Interview – Costas Enterprises Homepage

Kia Ora Whanau!

Alex from Costas Enterprises here, and today we are going to cover some of the basic things you should do before you go to the interview. These tips wont get you the job, but they may help you feel more confident.

Review your STARL examples and try to anticipate what you may be questioned on.

OK shameless blog posts plug here, but if you haven’t already, you may want to check out my previous STAR examples post. We have also already discussed about identifying these in another blog post (Before you apply for a job). These can be identified by looking in to the job description and identifying what skills the employer is looking for. Sometimes the employer will come out and say exactly the skills they want but other times you will need to read the language of what they are wanting to find.

Practice the delivery of your STARL examples.

You can do this by holding a mock interview with a family member or your friend. The important thing to know when going into an interview is that when you are being asked a question by one of the interviewers, the one question asked is actually two to three questions in one. For example they might ask something similar to:

“This question is about teamwork. Tell me/us a time when you were part of a good team, what was the defining factor about this team and how did you resolve any conflicts within that team?

When you are asked a question like this you may need to change your STARL example to fit this question, you need to think how you break down the question.

In this example we are told the skill is Teamwork, but is this the only skill they want you to identify? They ask to tell them a time you were part of a good team (Question 1 – This is you giving them an example), What was the defining factor about this team (Question 2 – What made this team great (this should be within the example itself)) and finally they ask how did you resolve any conflicts within the team (Question 3 – This is not only asking about teamwork but also how you resolve conflict or deal with irate team members – And before you ask, the answer “we never have any complaints or conflicts” is not going to be helpful at all so think carefully). Also in this example you may want to instead mention a time from your personal life if you can’t think of a work example.

Practice the delivery of your answer.

You need to practice taking your time to think about the answer you will give to their question, you need to make sure that you can interpret one of your STARL answers into the question they have asked. This may also mean slightly adapting your answer.

One thing you will learn is that while you’re STARL answers will be great when you explain the Situation Task Action Result and what you Learnt, if you can’t adapt these within the interview to answer the question being asked, you might as well not even try to remember them.

This only comes with practice! The more practice and experience you have with these style of interview questions, the easier it will be to adapt and respond.

The key point here is listening to the question being asked. By taking time you think about your answer before responding straight away, you will be more comfortable and confident in your response.

Remember: You want to make this interview more like a conversation, this way the employer will feel comfortable around you … this is a good thing!

Dress to impress

OK so I know I don’t really need to say this, but I’m going to cover it off anyway.

When you are going for an interview you are giving a visual representation of yourself to the employer. What does this mean? … You don’t have to be dressed as if you’re going on a first date/ wedding or a school ball but at the very least dress professionally.

Think about it simply, if you were on the opposite side of the table and someone came to you wearing a T-Shirt and Shorts, with a dirty full beard or messy hair, applying for an office role … would you hire that person?

You want to make a good first impression as it might be the last one you have to ever give.

So get a shirt/ blouse, some nice pants/ dress, get a hair-cut (or comb/ brush your hair) and if your a man, shave/ style your facial hair and finally go get kill that interview!

Believe in yourself and visualise your own success.

Ok, Ok I know it sounds a bit airy-fairy but hear me out.

Before you go into the interview, once your looking and feeling So Fresh and So Clean (Clean) you need to believe that you can give that amazing interview.

Put simply BE CONFIDENT!!

You are going in this interview to show that you will be an asset to their team/ organization because you have every skill needed to go. So go in there and not only show that you can do the job required but exceed it (you did apply for the job because your thought you were qualified right?, now is the time to act that way).

Do some research and prepare to ask a question.

So I know we have covered this already in a previous Questions blog post but this is actually really important, As mentioned in the blog post, this is not a standard “What does the job pay?” type question.

Instead it should be more of a reflection of what the job is, for example if you are applying for a Business Analyst type role within security, ask them something that is in line with what they are looking for.
“What security measures do you currently use and how do you intend to develop these to the changing technological markets?”.
By asking a question to do with the job, you are showing an interest in the role and while it might not get you the job, it will at least show them you are seriously interested and could lead to another job interview or a junior position within the same organization.

So we come to the part of the blog where I offer links to Amazon products and advise that I am an Amazon Affiliate and if you click the link and buy anything from Amazon I will get a small commission. This is a way of helping keep these blogs going so I appreciate anyone that helps me do this! These two books are only examples of what you can wear when going not only for an interview but also once you get that job. Again this wont guarantee you get the job, but it might make your interviewer favor you more if you have closed shoes as opposed to jandals/ flip-flops.

Thanks again for taking the time to read this post and I value all of my readers/ followers and commentators. So come and join the Whanau and subscribe so your always in the know!

Until next time, have a great day Whanau!

Kia Ora Whanau

Alex from Costas Enterprises here, and I am here to help you get the job you want.

I’m going to tell you a little secret … the question at the end of an interview is actually really important.

Stick with me here, the reason why it is important is because, if you haven’t swayed the employer yet, this is your last chance to do so.

OK I don’t want this to come of too over-dramatic, but in a way it’s true. You could have done all the prep work, but absolutely bombed the interview. Nerves are a very real problem and I plan to cover this in a future post.

However, even if you bombed the interview, if you ask a really compelling and an interested question(s), then you give off the impression that you are interested in the role and the work the organization is doing.

Remember that your “interview” should be more like a conversation. This will give the employer more of an idea of how you will work with the team.

Believe or not but your question could be the reason you get the job, or get a call back for a future job. Now I know you don’t want to think about call-backs, you want a job now!
Don’t be so quick to dismiss that call back, if the job or the company is someone you really want to work for then it might be worth the wait.

So what type of question am I talking about?, well before we ask a question there are some rules you might want to follow:

Do you research on the employer, by this I mean, what is the job you are applying for? What field is it in? What do you want to know specifically about the role etc…
Ask a question you want answered – Think about the job you would be doing or what will be expected of you as an employee or something regarding the field you intend to work in.
Don’t ask about what the job pays, or when you will hear or how many applicant have applied etc. while they can provide this information, you don’t want to come across as only in it for the money.
Show an interest in the job and also what they respond. That is the goal with your questions, to get them talking
Thank them for answering your questions.

So now I’m going to give you an example of the kind of questions you could ask.

Say you are applying for a job where the employer works with bio-metric data collection. . . and you have no experience in anything to do with bio-metrics.

Do you research!!

A simple google search under bio-metric data collection and on the employer will give you a vast result of answers. For example the company may deal specifically in data collection of bio-metric passports.

Your question could be something like:

“Given that your company collects bio-metric data from passports, how does the software determine and translate this data into information we can view?”

Or something like:

“Has your company ever found any concerns regarding the security and/or privacy from customers using bio-metric sensors? How did you resolve these issues?”

What you are trying to achieve with these questions is the following:

Showing your genuine interest for the organization
Getting the employer to talk about what they are passionate about (especially if being interviewed by the CEO/ Owner Operator of the business)
Creating a dialogue between you and your future employer.

Be prepared for a potential follow-up question. If the employer replies with a one word answer, try another open-ended question (this is when you ask a question where the employer can answer more than yes or no).

As an Amazon Affiliate I will get a potential commission if you click the following link and buy anything from Amazon.com. I am going to recommend a book on Open Ended questions. This book helped me develop interviewing skills. the book is called Talk to me: How to ask better questions, Get better answers, and Interview anyone like a pro.

Thanks for taking the time to read this post and feel free to like, comment and subscribe.

Tag: Interview

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