Interview tips I - preparing for an interview Here we'll look at all the different aspects of preparing for interviews - a key part of the assessment process for almost any job. For many reasons interviews have the potential to be fairly daunting. The truth is that while they do get easier as you do more and more of them, they always have this ability to create nerves. But there's a lot of preparation you can do to ensure you perform and give yourself the best possible chance to get hired. So what do interviews entail? There is a lot of variety - you could be going into the office of the company you're applying to, or you might be involved in a telephone or agency interview. You might be talking to members of the human resources or graduate recruitment team, or the manager(s) who would be responsible for you if you were to join the company, or a mixture of all of these. The interview might be one-on-one, or with a panel. You might be taken through fairly standard "stock questions" with your answers written down - or the interview could be a wide-ranging conversation with questions progressively leading to more and more consecutive inquiries. It could be a formal meeting with a senior manager or a chat over coffee with someone who joined the company a year before. You get the idea... variety! So how should you prepare? 1 Research the company and the job You should be able to get a lot of the information you might need from the company's website. Employer presentations and contacts who work for the firms you're applying for are also useful sources. You might be asked questions about the company, its market, products and/or services and competitors; or about the role itself. You'll need to have a good knowledge of all these aspects. While there will usually be questions you haven't thought of, doing this preparation work should give you the knowledge you need to cope with them. Some examples of questions you might be asked include - About the role: "Why have you applied for this job?" "Why do you think you would be good at it?" "What do you think the job will involve on a day to day basis?" "What do you think you will be doing in two year's time if you get the job?" About the company: "What are the challenges facing our company?" "What are the major issues affecting the industry at the moment, or likely to in the near future?" "Who are our major competitors?" "How do we differentiate ourselves from our competitors?" 2 Your educational, employment and extracurricular background You should be very familiar with everything you've already told the employer about yourself in your application - you don't want to have anything you've already said come as a surprise when it's repeated to you in a question! You will need to be able to talk in depth about the educational and employment experiences you've had - why you chose the options you did, what they gave you in terms of skills and competencies, and how they make you perfect for the job you're applying for. Questions you might face include: "Why did you choose to study x?" "I see that in your penultimate summer at university, you worked as an intern at x bank. Can you describe what you were doing there?/ What did you get out of this?" "Why did you leave your last employment?" Interviewers will often go into some depth about specific projects, roles or extracurricular activities you've been involved in. For example they might ask, "I see you have some experience in sales - you worked on an advertising sales campaign at university. Can you tell me about it?"And they will usually follow this up with further questions going into some more depth on your involvement. For example: "What were the targets?" "What was the outcome?" "Who did you work with and what was your role in the team?" "Did you encounter any obstacles, and how did you overcome them?" "What did you gain from the experience?" "Would you do anything differently if you were to do a similar project again?" 3 Questions about general skills and competencies General competency questions are standard features of interviews. You should research the competencies which are asked for in the particular role - (these will be cited in the job advertisement) and make sure you use your answers to demonstrate that you have acquired them, over the course of your life to date. Examples of competency questions include: "What are your three main strengths?" "What are your three main weaknesses?" "Would you say you're an effective leader?" "Do you work best on your own or as part of a team?" "Have you ever had to deal with an unhappy customer/ a difficult colleague? How did you go about it?" Answers to these questions may not come naturally, but can often be found if you think hard (and laterally) enough. You will usually find, even if there aren't any obvious scenarios which fit the bill, that you have something in your life experience which you can use to support your answers. 4 Questions about motivation Interviewers will probe your motivation for the job. They will look for you to be able to explain how your education, work experience and extracurricular activities not only prepare you for the position you're applying for, but indicate an interest in the field. For example: "I see you studied philosophy. How does this fit in with your application to work as a management consultant?""Have you done any work experience in a field related to this role?" However in these days of portfolio careers, this may not be the case - and if this is so, turn it to your advantage. Explain how your background has provided you with the skills which are asked for, and how it has led to your desire to work in the area you're applying in. Here you can develop your own narrative to relate your background to the job in question. Make sure it'll withstand questioning, as employers are bound to cross-examine you on this. Other questionsSome interviewers like to ask questions to see how you cope with the unexpected, and how well you think on your feet. Examples of these might be, "if you were an animal, which one would you be?", and "how would you nail jelly to the ceiling?". 5 Prepare some questions for the end of the interview It's a good idea to ask at least a couple of questions, and ideally several at the end of the interview. This is definitely something which employers look for - asking no questions can be taken as a sign of not being really interested in the firm or the opportunity; while some thoughtful questions give the impression of being engaged and enthusiastic. It may be that your questions are answered during the course of the interview, so if this happens you'll have to think of a new one. But it's a good idea to prepare in this way, so that even if this happens, the exercise will get you thinking about the opportunity in analytical ways, which might bring up areas to research which you hadn't thought of; and will add to your overall level of preparedness. Examples of aspects you might ask about include: "What kind of teams will I be working in?" "How much time will be spent out of the office?" "What kind of support/ mentoring/ training/ networking will I be provided with or have access to?" "What's the after-hours social life like?" Any technical questions or questions about specific aspects of the tasks you'll be involved in are also appropriate.

Interview tips I - preparing for an interview

Here we'll look at all the different aspects of preparing for interviews - a key part of the assessment process for almost any job.

For many reasons interviews have the potential to be fairly daunting. The truth is that while they do get easier as you do more and more of them, they always have this ability to create nerves. But there's a lot of preparation you can do to ensure you perform and give yourself the best possible chance to get hired. So what do interviews entail?

There is a lot of variety - you could be going into the office of the company you're applying to, or you might be involved in a telephone or agency interview. You might be talking to members of the human resources or graduate recruitment team, or the manager(s) who would be responsible for you if you were to join the company, or a mixture of all of these. The interview might be one-on-one, or with a panel. You might be taken through fairly standard "stock questions" with your answers written down - or the interview could be a wide-ranging conversation with questions progressively leading to more and more consecutive inquiries. It could be a formal meeting with a senior manager or a chat over coffee with someone who joined the company a year before. You get the idea... variety!

So how should you prepare?

1 Research the company and the job

You should be able to get a lot of the information you might need from the company's website. Employer presentations and contacts who work for the firms you're applying for are also useful sources. You might be asked questions about the company, its market, products and/or services and competitors; or about the role itself. You'll need to have a good knowledge of all these aspects. While there will usually be questions you haven't thought of, doing this preparation work should give you the knowledge you need to cope with them. Some examples of questions you might be asked include - About the role:

"Why have you applied for this job?"

"Why do you think you would be good at it?"

"What do you think the job will involve on a day to day basis?"

"What do you think you will be doing in two year's time if you get the job?"

About the company:

"What are the challenges facing our company?"

"What are the major issues affecting the industry at the moment, or likely to in the near future?"

"Who are our major competitors?"

"How do we differentiate ourselves from our competitors?"

2 Your educational, employment and extracurricular background

You should be very familiar with everything you've already told the employer about yourself in your application - you don't want to have anything you've already said come as a surprise when it's repeated to you in a question! You will need to be able to talk in depth about the educational and employment experiences you've had - why you chose the options you did, what they gave you in terms of skills and competencies, and how they make you perfect for the job you're applying for. Questions you might face include:

"Why did you choose to study x?"

"I see that in your penultimate summer at university, you worked as an intern at x bank. Can you describe what you were doing there?/ What did you get out of this?"

"Why did you leave your last employment?"

Interviewers will often go into some depth about specific projects, roles or extracurricular activities you've been involved in. For example they might ask, "I see you have some experience in sales - you worked on an advertising sales campaign at university. Can you tell me about it?"And they will usually follow this up with further questions going into some more depth on your involvement. For example:

"What were the targets?"

"What was the outcome?"

"Who did you work with and what was your role in the team?"

"Did you encounter any obstacles, and how did you overcome them?"

"What did you gain from the experience?"

"Would you do anything differently if you were to do a similar project again?"

3 Questions about general skills and competencies General competency questions are standard features of interviews. You should research the competencies which are asked for in the particular role - (these will be cited in the job advertisement) and make sure you use your answers to demonstrate that you have acquired them, over the course of your life to date. Examples of competency questions include:

"What are your three main strengths?"

"What are your three main weaknesses?"

"Would you say you're an effective leader?"

"Do you work best on your own or as part of a team?"

"Have you ever had to deal with an unhappy customer/ a difficult colleague? How did you go about it?"

Answers to these questions may not come naturally, but can often be found if you think hard (and laterally) enough. You will usually find, even if there aren't any obvious scenarios which fit the bill, that you have something in your life experience which you can use to support your answers.

4 Questions about motivation

Interviewers will probe your motivation for the job. They will look for you to be able to explain how your education, work experience and extracurricular activities not only prepare you for the position you're applying for, but indicate an interest in the field. For example: "I see you studied philosophy. How does this fit in with your application to work as a management consultant?""Have you done any work experience in a field related to this role?" However in these days of portfolio careers, this may not be the case - and if this is so, turn it to your advantage. Explain how your background has provided you with the skills which are asked for, and how it has led to your desire to work in the area you're applying in. Here you can develop your own narrative to relate your background to the job in question. Make sure it'll withstand questioning, as employers are bound to cross-examine you on this. Other questionsSome interviewers like to ask questions to see how you cope with the unexpected, and how well you think on your feet. Examples of these might be, "if you were an animal, which one would you be?", and "how would you nail jelly to the ceiling?".

5 Prepare some questions for the end of the interview

It's a good idea to ask at least a couple of questions, and ideally several at the end of the interview. This is definitely something which employers look for - asking no questions can be taken as a sign of not being really interested in the firm or the opportunity; while some thoughtful questions give the impression of being engaged and enthusiastic. It may be that your questions are answered during the course of the interview, so if this happens you'll have to think of a new one. But it's a good idea to prepare in this way, so that even if this happens, the exercise will get you thinking about the opportunity in analytical ways, which might bring up areas to research which you hadn't thought of; and will add to your overall level of preparedness. Examples of aspects you might ask about include: "What kind of teams will I be working in?" "How much time will be spent out of the office?" "What kind of support/ mentoring/ training/ networking will I be provided with or have access to?" "What's the after-hours social life like?"

Any technical questions or questions about specific aspects of the tasks you'll be involved in are also appropriate.