Interviewing skills

Editor's Notes

• #19: Welcome to our presentation on Successful Interviewing Skills Introduce yourself and that you are from Abbott Laboratories This presentation will provide you with information on how to survive and excel in a behavioral based interview. Feel free to ask any questions.
• #20: As much as we would all like first impression not to count they actually do. So you want to make the best impression you can. You can do that by being on-time, the way you dress, how you shake someone’s hand, do you make eye contact, are you smiling, or are you fidgeting for example playing with your pen in the interview.
• #21: There are three characteristics of a successful interview. Those are your preparation, presentation, and content.
• #22: I’ll start with discussing how you prepare for an interview. With today’s accessibility to the internet makes it easy to locate information about the company and sometimes information about the position. I recommend that you do your research before your interview so you present yourself well educated on the company which shows the interviewer that you took the initiative to do research. Make sure you know what’s on your resume. You don’t want to be in a position where you can’t describe something that you put on your resume. I understand that with a limited job market currently people are willing to take other opportunities. However interviewers like to see someone that knows where they’re going. They have a career plan. Prepare yourself to give behavioral based examples which we will go over in more detail later in the presentation. Anticipate questions again which we’ll go over sample questions a little later. And most importantly be prepared to sell yourself! This is your time to show the interviewer why you’re the best candidate for the position.
• #23: Some people prepare themselves by visualizing themselves in the interview. This is common for athletes to do but for some it also works well for an interview. Remember that you have already made the first selection for the position since the manager has asked you to interview. With that confidence know that there is no questions you cannot answer. If you need time to formulate your thoughts that is fine, just take your time. Also since were selected for the interview you know that you are well suited for the position. And you also know that the qualities you bring will be an asset to the department. Always remember to bring extra copies of resume. Resumes may be misplaced by the interview and you look prepared with extra copies. You can always bring pen and paper to take notes have questions listed that you want to ask. I do suggest that if you bring pen and paper that you use it so the interviewer feels that they had something important to say during the interview. Finally if you tend to get nervous you can always bring breath mints to have while waiting for your interview but remember to finish it before the interview starts!
• #24: We’re now moving into presentation. First make sure you are prepared and responsive for the interviewer’s questions. If you are stuck on a question or feeling nervous take time to organize your thoughts. Make effective eye contact and smile. Sometimes when we get nervous we become serious and forget to smile. Other times we start looking out the window or around the room and forget to make eye contact with the interviewer. This can be perceived that you are not being truthful. Remember this is your time to tell the interviewer why you are the best candidate so express confidence in your abilities. If the interviewer was in a position to chose between two candidates with the same skill sets and one said that I have excellent computer skills which I feel will be valuable for your positions and the second said I know how to use the computer who would you chose? Consider each interview as an adventure! Be attentive to your body language. Make sure you don’t have any gum or candy. Watch those pens! Make sure you’re not clicking or playing with them. That can be distracting for the interviewer.
• #25: Leave the baggage at the door. An interview is not the time to bring in your personal troubles. And definitely don’t slam an organization or past boss. The interviewer will think if they can speak so poorly about an old boss what will they say about me if I give them this position.
• #26: So I’ve already discussed interview preparation and presentation. Now let’s discuss interview content. Make sure you listen carefully to the question so that you give the appropriate answer. Understand behavioral based interviewing which we will focus on next. Rehearse your answers. You want to feel comfortable with your examples. Sell Yourself! This is your time to tell the interviewer what you can bring to this position and why they should hire you. Silence is golden, know when to stop answering. When people get nervous they have a tendency to start telling the interviewer things they never wanted them to know. Tie your background to the position. Give examples that demonstrate that you have the qualifications to do the job. Focus on your accomplishments. Show the interview what you have done in school, an internship, or a past position. Turn your weaknesses into strengths. Some interview questions are set up to ask about negative situations. The reason we ask these types of questions is to see how you have handled yourself. We know everyone makes mistakes we just want to see if you learned from your mistakes. Another common question will be tell me your greatest weakness. I usually say I work too much or I’m too dedicated. Well in this example working too much can be a weakness but what employer wouldn’t want someone that works too much. So I’ve changed my weakness into a strength for the employer.
• #27: You’ve heard me refer to behavioral based interviewing throughout this presentation. Now I’ll spend sometime going through it. In behavioral based interviewing you want to prepare STAR’s. That means think of examples where you describe a situation or task the actions you took and the result of your action.
• #28: You know you are in a behavioral based interview when the questions start with can you tell me about a time.. Think specific when your answering. Don’t say usually, always, or never because you aren’t be specific enough in your examples. Say “I”. The interviewer wants to know what your role in the example was. Be prepared to answer the negative question. As we stated earlier the interviewer understands you may have made a mistake but what did you learn from that and how did you handle yourself. When you give a result try to make it measurable. For example you might tell me about a group project you worked on. Instead of telling me you received a passing grade, tell me what grade, was it the highest in the class. If the example is from an internship did you save the company money, or did you receive an award? Don’t forget to smile and be concise!
• #29: These are just a few sample questions to practice. Give an example answer to some if time allows.
• #30: I’ve talked a lot about the soft skills in a interview but technical skills are also important. Your degree and your resume should give the interviewer a good idea of your technical skills, but you can also describe them through your examples. Of course attention to detail, computer skills, analytical skills, and technical skills specific to your degree will be assessed during your interview as well.
• #31: Sometimes we forget that soft skills are just as important. An employer wants to see that you are adaptable because in an industry things are always changing. They want to see that you’re a team player. There are very few positions where you don’t have to interact with other people. They want to see that you show initiative, innovation, and integrity.
• #32: Some common mistakes people make are that they come unprepared for the interview. For example they may not know anything about the position or company, they may not have prepared questions, or they forgot to bring extra resumes. Some other mistakes are that they don’t smile or show enthusiasm for the position and if it comes down to two candidates with equal skills the employer will most likely chose the candidate that has shown interest in their position.