When you go into the room you will be introduced to the person/panel who will be doing the interview. Try to remember their names if possible so that you can say “goodbye” to them by name at the end.
You will be asked some general questions at the beginning of the interview, which have little purpose other than getting you to talk. The questions will be something like: “How are you?” or “Did you have any trouble finding us?” (If you get this last question the good answer is: “No, because I did a dry run at the weekend to ensure that I knew where you were and what transport is available”)
Give pleasant and informative answers but do not say too much. The interview will only have something like a 30-45 minute timescale and the panel will not want you to talk too much.
After you have given an answer there may be a short period of silence with the panel looking at you. Be comfortable with silence in an interview and remember you can always ask, “Is that enough or would you like to me to say a little more?” This will put the onus back on the panel.
You will always be asked about previous work experience. Try to remember all the jobs you have had and what you did – even jobs like being a paper-boy can involve responsibility such as marking the papers up, getting to work on time, not taking too much sick leave etc.
You will usually also be asked “What are your strengths and weaknesses?” or “What is the best/worst thing you have done at work?” The worst time to think about the answer(s) is during the interview!
Being an actor was mentioned above and just like being an actor you must have a script. You know the questions (or something very similar) will arise so write a short answer out, check it with teachers or parents (or both) and learn it by heart.
For example if you are asked what your strengths and weaknesses are, always deal with the weakness first and then go straight onto your strengths. Only give one weakness but as many strengths as you can give without going too far. A good answer to this question could be:
“Well I suppose some people might say that I take too long when I am marking up the newspapers before the rounds, but that is because I am very accurate and like to get things right. I think accuracy and attention to detail are important and would certainly help me with this job.”
This should be adapted to fit the individual circumstance but you can see how the weakness (and you have to admit to something!) of taking too long to mark up newspapers, seamlessly turns into the strengths of your accuracy and attention to detail. A good point to remember with this and other answers is not to make them look too rehearsed. Listen to the question, leave a slight pause to make it look as if you are thinking and then give the answer that you have learned by heart.
Other questions to prepare for could be, “Why do you want this job?” “What do you do in your spare time?” “How do you see your career developing?” Prepare your answer in advance for all of these questions and the odd strange one such as “If we spoke to some of your friends what 3 words would they use to describe you?”
You cannot predict all of the questions but most interviews tend to be similar. If you have an interview and stumble over some of the answers, you may not get the job. If this happens make a note of the questions you stumbled over and prepare your script for the next time you go to an interview when the same questions might arise.
At the end of the interview you will be asked if you have any questions. The Golden Rule here is to keep an eye on the time. If you are not the only person being interviewed there will be a schedule which the panel will need to keep to – this is very hard and rarely happens. If your interview is not the first one and it starts late, then the panel are behind and desperately trying to “get back on track”.
Knowing this when you get to the “Have you got any questions for us?” section, means that you should only ask any questions that are very important and relevant to you accepting any job offer you might receive. If not covered you might want to ask about things such as working hours to ensure that public transport will get you to work (and home) on time.
If there are no burning questions say to the panel, “No, this has been an interesting and informative interview and thank you for inviting me to attend”. Say good-bye to the panel by name (if you can remember them) and leave.
Doing this will get the panel back on track time wise for which they will be very grateful and give them a warm feeling that they got the interview right in terms of telling you everything you need to know. Bogging the panel down with lots of questions gets them even further behind and makes them think that they did a bad interview – this may not reflect well on you.
One final point. If you during the interview you are asked “What do you do with your spare time?” Do not just say watching television, reading books, listening to music etc. without having some information to back up these interests should you be asked for more details.
If a member of the panel then asks you “So what books do you like to read?” or “What music do you listen to?” make sure that you can answer in a positive way and make sure you really are reading that book or like that particular group/music etc.
Trying to impress a panel by saying that you are reading a classic book or listening to a particular type of music is fine unless somebody asks you for more details!
