How to Approach a Job Interview Session
In most cases, job applicants finds themselves thrilled, anxious and nervous at the sometime when they get an interview invite letter. You want to do well, but may be worried because you do not know what to expect or what to do to impress the interview panel. The trick is good preparation by learning the layout, policies and working practice of the prospective employer in relation with vacant you are applying for. This will help to settle your nerves and will also enable you to do your best.
Preparations
Check the basics, starting with the day, date and time so that to plan for a near accommodation if need be. Make sure you allow plenty of time to get there. This means knowing where the organisation is situated and bus or train times of departure and arrival so that to time yourself also. If it’s somewhere unfamiliar, have a practice run to find the premises a day or so before, for it have psychological bearing in your drill mental planning.
Dress
Outfits interprets oneself. Choose geometric outfit for organic outfits. Geometric shapes look as though they were made with ruler or drawing tool. The square, the circle, triangle, the rectangle, and the oval are the five basic geometric that can produce a formal outfit. Organic also called free-form are not regular or even outfits common with celebrities and artist. So, geometric outfit makes one comfortable and ideally boosts your confidence.
Research
What do you know about the organisation? What does it do? Is it government entity or mult-national enterprise? Have you checked the website to find out as much as possible? This should include reading any information for underlying need why it want to hire and any press releases connected with current affairs touching on your prospective employer. Or which tell you its recent achievements or failures, as well as finding out its core business.
Essential Qualities of Job Interviewee to Win
There are four factors that can boost a win to a job interviewee. These are; personal attributes, knowledge of professional ethics, initiative technical knowledge and skills as prescribed in job advert.
Personal attributes refer to general appearance of a person and include the following
- Physical appearance: where geometric shaped dressing and moderate haircut styles scores high marks in interview score sheet.
- Hygiene: Of course no employer can recruit job seeker with tall dirty nails or suggestive odor,for cleanness is a sign of sound mind.
- Posture: An interviewee maintain and adopt his natural posture, that is, the way one carries him/herself around the interview room, way of walking, talking and sitting should be formal.
- Esprit de Corps: is a french word meaning harmony, unity and respect. In an interview, implies that interviewee should portray harmony, unity and respect and honesty which informs integrity.This is achieved by starting pleasantries and wait for introduction from panel side and further directions.
- Good health Good health and physical fitness is a legal requirement of occupational health and safety regulations for employers to carry out pre-employment medical examination.So,it is prudent for interviewee to take the first step to avoid any eventuality.
Knowledge of Professional Code of Ethics
Professional ethics may be defined as the prescribed or the accepted code of behavior in an organisation or particular society which is, one area interviewee should research forehand for his prospective employer human resource manager can base his emoluments question indirectly from here.
It includes the following:-
- Respect: This involves showing regard to panelist according to their rank by addressing them with their job title through the senior most.
- Punctuality: This refers to the ability to keep time in attending interview as per appointments date and time.Avoid”better late than never”adage.
- Courtesy: Involves handling panel politely, pleasantly and in consideration. For example, listening patiently to questions before answering them and answering open-minded questions with honest statement and close ended questions with boolean value.
- Loyalty: This refers to the commitment an interviewee has to the prospective employer he/she intend to work for example, by maintaining the good name of the organisation when asked a negative question pertaining the entity and its products or services
- Honesty: This is ability to tell the truth and being sincere by not contradicting what you wrote in resume.
- Diplomacy: This is the ability to convince interview panel tactfully within values of moral integrity, professionalism, honest, competence and respectfully with kind words and pleasant language no matter provocations from panelist for they might testing your temperamental would like to work with hyperactive person anyway?
Initiative
Ability of interviewee to answer open-ended technical questions giving ideas, knowledge, inventions, innovative views and opinions about strategic plans of the hiring entity to achieve better progressive solutions.Industrious mind is dream to any given employer.
Experience Knowledge and Skills
- Knowledge: This refers to relevant academic and professional qualification attained from legally recognized institutions or attaining wide scope of information pertaining particular field.That why there is often current affairs questions because knowledge is dynamic.
- Skills: Refers to the capability usually acquired through training,apprentice-ship or practice that enables one to perform certain task effectively.This is important,for quality products or services.
- Experience: Craft-ship attained after working in different entities environments.This come in handy on new challenges are faced.
Interviewing Process for Interviewee Gist to Note
The number of applications received can dictate the pattern of the selection process. If there are a hundred applicants chasing a single job, then a process of matching them to the job will reduce the candidates to a manageable shortlist
A typical shortlist inches five or ten applicants. If matching applicants to jobs fails to reduce the number of applicants to a manageable number, the some other filtering and elimination process is required. All candidates might be invited to a pre-selection interview or test in order to shuffle down the candidates. They will then be further interviewed to determine who will be offered the job
A shortage of applicants will require a different approach. Suppose for a very senior post in entity or government position, which has been nationally advertised , there is only one applicant. A need may arise to know why the response proved so poor; whether it is worth re-advertising the vacancy. Consider how many people may not see an advertisement which appears only once inevitably, questions about the job, level of salary, location, benefits, the entity and the supply of certain skills will need to be considered. When responses to advertisements are very low
Assuming there are enough candidates of sufficient caliber to draw up a shortlist, interviews can be held
The process involves three phases:
What Interviewer Arrange Before Interview Day
The arrangements will include: Agreeing the professions composition and size of the interviewing panel. Assigning among themselves roles each will play. Setting a date for the selection interview. Consulting referees for clarification responses. Sending invitation letters to the shortlisted candidates specifying date, time, place and any other details. Arranging a room with essential facilities and equipment.
The Interview Day
Interview are seen differently by interviewers and interviewees
Interviewers should: Be familiar with job description/specification. Study application forms and surnames, together with references. Decide a strategy for the interview. For example is it to be highly structured and formal with a list of specific question? Or more informal? How will a decision be made: by discussion in order to arrive at a consensus or by a vote?. If specific questions are to be asked, there will be need to be typed and may be given to the candidates a few minutes before the interview. Candidates should be welcomed and the interview procedure explained. The panel should be introduced, an introduction who they are given and a brief explanation of their role. Questions should be clearly asked and candidates allowed to answer without interruptions Responses should be listed to carefully and any questions asking, or any points to be later considered, should be noted as unobtrusively as possible until the interview is finished; then any detailed notes and observations may help in the decision to appoint. Questions should aim to discover facts experience, qualifications and so on. Questions can also discover attitudes, values, opinions on specific issues related to the job, the business or the industry. Equally they can be directed towards values and views related to life, the economy, social change or whatever. Candidates should be invited to ask any questions about the job and the business. The interviewer should finish appropriately by thanking the candidate and explaining subsequent procedure. For example it might be explained that a decision will be made that same day and candidates should wait, or that a decision will be arrived at in a few days and that notification will be made by telephone or letter.