Interview workshop

My notes from the interview workshop. The main things I took away from this workshop were to research the job and company you work for as well as their practices and public identity. This way you can demonstrate your enthusiasm and organisational skills. Also research the market and how it relates to their business such as competitors and trends. prepare fro questions that are likely to come up. Some of the questions in interviews can seem quite odd or designed to stump you but if you prepare it will help. In the practice interview we found that we were all using the STAR method of providing examples of our skills naturally without being prompted and that once we finished we started to think of better examples than the ones that first came to mind. It would be worthwhile making notes of these to refresh before an interview. We also found that we ended up going back to the same events as examples of multiple skills such as team work, leadership and communication that are all related. It would be worth analysing which of them was the best example and only using once to be able to give as many varied examples as possible. 

I am not very good with presentations and group interviews but in one to one or two to one interviews i am relatively comfortable (for me). Having said that I thought the advice about body language was very useful. especially making sure not to fold your arms and sits back. I think a lot of people make this mistake if they feel uncomfortable so its worth remembering, not just for interviews but when networking in general. in fact a lot of the points we covered today are important for pitching work to publishers or just approaching industry professionals for advice. 

Preparing for interviews

Demonstrate understanding of the role applied for
Smile

Lean slightly forwards
Show enthusiasm


Typical opening question
“Tell me a little bit about yourself”
Focus on attainments and interests
Don’t unburden

Demonstrate
Experience
Knowledge of job
Knowledge of organisation and competitors
Prepare questions for interviewer
Questions that demonstrate keenness and aspirations

STAR
Situation and task- brief outline

Action- specifics of what, how and why you took the actions you did
Result- what was the outcome, positives, what did you learn, do differently in future


Strength based interviews- kpmg
Can’t be prepared for easily
Useful for finding staff with little to no experience
think about your strengths
Be prepared to be open and honest
Research companies strengths, think about how you fit them

Typical questions
what are you good at
Descibe a successful day
What do you learn quickly
What things give you energy
What have you achieved that you’re proud of
What’s always on your to do list that’s not finished