Acing the Interview

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Acing the Interview
www.greenleafinstitute.com

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Keys to a successful interview
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1. Learn as much about the company and position as you
can before the interview.
 Your knowledge of the company reflects how interested you are in
them.
 Closely read the company website, social media pages, press
releases and the job advert/description.
 Where possible, talk to someone who knows about the company for
additional information.
 Research your interviewers on LinkedIn to find out more about their
jobs and backgrounds. This may help you anticipate the nature of
the questions. For example, if the interviewer is a line manager, the
questions may be more detailed and technical in nature than if the
interview is conducted by an HR manager.

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2/3
2. Try to anticipate questions that will be asked.
 Your research about the company may reveal certain competencies
or skills that the company values. Think about how your
experiences translate into those competencies.
 For each criteria on the job description/ advertisement, think of
concrete examples or stories which demonstrate how you meet that
requirement. Highlight the positive contribution you have made to
your previous organizations. Wherever possible, quantify the
achievement in terms of numbers and percentages. For example,
you reduced costs by 20%.

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3/3
3. Sell yourself.
 Convince the interviewer that you will be an asset to the
organization.
 Demonstrate how you’ve been an asset in the past by illustrating
examples of how you’ve increased profitability, efficiency, quality,
safety etc.
4. Practice, Practice, Practice!
 The more you do it, the more comfortable you will get at it. Arrange
for a mock interview.
5. Be CONFIDENT about yourself.
 You must believe in yourself, if not, how can you expect the
interviewer to have confidence in you?

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The Basics
 Be on time!
 Dress appropriately
 Bring along
 Extra copies of your resume and professional references
 A pen and paper
 Business cards
 Turn off your cell phone
 Show enthusiasm
 Make eye contact
 Speak in a confident voice
 Ask questions when offered the opportunity.
 Smile!

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4 Types of Interview Information
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The information an interviewer may try to elicit from you can fall into
four broad categories. Any interview may contain all four types of
information in varying degrees.
1. Credentials and Technical
 Assesses level of cognitive capability
 Designed to determine whether the candidate has the requisite skills
and knowledge for the job.
 Used to determine whether or not the candidate can carry out the
technical aspects of the job.
 Sample questions:
 What degree(s) do you hold?
 What did you major in?
 Do you have a valid driver’s license?
 How many people were in the team you managed at your last
position?
 By what percent did you exceed your target sales last year?
 What was the size of the budget you managed last year?

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2/4
2. Experience
 Provides a big picture of what the candidate has done in the past.
 Is related to work experience.
 Addresses the situations from which behaviors can be discovered.
 Describe the duties of your previous position.
 What were your responsibilities?
 How do you react when you have a disagreement with your boss?
 What is your experience with making presentations to a large
audience?
 What experience do you have preparing documents for senior
management?

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3/4
3. Opinions or Situational/ Hypothetical/ Theoretical
Responses
 Probes into what a candidate thinks about a specific topic.
 Based on the theory that a person’s hypothetical response reflects
how they would behave in reality.
 What are your strengths and weaknesses?
 How would you handle a conflict between two co-workers?
 What is the most important part of your current job?
 How would you correct a situation with an angry customer?

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4/4
4. Behavioral
 Behavioral questions are designed to get the candidate to
talk about specific experiences from their past and the action
they took during those experiences.
 Tell me about a difficult problem you faced and how you solved it.
 Tell me about a time when you contributed a new and better way of doing
something.
 Tell me about a time when you were able to gain someone’s agreement to
an idea or proposal, despite their initial resistance.
 Tell me about a time when you were especially challenged by multiple,
competing priorities. How did you handle the situation? Describe your
results.

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Behavioral Based Interviewing
 Behavioral interviewing is a structured interview that focuses on
specific experiences from the candidate’s past that give an
indication as to how s/he will perform on the job in the future.
 A behavioral interview my contain all four types of information, but
will pay special attention to behavioral questions.
 The technique of asking a candidate about past behavior helps
gauge whether the candidate has the requisite skills, knowledge,
behaviors for the job.
 There are three principles to follow:
 Past behavior is the best predictor of future behavior
 The more recent the behavior, the more predictive it is.
 The more frequent the behavior, the stronger it predicts future behavior.

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Your answers
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 Address the question asked! Make sure you are actually answering the
question being asked. If needed, ask for clarifications. Be concise and
don’t go off on tangents.
 Provide specific examples. Come prepared with several stories that
highlight your accomplishments and uniqueness. Through these stories,
you should demonstrate that you possess qualities like good judgment,
initiative, teamwork, leadership. Wherever possible, quantify your
achievements, i.e. reduced delivery time to two days.
 Be honest. If you don’t have a specific skill, say it, don’t dodge the
question. Mention any related skills you may have.
 Steer the questions your way. Although you should be direct and answer
the questions asked, answer the questions with information that you want
to provide. Make sure you don’t provide information that makes for a
reason to not hire you. For example, an interviewer may ask you if you
prefer to work independently or in teams. Don’t pick one! In reality, most
jobs require individuals to work in both situations. Your answer should
reflect how you have been successful both working in teams and
independently.

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Your answers
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 Keep a positive tone. Avoid complaining about previous
employers.
 In your answers, try to reflect the following:
 You have the right skills for the job
 You have an understanding of the organization and its purpose
 You are better than your competition
 You have a positive, can-do attitude
 You are interested in the job and organization

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CAR Interviewing Technique
 In the context of a behavioral question, the CAR technique is a
good way to make sure the interviewer has enough information
about your experiences. Follow this easy technique in your
response to any behavioral question.
 C-Context
 Explain the situation in which the action took place. Help the
interviewer to understand how critical or pressured the situation
was.
 A-Action
 Tell the interviewer what YOU personally did to make the
situation a success.
 R-Result
 Describe the results in terms of what you achieved or what you
made happen.

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 Tell me about yourself
 Make sure you prepare a response for this common beginning to many
interviews.
 Write out your response and rehearse it before the interview.
 It gives the interviewer a quick introduction to who you are and an indication of
what kind of first impression you leave. Use it as an opportunity to stand out from
everyone else.
 Avoid personal and irrelevant information.
 Be succinct. Talk about 2 to 3 achievements that are interesting and relevant.
 In your response,
 Highlight your most noteworthy accomplishments. Tell the interviewer
memorable stories that highlight your attributes.
 Focus your response on information that the interviewer will be most interested
in: what you are capable of accomplishing on the job, how well you will fit into
the team, what you have achieved in your past experiences that would prove
beneficial to your future role.
 Speak of things that would help to convince the interviewer that you are
qualified for the position. Match your qualifications, skills, accomplishments to
what the interviewer is looking for.

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Common questions
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 Why do you want this job?
 Focus on why you are a good fit for this position.
 You see a good match between the position requirements and
your skills and experience.
 You have a keen interest in the sector/ product
 You admire the company for its reputation
 You are excited about the position and looking forward to a
challenge
 What are your weaknesses?
 Describe an aspect of a previous job that you found difficult, and
outline the concrete steps you took to overcome that difficulty.
 What are your strengths?
 Focus on skills that you know the organization is looking for. This
information can usually be found in the job advert.

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Common Questions
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 What are your salary expectations?
 Avoid this question until you’ve reached the job offer stage. If you
are probed, give a wide and realistic range, and say that salary
shouldn’t be a problem.
 Do you have any questions?
 The questions you ask are an indication of your level of interest in
the company. Show the interview that you have not only researched
the company, but also the specific role.

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Interview Rounds
 You will very likely go through around 3 rounds of interviews
before you get offered a job. Here’s a brief break down of what
you can expect at each round:
 1st Interview:
 Focus is on whether the candidate meets the basic job requirements
(qualifications, presentation, salary)/ whether you have the technical
capability to carry out the job.
 2nd Interview
 Here, the interviewer will be looking further into specific examples of
accomplishments in your previous work history.
 It is also an opportunity for the interviewer to make sure the candidate
understands the details of the position, the nature of the work, and the
compensation.
 3rd Interview:
 Used to determine if the candidate is a right fit.

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Follow up
 Follow up the interview with an email thanking the interviewer,
restating your interest in the position and remind the interviewer
of what valuable traits you can bring to the organization.

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Additional Resources
 100 potential interview questions
http://career-advice.monster.com/job-interview/Interview-
Questions/100-Potential-Interview-Questions/article.aspx

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THANK YOU.
Copyright:
www.greenleafinstitute.com

Acing the Interview

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