There are tons of ways either you or your interviewer can stuff up the interview. You can fail to prepare well enough, or be so nervous that you come across as either too passive or too confident. Your interviewer might ask you stupid questions, or even illegal questions – because she hasn’t been trained on how to conduct an interview.

But in this podcast is a story about one candidate who did it all wrong, but ended up with the job. (The podcast has lots of interesting news and snippets of information. My story is about 25 minutes in.)

For some excellent advice on the intangibles that help you get hired, see this post by GL Hoffman on the six attributes that may help you get hired.

Photo credit: Princess theater

So what can you do to even up the process?

As well as the obvious advice to be super-prepared – researching the company, understanding how your experience fits, having a fund of achievement-type stories to demonstrate your strengths, try these tips too:

Take notes
Bring paper and pen, jot down points of interest during the interview (perhaps as questions to ask at a later point). The chances are you won’t remember everything that’s said, so making a note of the key points you discuss will help you avoid too much forensic analysis of the “What did she really mean when she said…” type doubt after the interview.

Get acknowledgment to your answers
Once you’ve answered a typical “Tell me about yourself” type of question, ask for feedback with something like “Would you like me to go into more detail / clarify any of this?” to check you’re more or less on the same wavelength.

Interview the interviewer
Interviews should be two-way. You also need to make a decision on whether you’d like to work there. As well as general questions about the role, use the information you gained from your research to prepare more specific industry-related questions:

What sort of challenges are you facing due to the ….. happening now?
How do these affect the company’s short and long term goals?

Be prepared to lead the interview
if your interviewer is doing most of the talking, or not asking pertinent questions, take the lead in directing the conversation. You can do this with questions like:

“What sort of person are you looking for in this role?”
(Let the interviewer answer, then show how you match the required attributes.)

Other questions which lead into a conversation:
“What would be the expectations of this position in the first three to six months?”
“How could I exceed them?” / “How could I add value to this role?”
“What are the particular challenges of this role?”

Don’t be thrown by odd or stress questions
A recent one I heard:
“If I gave you £1000, what would you do with it?”
It’s not a particularly helpful question (what are they trying to find out?) but be prepared to either ask for clarification: “Can I ask why this question is important to you?”
“What aspect of my experience or personality are you interested in talking about?” or return the question:
“What would you say if I gave the money back to you?”

“May I ask why this is important?” is also a good response if you get out-and-out illegal questions from an untrained interviewer, such as whether or not you plan to have children.

Address their concerns
At the end of the interview, give yourself every opportunity to address any concerns over your suitability for the job.
“What do you think are my possible weaknesses in relation to this role?”
“Do you have any concerns over my ability to perform in this role?”

Get clarification on timelines
“When can I expect to hear from you?”
“When do you think you’ll be making a decision?”

This gives you a useful indication of when you should be following up if you haven’t heard back. But just as importantly, it stops you from worrying about why they haven’t contacted you two days after your interview.

Don’t stop looking or applying for other jobs
Until you’ve got confirmation that you’ve got the job, put the interview out of your mind, and continue your job search.

Photo credit: ontwerpplus

You can’t always tell what it’s going to be like working for a particular company – especially if you only have one interview and you don’t know anyone working there to give you the low-down. So if an interview is all you have to go on, these four aspects might give you a clue.

Your interviewers
How prepared were your interviewers? Did they keep you waiting, or did you get the impression they had forgotten about it? Could this be a sign of poor time management skills, or bad internal communication?

On its own it might not be a huge problem, but if your job entails dealing with people throughout the company, poor communication could quickly become something that will make your job difficult and frustrating.

What sort of questions were you asked? Rambling or focussed? Did you get the impression that your interviewer was interested in you, and what you could bring to the company? And what about the interviewer’s attitude? Enthusiastic about the company, or just going through the motions?

Your predecessor
Are you replacing someone else who was promoted, or who went to a different company? This might tell you what potential the role has (if any) for future development. Asking about your predecessor is one way to find out what your manager considers important, as it allows him / her to think in terms of concrete examples, rather than in hypotheses.

Ask what your predecessor brought to the role, and why that was important. What did he / she do that made a difference? Ask A Manager particularly likes this question: “Thinking back to people who have been in this position previously, what differentiated the ones who were good from the ones who were really great?”

Atmosphere
Did you get a chance to see other people working in the company, perhaps as you walked to HR or your line manager’s office? Was there a deathly hush as you walked past, or were people chatting and smiling? Was the person accompanying you greeted by other employees?

Company regulations
Does the company have a handbook or code of conduct that spells out their do’s and don’ts? For example, in some situations you may have to declare a personal relationship with another employee, or even be prepared to change role / department. Make sure you’re happy with the rules before you agree to the job.

Photo credit: Leochi

But it’s also the stage in the process where you’re at your most “naked” – where it’s not just your CV doing the talking, but you, in front of one or more interviewers. You need to show that you can stand behind your CV and covering letter, give the interviewer confidence in your suitability and match for the role and ask intelligent and thoughtful questions – all while building a personal rapport.

Interviewing is a less stressful experience if you’re thoroughly prepared. It’s not just a question of predicting the sort of questions you’re likely to get, but also knowing which aspects of your career history are most likely to raise doubts. How do you explain a resignation, a dismissal or a change in career?

Making the best impression at interview was published in The Guardian, and links to specific questions / suggestions on the careers forum.

Most candidates don’t need to be told that a firm handshake gets the interview off to a good start (better if your hand is warm, rather than cold) or that maintaining eye contact and smiling makes you appear honest and friendly. But there are other psychological aspects that can make things click between you and the interviewer.

Find common ground
It sounds obvious, but creating rapport, by finding something in common or agreeing with the interviewer, will make you both feel good about each other. It’s natural to like someone who likes us, so find a way of being on the same wavelength as the interviewer.

But you need to be genuine – feigning interest is difficult to pull off convincingly. As long as you are genuinely interested in the other person, other body language giveaways (eye contact, facial expression, matching postures and movements) will also be natural, rather than forced and creepy.

Don’t discount the power of your attractiveness
Interviewers are no more immune to physical attraction than anyone else. Of course many are trained to look past physical appeal, but use the first vital moments of your interview to create a favourable impression. Eye contact together with a smile makes you more attractive to the opposite sex, researchers at the University of Aberdeen found.

Unfortunately, you’ll only enhance your appeal if you’re physically attractive to begin with, so don’t just rely on a winning smile. Flattering and stylish clothes also play their part, as do obvious signs of health and vitality.

Amass points in your favour
If you score highly in one characteristic, you’re assumed to score highly in other areas, too. Good interviewers ask revealing questions to uncover the extent of your job abilities, but if you show a high level of integrity, or responsibility, for example, you’re starting from a strong position when asked questions designed to uncover the extent of your loyalty to a company, or your willingness to go the extra mile to complete a project.

What other psychological factors have you noticed from interviews – either as the interviewer or as the interviewee?

Photo credit: Wasoxygen

Although one candidate was changing careers, he had good functional, analytical and people skills, as well as an entrepreneurial attitude. The other was well qualified, but brought up his salary requirements early on. Not only were his expectations unrealistic, but his entitlement attitude meant he ruined his chances.

Four tips for discussing salary

- Research the market salary before the interview.
Your interviewer might ask you about your salary expectations, and you need to know what’s an acceptable range for the position.

- Don’t be the first to bring up salary.
Let the interviewer set out the benefits package and take notes, if necessary, to ask questions and open up any negotiations.

- Don’t make salary your first question in the interview.
Your first questions should aim to find out more about the job itself: what the expectations are for the role, whether the interviewer has any questions about your ability to do the job, career advancement and so on. There’s no point talking about salary if you don’t fully understand the role.

- Consider your reasons for wanting the job before you start discussing salary.
If you feel the job offers real career potential, you may be happy to accept a lower salary for an initial period.