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Interview Tips

Chapters List Navigation

Understanding What Employers Want

Employers list a number of skills and qualities required from a candidate but what an employer is really looking for is a candidate that satisfies three fundamental capabilities:

Competence - candidates who have the skills and personal qualities to do the job with minimal supervision.
Commitment - candidates who want to work for the employer and have the ability to tackle problems that arise and stick with it.
Chemistry - candidates they can get on with.

In your interview you need to demonstrate these capabilities through the answers you give to the questions posed.

To demonstrate your competence you need to demonstrate the skills and qualities required to do the job. Despite the variety of jobs in the marketplace the skills required tend to be the same with the only difference being the differing degrees of competence needed.

There are ten common skills and qualities that employers usually require:

Communication Skills
Influencing Skills
Analytical Skills
Problem Solving Skills
Persistence/ Drive
Ability to work in a team
Ability to pick up new skills
Ability to adapt and be flexible
Organisational and planning skills
Ability to see the bigger picture

To help you prepare winning answers think of relevant examples where you have demonstrated the above skills or qualities and write them down on a piece of paper. To help develop this use the below stimulus:

Thinks of times when you

Listened to the needs of other people
Conveyed information to others
Handled difficult situations on the phone, such as customer complaints.
Had a conversation with someone and helped them see your point of view
Changed someone's mind
Persuaded someone to pursue a course of action that you advocated
Gathered information about a topic or issue
Broke down a complex problem
Weighed up the pros and cons of different options
Made suggestion about tackling a problem
Initiated or participated in brainstorming sessions
Took action to solve a problem
Suffered a setback at work but continued with your task
Had an original idea and used it to be more effective or productive at work
Overcame an obstacle to achieving a task
Helped someone else in the team with their work or duties

Resolved conflict or disagreement between other team members
Acted as a sounding board to a team member
Became proficient in a task or duty more quickly than expected
Gained knowledge about a topic because of your hard work and dedication
Picked up a new skill with minimal supervision
Offered to do overtime to a get a project completed on time
Helped others in the workplace when it was not part of the job description
Changed your mind after listening to someone else's point of view
Prioritised tasks to meet a deadline
Planned out and completed a project
Organised other people to ensure that a piece of work got done
Had to liaise with colleagues outside of your department
Found out some interesting information about a customer, supplier or competitor and shared it with your colleagues
Thought about the impact of your work on people outside your team

All of the examples that you develop can be assigned to one or more of the ten common skills or qualities that employers look for. Think carefully about what your examples demonstrate and say about you, and look for examples in your personal life if there are none to be found in your professional career to date.

In addition to demonstrating your competence you should also show desire to work for the organisation you have an interview with. So make sure that you thoroughly research the company you're hoping to join. Here are some top tips for research:

Find out

What are the goals or objectives of the organisation?
How many people work for the organisation?
Where is the organisation based (are they Global, European or UK based)?
Where is their main office or corporate headquarters? How many offices, shops, and/or branches does the organisation have?
What are the organisation's main products or service?
When was the company founded?
What is the name of the CEO or Managing Director?
Who is their main competition?
What major threats and issues effect the organisation?
Is the company growing and expanding (what are the stated goals and priorities)?
How is the company performing financially?

All of this information can be found on the internet or within corporate literature a company provides/offers. However you should make an effort to explore the physical world as well. So for example if an organisation have a shop go there as a customer and make notes on your experience, keep these positive and focus primarily on what you liked. Alternatively if they make a variety of products make an effort to familiarise yourself with these and note down what you like about them. These will provide you with good stories to help develop great rapport and demonstrate enthusiasm to work for the company.