Job interview tips and tricks

[AutumnSpring]

First impressions count and dress appropriately!!! I cannot this stress enough. As a hiring manager (it’s awful I know) but you can usually tell straight away if someone will get the job. The amount of people who come in trainers, without a tie, skirt too short, skinny jeans. This is the most effort they are ever going to make and I think if you can’t be bothered to dress properly for today then you don’t have the right attitude. Obviously this applies to the corporate world but equally don’t turn up in a full suit to an interview at “pretty little thing” or Topshop, dress for the occasion.

 

[TravellingPants]

Can I just say as someone who also works in HR, I’m a bit taken aback by the comments on appearance. Coming from an EDI standpoint, it makes a heck of a lot of assumptions. As long as someone is clean and presentable, you need to focus on the content of their answers. I have worked in corporate and casual offices and actually my favourite pre-interview question from candidates is when they ask about the office dress code and culture so that they can dress appropriately for us as a business.

STAR technique is super important and making sure your answers are concise, with a bias to action and what YOUR role in it was. I don’t care if you are being slightly elaborate with the truth, because if you can’t do what you’re saying you can then we’ll find out soon enough. If you find you’re rambling, it’s OK to acknowledge it and reframe your answer.
Take notes in if you need to, it shows you’ve prepared. I’m not testing your ability to memorise a script.

Ask questions that give you a sense of morale and longevity at the company - what’s the employee turnover, how are they managing culture during lockdown, are there career development opportunities that match your aspirations (in a time appropriate way, i.e. the role you would want in 3-5yrs). How is success measured, what would they want to see from you in the probation period to confirm that you’re right for the role.

Also - pet peeve - but when we’re back to office life don’t turn up more than 10mins early! Get to the area before that, but have a wander, go for a coffee etc. It’s so awkward having someone sitting in Reception for upwards of 20 minutes. Oh and be nice to the Receptionist, we value their opinion and it’s important that you do too.

 

[Mulholland Drive]

The only thing I would add is don't come over as desperate. Go in there with full confidence, don't be overwhelmed by their presence, and just be honest.

 

[emm]

I would never ever do something like that!! This honestly infuriates me as they've got to interview stage but obviously don't care. Someone else could've had their place

I remember someone who came to interview where I work, he had a shirt which was basically too small and the buttons were bulging open, meaning you could see his stomach, he then came into the interview room sat slouched in the chair, leaning back and burped. Surprisingly, he wasn't hired

 

[Sardine]

I've got an interview on Monday that I've prepped a lot for. It's a HR role with a local authority.The interview is competency based and they're sending me the list of questions to prepare beforehand and come up with my answers. (I've never had this before)

Does anyone here have any tips, tricks or stories from interviews they've aced? Anything that went wrong or was just horribly cringe at the time?

- I once took time off work as i had an interview for an internal role with my company. I turned up early for the interview and as I knew the place, I decided to go and sit on a bench and wait until it was time to go in(also didn't want any colleagues to see me on site on my day off and ask awkward questions) I decided to walk down a grassy verge in my crappy primark ballet pumps (my plan was to change into heels but flats were semi smart for hanging around) anyway, I slipped and landed hard on my arse and was absolutely covered in mud, in pain and embarrassed. Lots of people also witnessed this and only 1 person asked if I was okay . I panicked and decided to wash my dress in this accessible shower we randomly had on site at reception. I took it off, rinsed it and dried it with the hand dryer (badly) I debated cancelling but wanted the job so badly i carried on. I turned up and explained what happened, the woman thought I was nuts. She looked to her colleague as if to say "what is wrong with this person??!" it was honestly like something out of peep show. I don't know what i was thinking that day. I should've just bloody cancelled

My tip: ALWAYS research the company beforehand and prepare a list of potential questions. Definitely practice with someone so it feels more natural on the day. It's an obvious one but important

 

[Phil Anne Throw Pee]

I work in HR and have a recruitment background. It's an age old one, but be polite to everyone, receptionists etc even if they are stand offish with you. The impression you create with everyone is so important.

re- appearance: In 2016, I went for an interview at a local college. The panel was 4 people, a guy in a suit and 4 women, including the Principal, who was dressed in leggings and t-shirt. Anyway, I wore a smart silver dress, navy jacket and sandals (it was summer). I didn't get the job but part of the feedback was that I was dressed too smartly and should dress for who is interviewing me. Well, if I'd known you lot were going to get dressed in the fucking dark I'd have turned up in shorts and t-shirt. Absolutely ridiculous.

 

[birdiefly246]

I work in HR and have a recruitment background. It's an age old one, but be polite to everyone, receptionists etc even if they are stand offish with you. The impression you create with everyone is so important.

re- appearance: In 2016, I went for an interview at a local college. The panel was 4 people, a guy in a suit and 4 women, including the Principal, who was dressed in leggings and t-shirt. Anyway, I wore a smart silver dress, navy jacket and sandals (it was summer). I didn't get the job but part of the feedback was that I was dressed too smartly and should dress for who is interviewing me. Well, if I'd known you lot were going to get dressed in the fucking dark I'd have turned up in shorts and t-shirt. Absolutely ridiculous.

Thing is how would you have known they were going to be wearing leggings?! You dressed like you were going to an interview which imo is standard! I wonder what the person who got to the job in end wore!

 

[emm]

A friend works in recruitment so a lot of his work is coaching people for interviews, she says you should explicitly say "I really think I'd be good at this job", most people aren't so direct, and it can seem a bit cringe but I generally do well at interviews and always say this

 

[Sardine]

I don't think I got the local authority job. I'm kind of glad because the interviewers did not make me feel at ease at all. They were grumpy and one of them actually sighed when reading a question out.

I've been successful in a very similar role with the NHS though. So I'm happy

I've got an interview on Monday that I've prepped a lot for. It's a HR role with a local authority.The interview is competency based and they're sending me the list of questions to prepare beforehand and come up with my answers. (I've never had this before)

Does anyone here have any tips, tricks or stories from interviews they've aced? Anything that went wrong or was just horribly cringe at the time?

- I once took time off work as i had an interview for an internal role with my company. I turned up early for the interview and as I knew the place, I decided to go and sit on a bench and wait until it was time to go in(also didn't want any colleagues to see me on site on my day off and ask awkward questions) I decided to walk down a grassy verge in my crappy primark ballet pumps (my plan was to change into heels but flats were semi smart for hanging around) anyway, I slipped and landed hard on my arse and was absolutely covered in mud, in pain and embarrassed. Lots of people also witnessed this and only 1 person asked if I was okay . I panicked and decided to wash my dress in this accessible shower we randomly had on site at reception. I took it off, rinsed it and dried it with the hand dryer (badly) I debated cancelling but wanted the job so badly i carried on. I turned up and explained what happened, the woman thought I was nuts. She looked to her colleague as if to say "what is wrong with this person??!" it was honestly like something out of peep show. I don't know what i was thinking that day. I should've just bloody cancelled

My tip: ALWAYS research the company beforehand and prepare a list of potential questions. Definitely practice with someone so it feels more natural on the day. It's an obvious one but important

 

[emm]

Thing is how would you have known they were going to be wearing leggings?! You dressed like you were going to an interview which imo is standard! I wonder what the person who got to the job in end wore!

yeh exactly, unless you were going for a personal trainer interview why would leggings ever be your first thought to wear?! Even if I was told to dress casually for an interview I would dress more smart casual as I always think in that situation it is better to be over rather than underdressed surely?!

 

[birdiefly246]

my top tip is at the end of the interview if they ask you if you have any questions always ask a question! My top fav question is "what would you need from me if you employed me?" Most people don't ask a question so makes you memorable and that specific question gets them thinking, breaks the flow which makes you stand out.

 

[Justreading]

I have had and sat in competency based. You're telling a story. It doesn't have to be entirely factual, base it around facts but make sure its full of content and shows you know how to and can do something even if you havent had the opportunity to yet. And its I, I did this, I helped with this. Even if it was your colleague or manager, I, I, I!!!
If they ask a question they usually want more content so give it. Did you have any feedback from that? Yes I did, I was contacted and told that my processes would be implemented in future guidance, which I've since heard are having 50% more positive results than they were previously.
Did the customer thank you? Yes he did (but add in that he sent an email of thanks to your manager who fed back to you how grateful he was). You can usually take notes in for competency based aswell.

Good luck

 

[Kim Mild]

I've worn Jean's to job interviews before ( with a smart trench) and got the job . I think often people look better in a smart outfit with Jean's than they do in a crap suit that's probably from the supermarket that they grabbed for an interview.

Acting confident, like eye contact and sitting a certain way helps . It's just an act when i do it in interviews.

 

[AutumnSpring]

Good thread suggestion

I’m currently a head of HR so don’t recruit regularly anymore, just for senior positions. The one that springs to mind recently (just pre covid) was for a head of another dept role and one of the girls who came in (this would have been a 2nd stage interview with me and an Exec Committee member) was immaculate, really pretty girl (attractive not an indictator she’d do a good job obvs, but the effort someone puts into their appearance for an interview is def important as discussed a few times above ). Anyway, before we really got chatting she zoned in on me and started gushing about how much she loved my rings. Like stood up and asked to see my hand. I stupidly held my hand up and she took it and was studying my rings, moving my hand side to side. My colleague beside me was dying to burst out laughing at my clear discomfort. (I’m really not tactile unless with family/friends). She gave me my hand back and to break the awkward silence I asked her to tell us about herself or something. During the interview she again stopped and mentioned she was distracted by my rings laughing. Needless to say I wasn’t keen on appointing her into a role where I’d have to avoid her for the rest of my/her time there joking aside, she wasn’t the best fit for the role but if she had been, I’d have had to have thought twice about appointing her tbh because I felt it was so inappropriate, especially for such a senior role. I’ll give her the benefit of the doubt it was just nerves

Another mad one was about 10 years ago when I was an HR Advisor and asked to sit on a panel recruiting housekeeping staff as someone was absent from work unexpectedly so they needed an extra person. So that’s fine, ur not expecting people to blow u away, just to be competent, friendly and hopefully trustworthy. Anyway, a lady is shown in and kind of shuffles towards us a bit oddly and sits down. I can’t remember how good the interview was but we said thanked her, stood up to shake her hand and she stood up kind of bent over. But it didn’t seem like she had mobility problems or anything, it was really odd. She shook our hands turned round and her whole bare arse was on show. I swear to god it took every bit of self control I have not to laugh. I couldn’t look at the guy I was interviewing with cause we were friendly and I knew he’d be the same. I couldn’t work out if her trousers had split but it seemed more like they had fallen down under her bum and she hadn’t/couldn’t pull them up or something. Not sure. Poor lady but also poor me as I can literally still see it in my head now
(Note: I’ve remembered reception saying she walked in normally/fine so something must have happened in between arriving and being shown into us )

Sure I’ll have other stories I’ll remember.

On a serious note, all good advice above.

My bit of advice is that it’s important to remember that the public and private sectors are very different and who will be the best candidate in each will likely be different. If you only have experience from one side and are going for a role in the other side, it’s important you understand the differences and can articulate how you feel you’ll made a quick and successful transition. I’ve worked in both, hated the public sector bureaucracy but stuck it out for experience. Much more suited to fast paced, commercial and dynamic private sector companies.

Due to both of your job roles, any advice on how to even get to interview? Without sounding big headed I’m a fantastic employee. Always the one who goes above and beyond, generally the most competent and just got my head screwed on. I find it so hard to get this across on CV/Cover Letter and I KNOW I could do most jobs as I am good at learning but how do you even get to that point without any previous experience?

 

[emm]

Appropriately is definitely the key word. I've interviewed for software jobs in the past and been told, up front, to dress very casually for the interview i.e. jeans, jumpers - no suits, pencil skirts things like that. For these sort of situations looking neat and tidy is better.

My current workplace, the boss mentioned it multiple times before my start date, how important it was not to dress formally for the office haha.

I think though it is better to dress slightly more formal than you think, I have friends who went to interviews when they were told ot be casual then turned out to be too casual

 

[Ceelea]

I've actually witnessed people applying wearing clothes they'd either wear to a BBQ or a Friday night manhunt.

 

[Sardine]

First impressions count and dress appropriately!!! I cannot this stress enough. As a hiring manager (it’s awful I know) but you can usually tell straight away if someone will get the job. The amount of people who come in trainers, without a tie, skirt too short, skinny jeans. This is the most effort they are ever going to make and I think if you can’t be bothered to dress properly for today then you don’t have the right attitude. Obviously this applies to the corporate world but equally don’t turn up in a full suit to an interview at “pretty little thing” or Topshop, dress for the occasion.

I would never ever do something like that!! This honestly infuriates me as they've got to interview stage but obviously don't care. Someone else could've had their place

 

[Sardine]

Can I just say as someone who also works in HR, I’m a bit taken aback by the comments on appearance. Coming from an EDI standpoint, it makes a heck of a lot of assumptions. As long as someone is clean and presentable, you need to focus on the content of their answers. I have worked in corporate and casual offices and actually my favourite pre-interview question from candidates is when they ask about the office dress code and culture so that they can dress appropriately for us as a business.

STAR technique is super important and making sure your answers are concise, with a bias to action and what YOUR role in it was. I don’t care if you are being slightly elaborate with the truth, because if you can’t do what you’re saying you can then we’ll find out soon enough. If you find you’re rambling, it’s OK to acknowledge it and reframe your answer.
Take notes in if you need to, it shows you’ve prepared. I’m not testing your ability to memorise a script.

Ask questions that give you a sense of morale and longevity at the company - what’s the employee turnover, how are they managing culture during lockdown, are there career development opportunities that match your aspirations (in a time appropriate way, i.e. the role you would want in 3-5yrs). How is success measured, what would they want to see from you in the probation period to confirm that you’re right for the role.

Also - pet peeve - but when we’re back to office life don’t turn up more than 10mins early! Get to the area before that, but have a wander, go for a coffee etc. It’s so awkward having someone sitting in Reception for upwards of 20 minutes. Oh and be nice to the Receptionist, we value their opinion and it’s important that you do too.

Which comments on appearance? Just wondering, not being shitty

Don't slag off the company before your interview on Twitter or lie about already having worked for that company in a different department on LinkedIn. Also if the meeting is on Zoom/Teams make sure your camera is on. All of these happened with one candidate that my husband was interviewing for a job this week - stuff that can easily be checked. I'd say make sure your social accounts are either locked or squeaky clean.

Oh wow. Luckily I only have a private Instagram but that is cringe as hell. I can't imagine not turning on my camera either, it just doesn't make sense to me in an interviews situation,

Good thread suggestion

I’m currently a head of HR so don’t recruit regularly anymore, just for senior positions. The one that springs to mind recently (just pre covid) was for a head of another dept role and one of the girls who came in (this would have been a 2nd stage interview with me and an Exec Committee member) was immaculate, really pretty girl (attractive not an indictator she’d do a good job obvs, but the effort someone puts into their appearance for an interview is def important as discussed a few times above ). Anyway, before we really got chatting she zoned in on me and started gushing about how much she loved my rings. Like stood up and asked to see my hand. I stupidly held my hand up and she took it and was studying my rings, moving my hand side to side. My colleague beside me was dying to burst out laughing at my clear discomfort. (I’m really not tactile unless with family/friends). She gave me my hand back and to break the awkward silence I asked her to tell us about herself or something. During the interview she again stopped and mentioned she was distracted by my rings laughing. Needless to say I wasn’t keen on appointing her into a role where I’d have to avoid her for the rest of my/her time there joking aside, she wasn’t the best fit for the role but if she had been, I’d have had to have thought twice about appointing her tbh because I felt it was so inappropriate, especially for such a senior role. I’ll give her the benefit of the doubt it was just nerves

Another mad one was about 10 years ago when I was an HR Advisor and asked to sit on a panel recruiting housekeeping staff as someone was absent from work unexpectedly so they needed an extra person. So that’s fine, ur not expecting people to blow u away, just to be competent, friendly and hopefully trustworthy. Anyway, a lady is shown in and kind of shuffles towards us a bit oddly and sits down. I can’t remember how good the interview was but we said thanked her, stood up to shake her hand and she stood up kind of bent over. But it didn’t seem like she had mobility problems or anything, it was really odd. She shook our hands turned round and her whole bare arse was on show. I swear to god it took every bit of self control I have not to laugh. I couldn’t look at the guy I was interviewing with cause we were friendly and I knew he’d be the same. I couldn’t work out if her trousers had split but it seemed more like they had fallen down under her bum and she hadn’t/couldn’t pull them up or something. Not sure. Poor lady but also poor me as I can literally still see it in my head now
(Note: I’ve remembered reception saying she walked in normally/fine so something must have happened in between arriving and being shown into us )

Sure I’ll have other stories I’ll remember.

On a serious note, all good advice above.

My bit of advice is that it’s important to remember that the public and private sectors are very different and who will be the best candidate in each will likely be different. If you only have experience from one side and are going for a role in the other side, it’s important you understand the differences and can articulate how you feel you’ll made a quick and successful transition. I’ve worked in both, hated the public sector bureaucracy but stuck it out for experience. Much more suited to fast paced, commercial and dynamic private sector companies.

Oh god. The ring thing i can't understand. I wouldn't dream of touching someone I'm being interviewed by (ofc unless we're shaking hands or w.e)That's pretty weird but as you say, nerves make us do funny things!

I laughed out loud at the bare bum lady and then felt awful! What on earth happened to her in that time frame and did she know he bare bum was out?

 

[lemonlime]

I think though it is better to dress slightly more formal than you think, I have friends who went to interviews when they were told ot be casual then turned out to be too casual

I second this. It depends on the company's industry and general vibe of course but I had to learn the hard way that corporate "casual" isn't the casual I think Got invited to a farewell dinner of one of the higher ups, the invitation clearly said casual so I showed up in jeans and trainers. I looked tidy and presentable, I didn't look like I was taking out the rubbish but I panicked hard when I saw everyone in dresses and nice flats or heels etc haha. To anyone who is getting ready for a casual interview, l'ds say lean towards the business casual at first and then you can ease it as time goes by judging by the tone of the office.

 

[Ticktickmeh]

Situation
Result
Action

For the compentcy base ones I've had they look for the above. And if you don't have a specific example. Try saying I would do this...and tie it into the above. Have questions in advance would help. I wish they did that here it would make interviewing easier.


Good luck.