• Screening calls

• Video /First interviews

• Competency-based interviews

• Subsequent interviews & presenting

• Negotiating your salary package​

 

 

 

Screening calls

Prior to deciding to invite a candidate to attend a first/full interview either in person or via a video call, many employers will choose to undertake screening calls (voice) with prospective candidates first.

The call may be either with the hiring manager or more likely with an internal HR or recruiter first.

The purpose of which is intended to check that candidates have the base qualities required before committing to a full, perhaps 60-minute long meeting.

Expect the call to be perhaps just 15 minutes. When answering questions – you should answer the question AND stick to the point. Understand because the interviewer cannot see you, your personality will not easily come through!

You need to consider how you can project your personality to enhance your application, without spoiling your chances. Try to vary, the speed and pitch (volume) at which you are talking; slow/medium/fast and quiet/mid/high and make use of pauses as appropriate to create impact.

You need to control how you’re talking; too quickly, too quiet and too loudly all poise a risk however this is equally the situation if you come across as being monotone / flat.

 

 

Key points to consider:

• Check out the company website, familiarise yourself with the basics of their business, and read the job spec.

• Phone interviews are often short. You need to have key facts and figures to hand so that when you are asked about your track record or some statistic, you can give a prompt and meaningful answer.

• At the start of the call, it is essential that you clarify the purpose of the call, what they would like to get out of the conversation, and how long they would like the call to last.

• When answering questions – you should answer the question AND stick to the point. • Listen and clarify as appropriate.

 

Questions you can expect.

What is your current situation? aka Why are you looking?

If you have been made redundant don’t project any negative feelings. It’s best to show that you’ve accepted the situation as fate and put a positive spin on it. Say you see this is an opportunity to move on, and that you are really quite keen on this particular opening.

What kind of opportunity are you looking for?

• Angle your answer so it relates to the kind of opportunity that you’re interviewing for – both job and employer type.

• Think of your value to the employer – a good answer might be: “from what I can understand, this position makes particularly good use of my skills and experience, and offers me a challenging position in which to grow my career”.

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Questions about your experience.

It is likely that they will want to ask you about skills and experience, which they would like for a candidate to possess. Listen carefully to what they are saying, if you are unsure, ask them to repeat the question or seek further clarification about what they mean.

How do you feel about…

It’s possible that they may ask you how you feel about undertaking a particular type of task, approach, or type of work. This may be something which is important to success in the job. You may wish to respond by saying “that’s an interesting question, why do you ask?”.

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What is your salary package?

Be ready to say what your salary package is and what your expectations are.

• When a company asks about a salary package and an answer is given, this sets an expectation.

• Depending on your situation and the nature of the opportunity, it may be appropriate for you to let them know if you are seeking a higher salary package than what you currently enjoy.

• Conversely, in some cases when people interview, their expectations are for a lower salary than they enjoyed before – in which case it may be appropriate for you to state this.

In most cases, employers will want to keep screening calls short and sharp. Which means limited time for asking them questions… the one question which you may wish to ask is “How has the position become available?”

If your call is with the hiring manager (the person into whom the role will report), then you may wish to ask 2 or 3 questions – consider what you most would like to find out about.

NB If the call has come from an internal recruiter / HR person, then he or she may have little knowledge of the opening and the nuances of the job. And at the end of the call, they may wish and be unable to commit to inviting you for a full, first interview and may have to revert back to the hiring manager first.

 

 

How to close the interview?

Many people are uncertain about how to finish the interview.

However, everyone wants to find out where they stand – even if perhaps they don’t want the job.

You should finish the call by finding out what happens next AND agreeing to any follow-on action. • If they do not volunteer to invite you to the next stage, you may wish to ask if he or she has any concerns, and try overcoming these as appropriate

Often an employer is looking for the candidate to close/find out where they stand/nail the job offer – particularly if he or she is a senior manager or in sales or procurement. Sometimes employers are looking for people who are hard-nosed and really quite an outcome and results-oriented, in which case, they would be expecting those people to close.

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Consider asking one of three questions:

1. “I hope that you don’t mind my asking, but how do you feel about my suitability for the role?”

2. “I like the look of this opportunity because (state a reason) … “Are there any concerns that you have that I can clear up right now?”

3. The third question is a really smart one: “How strong a candidate am I, both for the requirement for which you’re looking to hire into and in comparison, to other candidates that you’re looking at?”

Final word

As a minimum, we suggest you ask…

“Would you please tell me about the recruitment process and what timescales are you looking at?”

 

 

 

Video interviews

It's easy to connect and build rapport in person. Video interviews tend to be shorter, it's also easier for the interviewer to cut it short because it's less personal. You may wish to consider how the following points apply to you - and what adjustments if any that you need to make.

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Firstly, your backdrop:

• When the people interviewing you, see you and the background in which you are set – they’ll form opinions about you.

• Assuming you’re doing the video from home, you need to make sure the room from which you’re making the call is neat and tidy. Failure to do so will mean you’ll come across as someone with a casual approach and dis-organised i.e. second rate.

• Similarly what you choose to wear and how you present yourself is important. Employers want to hire people who look smart i.e. are clean-cut, present a professional image, you need to avoid being too casual/complacent.

• Think about the colours of clothes which you are wearing. Be careful about wearing light coloured clothes with light coloured backgrounds – it can look dull. Consider wearing block colours such as navy/black.

• Avoid doing them in public places like coffee shops, the interviewer may be unable to hear you and you may be reticent to talk loudly, which means you may be too quietly spoken to be heard etc

 

Interactions are different:

• The ability to build relationships is weakened.

• When you meet with someone in person you pick up on each-others energy… in a video call, it can be quite flat – be sure to smile, vary the tone of your voice etc

• In a face to face meeting, it’s difficult to close down a meeting quickly however not so with a video call – it’s less personal.

• Is it a pre-screen or screening interview?

• Sometimes in a hiring process, an employer may have an internal recruiter or administrator undertake a quick 10-15 min call to cover the basics.

• Otherwise a fuller screening meeting maybe 30-40 mins, not an hour.

• Which means that at the start of the call it is essential that you clarify the purpose of the call, what they would like to get out of the conversation and...

• How long they would like the call to last.

• Because you’re not in the room with the person its more likely they will interrupt you, change the subject, cut you short…. and perhaps choose to draw the interview to a close more quickly if they’re not impressed.

• When answering certain questions, you’ll need to make sure you answer the question which was asked!

• Be sure to listen and clarify as appropriate – so that you are answering the right question, in the right context.

• Screen sharing is frequently counter-productive, often distorted images are difficult or impossible to read. Possibly best avoided, if you’re going to present documents/visuals consider sending them as docs via email.

 

First interviews

Twelve common interview questions:

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1. What do you know about our company?

You need to be able to describe succinctly the nature of the company to which you’re applying, and the business in which it operates.

You should be familiar with key facts and figures including when it was established, the number of employees, annual turnover and perhaps profitability and growth rate.

NB Senior roles require a more insightful answer.

 

2. Tell me about yourself/talk me through your CV/Resume

Don’t be offended when asked this question – some senior people see this as being quite basic. However, many interviewers find this a great way to see how well someone can account for themselves, how well they can project themselves and that it’s a good way to get to know a candidate’s abilities, and motivations. Most people struggle when answering this question, regardless as to how senior they are.

Our pointers are:

• Firstly, turn the table on the interviewer ~ find out what they want you to cover and how long they would like you to spend talking through it.

• Most interviewers will expect this to take up to just 20 minutes of an hour meeting. We stress those words “up to”!

• So, it’s important to keep yourself on track. It’s easy to drift off the subject and give long answers. Not answering the question will irritate and bore the interviewer.

• What’s the interviewer looking for? For senior management positions, they wish to satisfy themselves that you have the background and skills to do the job.

• So where appropriate make certain what you say is relevant to the company, its line of business and the requirements of the role.

• You should be careful not to place all your emphasis on making what you have done seem relevant to the job. Don’t go over the top because the interviewer might easily think you’re saying what you think he wants to hear, rather than the real you!

• Where appropriate align your experiences, skills and achievements to the nature of the opening for which you are interviewing. Be sure to communicate things which you consider particularly relevant, and understand recent experiences and achievements are more meaningful than those which happened a long time ago.

• Include facts and figures which show you in a good light. The balance of what you say should be on the positive.

• Early career experience should be covered quickly since it has the least value and more recent experience covered in more detail. • If you’ve had considerable experience and a large number of previous employers, it’s important to keep your answer brief – you may wish to think of your career in three short chapters to bring the interviewer up to date. So, for example, you could say “following graduation in Economics, I joined one of the big four and for the next 10 years spent time as an auditor, and accounting supervisor” i.e. This would represent the first chapter of your career.

• Whatever you do, don’t go into ‘broadcast mode’ and ramble on at length about things in your past employment history which have little or no relevance to the current situation.

• Throw the question back to the interviewer as appropriate – ask him or her if there is anything else, they would like to know about you.

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3. Questions about your CV/Resume

• Consider the hiring requirement from the employer’s perspective and what is written in their job spec (if you have a copy).  Then examine your CV and think about the questions you may be asked.

 

4. What are your strengths and weaknesses?

• A word of warning – sometimes this question is phrased in a different way, such as: “How would your colleagues describe you?”

• This can be a tricky question. Emphasise your strengths and align them with the job you’re being interviewed for.

• Think of a past weakness that you have either identified yourself or that has been pointed out to you. Tell them how you overcame that particular weakness and explain that because of your corrective action it is now either no longer a weakness or it is less of a weakness.

 

5. What would you bring to the role? / Why should we choose you?

• Tell them that in your view you have the necessary skills and experience to do the job. It is important to illustrate this with facts and figures and emphasise your skills which are relevant to them.

• These must be substantiated with specific information: financial facts such as profit, sales, budget and growth. Other facts such as how long you have had the job or the number of reports that you have managed as well as your technical capabilities or regulatory qualifications.

• Choosing facts and figures which show you in the best light will make you appear more convincing. A lack of facts and figures makes you appear unconvincing.

• Tell them that you want the job.

• Tell them that from everything you have seen and heard, you think you would fit in well and make a positive contribution to the business.

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6. How would you approach the role?

• Consider any question/s you may need to put to the interviewer before answering the question.

• Your answer will depend on the nature of your role and timescales.

• The first thing is to seek consensus as to the nature of the role and exactly what is expected.

• Agree or outline any timescales and specific goals to be realised.

• Consider breaking down your answer into beginning, middle and end – so as to give it a structure and present it in a logical timeline.

 

7. What is your current situation?

• If you have been made redundant don’t project any negative feelings. It’s best to show that you’ve accepted the situation as fate and put a positive spin on it. Say you see this is an opportunity to move on, and that you are really quite keen on this particular opening.

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8.  What kind of opportunity are you looking for now?

• Angle your answer so it relates to the kind of opportunity that you’re interviewing for.

 

9. What attracts you to this position with us?

• Think of your value to the employer – a good answer might be: “from what I can understand, this position makes particularly good use of my skills and experience, and offers me a challenging position in which to grow my career”.

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10. How will this position fit in with your longer-term career goals?

This may also be put in another way: “How do you wish to progress your career?”

Your focus must always be on the job for which you are being interviewed there and then. It’s a common mistake to start talking about a future job rather than the job in hand.

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11. What do you like and dislike about your current job? /What motivates you?

Talk about things you like, which are transferable to your new employer and ideally those which will be of most value to the employer.

Don’t bad mouth your current or previous employer/s. And think twice about expressing the frustrations you experience at your current company – you may face similar ones in your new job.

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12. What is your current salary package?

If you’re asked what your salary package is, the employer will be looking for a direct answer to a direct question and there’s a good chance they’ll be irritated if you don’t share it with them. Assuming you want an increase in salary, then you may wish to not only state your salary but also that you’re looking for an increase.

Negotiating a salary is best left till the end when you have built your value and the company has decided they want to hire you.

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Your questions are as important as your answers!

In all interview situations, your questions are as important as answers

Determine in advance what questions you’d most like to ask – if the video call is 45 mins that’s just c. 20 mins of talk time each… so make sure you determine which 3-5 questions you’d most like to ask.

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Here are 7 questions you may wish to consider asking:

1. I’m interested to understand more about your company, today and how you see it developing, perhaps in the contexts of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.

2. How has the position arisen?

3. What is the nature of the job role?

4. What are the key performance measurements?

5. What attributes are you looking for in a candidate?

6. How would you describe the company culture and what’s it like for someone working here?

7. What’s your recruitment process, how do you feel about my suitability to your company and the role? What happens next? AND what timescales are you working to?”.

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Your level of seniority may influence the stage, scope and depth of which you are able to ask questions.

In most interviews, there exists a “balance of power”.

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Inexperienced interviewers may have a limited understanding of this and may proceed with a selfish approach to interviewing and fail to understand that recruitment is a two-way process. This balance of power (which party wants who most) can change during an interview or through the interview process.

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Assuming an interview is an hour-long, you can expect 30 minutes of talk time each.

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So, we suggest you prioritise around perhaps just five most important areas/questions. Make sure that you put your questions in a logical order. For example, you should be finding out about the company objectives before the nature of the role and then subsequently about how performance in that role is measured. If the interviewer does not quickly outline an agenda for the meeting, we would suggest you ask him or her how they wish to play it…

 

Pro job seekers tip: Following your interview make notes about what the interviewer said.

The reason for this being is that assuming you are invited back for a second interview, then you’ll be able to recall more of what was said at the first interview and in doing so – it’s likely you’ll be better placed to tune into the employers needs, motivations and impress them more.

Enabling you to be in a stronger position to perform at second interview. This of course applies to all interview stages.

You can of course keep these notes in your Job Search Dashboard, in the interview notes section.

 

 

 

Competency-based interviews

If you’re interviewing for a job, with a mid to large-sized company, a government / public services organization or an employer operating in a regulated or complex business area, then it’s quite likely you may be asked to attend a competency-based interview – this may be positioned to you as being a formal competency-based interview or perhaps less formally with several competency-based interview questions included.

The principle of competency-based interview questions being that an employer is seeking someone who is capable of performing in a particular job. Working on the basis that the past is a predictor of future behavior i.e. you’ve done it before, you can do it again. Some interviewers will take a different approach and rather than ask about what you did in the past, may choose to ask how you would approach a task (future/hypothetical).

To find out more, simply click on the job type which best applies to you:

Generic examples

Creative

Consultancy/Management Consultancy

Executive Leadership

Governance, Risk & Compliance

HR

Lawyers/Legal

Management

Marketing

Procurement

R&D

Sales

 

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Subsequent interviews & presenting

Whilst it is common to meet key decision-makers at more than one interview, you can expect to meet different people at various stages.

This represents a chance for you to build a more complete picture of the opportunity and to get different perspectives on it.

It is also an opportunity for you to show them that you are the best person for the job.

Asking the same questions at the second interview of the same person you met at the first one will demonstrate ignorance! Ask different questions or ones that might allow you to find out more about areas of particular interest to you. If you are asking a different person, you could ask one, some, or all of the same questions at the second interview, which you asked at the first. If the person who interviewed you at the first meeting is present at the second, you could repeat the question by saying: “When I met with ABC previously, we talked about XYZ. I’m interested to find out more about this area, may I ask your thoughts?”

A second interview is also a good opportunity to raise questions that were not covered for one reason or another at the first.

Ideally, shortly after the first interview, write down the key things which were mentioned, so that you can consider them before the second interview – how they were said, the points made, choices of phrase and word, etc. You should be ready for different questions – AND questions about areas covered at the first interview which might have exposed your weaknesses, or perhaps were not covered fully.

You need to ask new questions. And delve more deeply into any important aspects.

 

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Panel interviews and presentations

Expect to see new people! You need to be as keen at the second interview as you were at the first. This is a common shortcoming.

Be even more curious about the organization/job or where you stand as a candidate. You’ve been invited back because you’re a contender.

Find out what is expected and who will be there.

• Ideally, get the details from them in writing – how long the presentation is to be and what they would like covered. Be sure to ask who is to be present, names and job titles plus any additional insight you can glean.

If possible, take a sounding on your presentation before the day.

• Assuming you are applying internally, it is likely you will have a sponsor or mentor – be sure to clarify your understanding of the presentation subject and take a sounding on an overview of your presentation.

• Furthermore, an insider may give you a steer as to how the panel sees you as a candidate – your strengths and weaknesses, and perhaps what they are looking to hear.

• When interviewing for a position internally, seek friendly external inputs – someone who is well established within an organization may have developed insular views, while an external perspective may sharpen you up and help you project yourself as a stronger candidate.

• For people interviewing externally, it is less likely you will have a sponsor or warm enough relationship to do this. However, if you are able to, do so. Regardless, be sure to get some inputs from a qualified friend.

Don’t be stupid and ignore the normal presentation rules!

• Give your presentation a structure: an introduction, the content, and a conclusion. Give them a roadmap – an introduction and list of topics you will cover. Without this, they’ll wonder where they are going and are more likely to questions at stages that may not suit you.

• Tell them what you are going to tell them, tell them, and tell them what you have told them.

• If it’s a 20-minute presentation use perhaps six or seven slides.

• You should avoid a regular pitfall ~ people invariably try to say too much.

• Keep your slides simple. On a video call, it’s unlikely that your image will show well on other people’s screens. The slide below is text-heavy and to be avoided.

 

You should give relevant facts and figures.

• A failure to do so is a common shortcoming of people presenting at interview. This is particularly important when asked about how you would approach the job/your first 100 days/your plans for the first 30/60 and 90 days.

Grab and maintain their attention.

• The easiest way to hook an audience is to describe the problem/opportunities and how you will overcome them/realize them. Use visuals for greater impact and use the power of three – express subjects and points in threes.

• People buy benefits not technicalities, so be sure you convey what you mean to them and that each person understands your message. You need to talk with passion and belief.

 

 

Expect the unexpected

• A frequent hazard in interview-based presentations, is people joining late and leaving early!

• Best advice – be careful not to over-run and be ready to summarise what’s already been covered to a late joiner.

Rehearse like hell.

• Most people don’t rehearse, and this is a mistake. Decision-makers can always tell how well prepared someone is and rehearsing will help you be better prepared to handle “dialogue”. And “dialogue” brings about synergy!

Each pannellist is likely to be working on a fixed set of questions to ask.

• An important aspect is to include each person in the meeting and appreciate that different people may have different knowledge levels and interests in different subject areas/aspects.

• Appreciate that different people on the panel may have different perspectives and what someone can see as a weakness another may see as a strength. Be careful not to jump to conclusions during or after the interview. Panel interviews are subject to post-interview debrief!

Your opportunity to find out more and gain different perspectives.

• Have relevant questions pre-determined and written down to ask, ideally asking different people on the panel different questions and endevouring to include them all.

How to end the meeting.

• Invariably most companies interview several people and will want to debrief together after the interview – so the chances of them offering you there and then are remote.

• They need to be convinced of three things: does the candidate want the job, can the candidate do the job, and will the candidate fit in. Perhaps ask three questions rolled into one: how well you match up to their expectations, how you compare with other candidates, and what timescales are they working to.

• Assuming you are interested, you can end by thanking them for their time, and saying that you have been pleased to meet them, are excited about the opening, and are looking forward to hearing back from them.

 

Final word

It’s as much a meeting as it is a presentation. Candidates often interpret being requested to give a presentation as being just that – but ordinarily, it’s as much a meeting as it is a presentation. You need to synergize with the people you are seeing so you need to interact with them, and if you are to work there, they need to be happy you’ll fit in. On starting your presentation and only after having stated the subject areas you will cover in your presentation – you may wish to say “please ask questions as we go along and I will answer them either immediately” or you may say “I’ll cover that later”. Use your common sense, you need to respond properly to the right questions and make sure you complete the presentation.

 

 

 

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