What To Do During An Interview

E Interview Questions For Managers

If youre hiring team leaders, you want to make sure they can answer well to the above types of interview questions. But, hiring for each managerial position will entail an additional set of questions specifically to judge the candidates management skills . Depending on the seniority of the managers role, there are different interview questions to ask managers:

• Whats your approach to delegating work to employees? How do you ensure that tasks are completed?
• How would you describe your management style?
• Tell me about a time you had to deal with a team member who constantly opposed your ideas. How did you handle it?

I’d Like To Learn More About The Company

Mentioning your interest in learning more about the company shows that you are genuinely interested in hearing the company’s story from the perspective of a current employee or the founder. Although you are the one being interviewed for the job, the desire to learn more about the company indicates that you need more information to decide if the company will be a good fit for you.

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Important Job Interview Dos And Donts For Jobseekers

Performing well in an interview can increase your chance of receiving a job offer. Knowing what to do and what not to do can be the difference between receiving a job offer and losing an opportunity. Hiring managers and committees can tell when you are well-prepared for an interview. These tips will help you know what to expect during job interviews and how to impress potential employers.

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Do Take Your Time Answering Questions

Why

“It is human nature to begin formulating an answer even before the speaker has finished. Avoid this temptation,” said Stephanie Kinkaid, Assistant Director of the Wackerle Career and Leadership Program at Monmouth College. “Actively listen to the interviewer so you can answer completely. If you do not know the answer, be honest. Interviewers would rather have an honest answer than have one that is fabricated.”

How

Think about how you will answer common interview questions before the interview, including background information and verbal tests about potential situations that may arise on the job . This will make it easier to provide thoughtful answers to interview questions that showcase your talents.

The average job interview lasts 40 minutes.

Why

Remain pleasant and positive during an interview. Saying negative things about former employers will make you look bad and do not result in a pleasant interview. A job interview is not the time to air past grievances.

How

If you are asked about why you left your last job, put a positive spin on it and say as little as possible. Try to highlight what you learned from the experience and how you will do things differently in your next job.

Although it is illegal to ask questions about marital status, religion, disabilities, children and ethnicity during a job interview, 20 percent of hiring managers admit to posing these questions because they didn’t realize it was against the law.

Now Consider These Factors To Help You Evaluate Candidates:

Now that you have a complete overview of the best interview questions to ask, theres one last thing to do: be prepared to answer common questions from candidates. Theyre interviewing you too, after all. That way, candidates can also get useful insight on whether your company is a good fit for their skillset and motivations and hopefully, youll get to convince the best among them to join your team. Happy interviewing!

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Questions To Ask Toward The End Of The Interview

This important step in the interview process is relatively easy and can be done in advance of the actual interview. Use the research youâve already conducted to formulate five to seven questions youâd like to ask at the end of the interview. Table 8.1 “Topics and Potential Questions” includes some topics and potential questions.

Table 8.1 Topics and Potential Questions

Other Types Of Questions

Other possible types of questions that may be asked alongside structured interview questions or in a separate interview include: background questions, job knowledge questions, and puzzle type questions. A brief explanation of each follows.

• Background questions include a focus on work experience, education, and other qualifications. For instance, an interviewer may ask “What experience have you had with direct sales phone calls?” Interviews composed primarily of these types of questions are often labeled “conventional interviews”.
• Job knowledge questions may ask candidates to describe or demonstrate knowledge, skills, and abilities relevant to the job. These are typically highly specific questions. For example, one question may be “What steps would you take to conduct a manager training session on safety?”
• The puzzle interview was popularized by Microsoft in the 1990s, and is now used in other organizations. The most common types of questions either ask the applicant to solve puzzles or brain teasers or to solve unusual problems .

A case interview is an interview form used mostly by management consulting firms and investment banks in which the job applicant is given a question, situation, problem or challenge and asked to resolve the situation. The case problem is often a business situation or a business case that the interviewer has worked on in real life.

Panel

Group

Stress

Example stress interview questions:

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Tips For During The Interview

After youve spent time preparing, you can be successful on interview day by practicing these tips:

9. Plan your interview attire the night before. If youre speaking to a recruiter before the interview, you can ask them about the dress code in the workplace and choose your outfit accordingly. If you dont have someone to ask, research the company to learn whats appropriate.

10. Bring copies of your resume, a notebook and pen. Take at least five copies of your printed resume on clean paper in case of multiple interviewers. Highlight specific accomplishments on your copy that you can easily refer to and discuss. Bring a pen and a small notebook. Prepare to take notes, but not on your smartphone or another electronic device. Write information down so that you can refer to these details in your follow-up thank-you notes. Maintain eye contact as much as possible. For more, visit What to Bring to the Interview.

11. Plan your schedule so that you can arrive 1015 minutes early. Map out your route to the interview location so you can be sure to arrive on time. Consider doing a practice run. If youre taking public transportation, identify a backup plan if there are delays or closures.

Tip: When you arrive early, use the extra minutes to observe workplace dynamics.

18. Keep your answers concise and focused. Your time with each interviewer is limited so be mindful of rambling. Practicing your answers beforehand can help keep you focused.

Mistakes To Avoid As An Interviewer

Job candidates sometimes forget that it is often just as stressful being on the other side of the process. Interviewers and hiring managers have the pressure of finding a candidate who can perform the duties of the job, mesh with the company culture, want the salary the job offers, and meet many other important criteria.

As such, interviewers can mess up too. Here are some of the most common mistakes interviewers make and how you can avoid them.

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Job Interview Tips: How To Make A Great Impression

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You have your job interview scheduledcongratulations! Now its time to prepare, and weve got you covered. Below, we provide an overview of how to succeed in an interview along with a detailed discussion surrounding each point.

Taking It One Step Further

Lastly, we would highly recommend that you include beefing up your personal brand on the list of things to do before an interview. More and more employers are looking you up online before your interview, and having this under control will go a long way. Head over to our reputation management software page to get started.

With that being said, good luck!

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Do You Have Any Questions For Me

What They Want to Know: The last question at a job interview is usually one about what you want to know about the job and the company. Be ready with a list of questions to ask. You may seem disinterested if there isn’t anything you want to learn more about.

Do you have a formal schedule and mechanism for performance reviews? How soon after hiring would I receive my first review?

At The End Of The Interview

The end of the interview is your chance to ask questions, which is important to do in order to show genuine interest in the company. You should also demonstrate social fluency by closing out the interview gracefully.

• State that you have researched the company and want to know more about _____:Ive done a lot of research about this organization, and I really love _____ about you. Can you tell me more about _____?
• Ask what goals the company is trying to meet this quarter:Can you tell me more about the goals the company is trying to meet this quarter?
• Convey that you really want the joband reiterate why:I would love to work here because _____.
• Say that youre ready for next steps:The position sounds like a great fit. Im ready for next steps, so please let me know if you need anything else from me.
• Thank the interviewer for their time:Thanks again for taking the time to chat today! Have a great rest of your day.

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Interview Dos And Donts

When preparing for your interview and considering all the aspects where your behavior can affect your chances of receiving a job offer, follow these interview tips:

• Do: prepare for the interview no later than the night before.

• Do: make a checklist of what youll need to take with you.

• Do: ensure you have directions to the interview site and time out how long it will take you to get there.

• Do: choose your interview outfit in advance and make sure it is clean and ironed, if necessary.

• Do: get plenty of rest the night before to ensure you are alert and focused.

• Do: research the companys history, mission and recent developments.

• Do: outline your answers to common interview questions.

• Do: print out at least five hard copies of your resume in case your interviewers dont have their own.

• Do: know the format of your interview and ask the hiring manager beforehand, so you can prepare.

Donts

• Dont: wait until the morning of an interview to gather your materials. Unexpected difficulties could easily make you late for your interview, which could impact the hiring managers first impression of you.

• Dont: be late. You should plan enough time to arrive at the interview location at least 10 minutes early.

• Dont: try to memorize your answers to interview questions. Instead, remember key points you want to convey.

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Dos

Donts

Tips For Staying Calm During A Job Interview

Youre in the hot seat. Your palms are sweaty voice is shaky face is flushed and mouth is dry. Maybe youre bouncing your knees and talking too fast. Perhaps your heart is racing or your stomach is turning.

Youre nervous.

Why does this happen to so many job candidates?

When we perceive that we are in a high stakes situation, the brain doesn’t distinguish the high stakes of a job interview–where it would help to be calm, cool and collected–from the high stakes of being under threat from attack , says Dr. Tamar Chansky, author of Freeing Yourself from Anxiety. The body responds the same way–gearing up to run or fight for our lives. We experience a myriad of highly inconvenient and uncomfortable reactions which would make complete sense if there really were a tiger there.

In most cases, it may be the first time that the interviewer has met you and they will be making some initial judgments or first impressions, says Nichole Lefelhoc, associate director of career development and internships at Mansfield University. We want them to be good, of course, which makes us nervous. There could be some outlying issues that make us even more nervous for example, being unemployed or having little experience with interviews.

Lack of preparation is another common culprit.

This kind of anxiety can make it difficult to think clearly, Chansky says. Our focus is on hiding our anxiety and so our attention is divided.

Plan.

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Don’t Use Your Cellphone

Using your cellphone during an interview can make it seem like you’re disinterested in the job you’ve applied for. It may also leave the impression that you’d rather be doing something else or that you have somewhere else to be.

In addition, fidgeting with your mobile device in the waiting room and during your interview makes you lose your focus. If you have your phone out, the hiring manager could catch you off guard if they suddenly walk up to you ready to start the interview.

Things To Do Before During And After Your Interview

An employer will invite you for an interview if they believe that you have the skills to succeed at their company. In the interview, they will seek to evaluate your genuine interest in the company and the role, your preparedness for the position, and your potential to add value to their team.

Your answers to the questions they ask will help them assess your skills, experience, and motivation.

Below, you will nd suggestions on how to prepare for the interview and demonstrate that you are the best candidate for the position.

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Validity And Predictive Power

There is extant data which puts into question the value of job interviews as a tool for selecting employees. Where the aim of a job interview is ostensibly to choose a candidate who will perform well in the job role, other methods of selection provide greater predictive power and often lower costs.

Interview structure issues

As discussed previously, interviews with more structure are considered best practice, as they tend to result in much better decisions about who will be a good performing employee than interviews with less structure. Structure in an interview can be compared to the standardization of a typical paper and pencil test: It would be considered unfair if every test taker were given different questions and a different number of questions on an exam, or if their answers were each graded differently. Yet this is exactly what occurs in an unstructured interview interviewers decide the number and content of questions, rate responses using whatever strategy they want , and may score some applicants more harshly than others. Thus, interviewers who do not consider at least a moderate amount of structure may make it hard for an organization’s interview to effectively select candidates that best fit the work needs of the organization.

Interviewer rating reliability

Whats The Salary Budget For This Role

When to ask about compensation can be a tricky path to tread. While it might feel too brusque to ask upfront, it can sometimes save a lot of time for everyone involved.

As a job seeker, you dont want to going on several rounds of interviews only to find out at the end that the pay is below your expectations, Salemi says. Interviewers also don’t want to pour time and energy to fall head over heels for you only to find out theyre not on the same page with salary at the end of the process.

If youve been given a range that fits your requirements, then its appropriate to wait to discuss exact pay until after youve received an offer, when youre hammering out the details to negotiate a salary. If you have no ballpark whatsoever, asking upfront for at least a range can be helpful so that no one wastes their time.

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Plan Your Journey To The Job Interview

When preparing for a job interview one of the most important things to consider is how you are going to get there. A failure to plan is a plan to fail. If you are planning on driving to the interview, make sure you fill your car with fuel the night before. You dont want to be filling up on the way dressed in your suit.

Make sure you arrive on time, or better yet, at least 15 minutes early. Ensure this by knowing the address and if you can, have a trial run a couple of days before. The morning of the interview, check the traffic reports and have a backup route planned just in case. If you are travelling by train or bus, make sure you check the weather report the night before and keep an eye on the public transport websites for any delays. Look out for track works or traffic conditions that can potentially delay your train or bus trip.

Go to bed early the night before and wake up early to give yourself plenty of time.

Don’t Show Up Late Or Too Early

Avoid arriving late to your interview since this shows a lack of respect for the hiring manager and their time. Showing up late can lead them to believe you’re not taking the interview or the position seriously. In addition, arriving too early, such as an hour ahead of your scheduled time, can be an inconvenience to the hiring manager if they’re not ready to interview you just yet. Arriving at the interview site too early can also come off as you being desperate for the role.

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