Discovering What Needs to Happen for Your Interview Preparation
In general, if you are called for a job interview, then you should be prepared to sit in front of one, two or even three interviewers, who will be representing the employer’s interests. There may be a presentation for you to deliver, but otherwise the standard form is for you and them to have a discussion of about 15 minutes in length, during which they will try to establish whether or not you are suitable for the post.
Most of the interview consists of contrived questions that will involve the interview panel bombarding the prospective employee with questions designed to explore their key qualities and views. There are various types of questions, old favorites and interview strategies that can be employed to help the interviewers find out about you drive and ambition.
Candidates for lower paid and lower skilled positions tend to have much simpler job interviews than do candidates for more prestigious positions. For instance, a lawyer’s job interview will be much more demanding than that of a retail cashier. Most job interviews are formal; the larger the firm, the more formal and structured the interview will tend to be. Candidates generally dress slightly better than they would for work, with a suit (called an interview suit) being appropriate for a white-collar job interview.
You may encounter profession specific interview types. So for some singers or actors, they will be expected to perform well in an audition in order to secure the post. In residency interviews, you may have to answer clinical questions or deliver a presentation.
Increasingly, companies are moving away from old fashioned interviews and employing assessment day strategies, in which a variety of activities are undertaken to learn about the different qualities of each candidate in a less contrived way.
A candidate should follow up the interview with a thank-you letter, expressing his or her appreciation for the opportunity to meet with the company representative. The thank you letter ensures that the candidate will stay fresh in the interviewer’s mind. The primary purpose of the job interview is to assess the candidate’s suitability for the job, although the candidate will also be assessing the corporate culture and demands of the job.
