Ultimate Interview: 100s of Great Interview Answers

by Williams, Lynn

• ISBN13: 9780749464066
• ISBN10: 0749464062
• Edition: 3rd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2012-04-15
• Publisher: Kogan Page Ltd

Summary

In preparing for an interview, it's useful to understand what organizations are looking for in a candidate. Ultimate Interviewoffers insight into how employers decide what they are looking for in a job candidate, how they use this to draw up the questions, how selection procedures work, why employers conduct interviews and what's likely to happen at the average interview. This book gives all of the background information that candidates need as well as essential practice. Uniquely among interview guidebooks, it organizes common interview questions according to specific job types, such as management, sales and marketing, administrative, clerical. This helps focus on the questions that are most relevant to a specific situation. Each section looks at the thinking behind the questions, and suggests an effective method of answering. With additional advice on researching the background to a vacancy, and how skills and characteristics can be assessed and developed, Ultimate Interviewis a valuable resource for job hunters.

Author Biography

Lynn Williams is a career counselor and trainer who runs workshops on CV writing and interview techniques. She writes regularly for a wide range of publicaions on job search and career issues and is also author of Ultimate job Search. Readymade CVs and Readymade Job Search Letters (all published by Kogan page).

Table of Contents

Introduction	p. 1
Know your enemy	p. 3
Understanding interviewers
What do they want?	p. 3
What sort of things are they looking for?	p. 4
What will happen at the interview?	p. 4
What sort of questions will they ask?	p. 5
How do they know what they're looking for?	p. 6
Prepare yourself	p. 10
What you need to know before the interview
What should you prepare?	p. 11
Evidence that you meet their needs	p. 11
Reassuring answers and explanations	p. 14
Industry knowledge	p. 16
The reasons you want this job	p. 20
Answering questions	p. 21
What the interviewer will ask and what you need to tell them
Make a good impression	p. 21
Three cardinal rules	p. 24
Starting the interview	p. 26
What to expect from the interview and how to begin confidently
Questions they ask everybody	p. 32
Standard questions you should prepare for
Questions for practical jobs	p. 41
Core question, 'Are you reliable?'
Professional knowledge	p. 50
Questions for creative jobs	p. 52
Core question, 'Will you deliver?'
Professional knowledge	p. 63
Questions for clerical and administrative jobs	p. 65
Core question, 'Are you efficient?
Professional knowledge	p. 75
Questions for sales and marketing jobs	p. 77
Core question, 'Can you sell?'
Professional knowledge	p. 89
Questions for technical jobs	p. 91
Core question, 'Can you do the job?'
Professional knowledge	p. 104
Questions for management jobs	p. 106
Core question, 'Will you get results?'
Professional knowledge	p. 125
Questions for customer relations jobs	p. 128
Core question, 'Are you customer focused?'
Professional knowledge	p. 136
Questions for school and college leavers	p. 138
What to do if you don't have experience
Professional knowledge	p. 146
Tackling the difficult questions	p. 148
Handling questions about perceived areas of weakness
Inappropriate and illegal questions	p. 155
Dealing with tricky questions	p. 158
What to say when there's no clear answer
Dealing with critical or negative questions	p. 158
Questions about salary	p. 162
Answering closed questions	p. 164
Answering off-the-wall questions	p. 167
What is the interviewer really asking?
Questions asking you to work something out	p. 168
'Psychological' questions	p. 169
Your questions for the interviewer	p. 172
What to ask at the end of the interview
Variations on the theme	p. 175
Different types of interview and how to deal with them confidently
Screening interviews	p. 175
Telephone interviews	p. 176
Video interviews	p. 177
Panel interviews	p. 178
Serial interviews	p. 179
Assessment centres	p. 180
Informal interviews	p. 181
Second interviews	p. 181
Interview extras	p. 183
Tasks and tests they might include and how to approach them
Making a presentation	p. 184
Showing your portfolio	p. 185
Technical and attainment tests	p. 185
Physical tests	p. 185
Job-replica exercises	p. 185
Group exercises	p. 187
Psychometric tests	p. 188
Future trends	p. 194
Looking the part	p. 196
Making a good impression from the start
Appearance	p. 196
Behaviour	p. 198
Overcoming nerves	p. 201
What happens next?	p. 203
What to do after the interview
While you' re waiting for their decision	p. 203
If they don't make you an offer	p. 204
If they do make you an offer	p. 209
Index to the questions	p. 212
Index	p. 219
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