your worst enemy in a high pressure environment.

Not advocating getting blind, but a couple frothies can help you relax.

 

[Cruyff14]

It's not a grad job lol

 

[checkraiseulite]

Phone interviews, group interviews, psychometric testing etc. Sounds like a grad job.

 

[Cruyff14]

Well it isn't lol, I haven't studied in 6 years.

 

[Catfish Alley]

What did the group interview involve?

They gave me a topic and I had to build a 10-15 minute presentation. I remember it was on the future of the Canadian car industry (nothing at all to do with the job). I was in front of a couple of managers, HR and some other people on the phone from the head office. I did the presentation and they asked why I covered certain aspects, how I reached conclusions etc. It was a little intimidating but it was made better by the fact that everybody was friendly and kind of joking around.

 

[BACCS]

Get a good grasp of the behavioural type questions you'll get asked. Just Google sample type questions and get some answers going, which can then be used for a variety of the questions you'll get asked. They can be bloody tough at first, and I've been stumped a couple of times on them because some are that ridiculous, but just practice like hell.

 

[BACCS]

What's the go with group interviews? Never heard or experienced them, are they common in specific sectors?

Very common in engineering. Luckily haven't had one as yet (as I don't tend to do well with the big companies), but I've heard they can be quite daunting.

Usually involve another face to face interview, presentation to 2 or 3 people, and then group type tasks.

 

[BACCS]

I passed the phone interview. It only went for five minutes and she just asked me questions what I think the role involves, what I will be doing and things like that.

I have an online assessment to complete which takes about an hour, if I pass that, it is the group interview.

I ****ing hate online assessments, specifically the puzzle type questions. Ok at the numerical and logical reasoning.

 

[BACCS]

Phone interviews are horrible if you can't understand the interviewer due to accent.

Oh god, had that problem recently... couldn't even understand what the company actually was, and had to ask again (which barely made sense a second time).

 

[Cruyff14]

I ******* hate online assessments, specifically the puzzle type questions. Ok at the numerical and logical reasoning.

Found it hard. There were about 7 sections (out of 10), with "no right or wrong answers." Some of the things included q's like, use the word to least describe you "Foolish or Careless" and rubbish things like that. The English and arithemtic part I struggled with some, mainly due to time and the reetardation of it.

 

[bradrowe#32]

Don't rock up with a bag of Hungry Jacks and eat it during the interview "cos you didn't have time for lunch, year?"

Surprisingly, this didn't get some dude a job at my old work.