I was once in the middle of an interview when the two folk asking the questions started arguing with each other.
We were happily chatting about extra-curricular activities, which you’d think is a tough topic to pick an argument over, but nevertheless it happened. It wasn’t even a decent row – it revolved around whether they should be truly extra to the curriculum or an extension of it. I sat there partially amused and partly bemused about what was going on.
After a while, they remembered why they were there and asked me something.
In another interview, I was asked to give some examples of measuring success, so I did.
‘Yes, but how would you measure this?’
I repeated my answer, in a slightly different way.
‘I see, but how would you measure this?’
Maybe it was a test of how tolerant I was to redundant questions, but it was awkward nonetheless.
Or there was the time a school leader and myself were interviewing someone for a teaching role. Half way through the school leader had had enough so got up and walked off. The applicant raised an eyebrow and I had to pretend an emergency had just sprung up, which we both knew was a lie.
The upshot of this is that job interviews can be an odd experience. It’s not a realistic dynamic – a few strangers talking together about why they should not be strangers. It’s hard to prepare fully for them too. They can be a series of random questions, or they can be incredibly structured and unrealistic, or they can actually be enjoyable. It depends a lot on who is doing the interview and a lot about , and how flexible, and good the applicant is.
So how do you have a good job interview? Here are a few tips.
Before
Set things up well. If you’re invited to an interview, confirm the time as promptly as you can. Then start doing your research. Try to find a time when you’ll have a few minutes to prepare. Check out the employer’s website and social media and find examples that could help you. Go through the job description again and highlight any key areas. Many interviews are done online, so keep any notes nearby. Some like to have post-it notes dotted around the screen, others use a split-screen with notes on one side and the video in the other.
Think about what you’ll wear. Is casual or formal the way to go? What’s going to be in the background (avoid anything too cluttered). And turn your phone to silent.
During
Listen carefully and focus. Don’t have pre-prepared speeches, but do be ready with examples to back up your claims.
Let the interviewee see your personality as well as your achievements. This can be hard in such an unnatural situation (especially if it’s online) but you need to avoid bland statements and generalisations and show them who you are and why you’re right for the role.
Questions tend to be based around a few different areas: they could be about your specific skills that will be needed for this role, or they could be about your personality and how you’re going to fit in. Sometimes you’ll be given scenarios – ‘what if…?’ style questions. If you can relate them to a particular experience, great. If not, you’ll need to imagine, but try to be as practical as possible.
I’ll often start with something seemingly bland like ‘what made you apply to work at this school?’ This is a good chance for applicants to show me something specific they like, but you’d be surprised how many fail to take advantage.
There are no real rules about how long an answer should be, but with practice you should have a sense for when you’re starting to waffle. If that happens, stop rather than keep going for the sake of it. Silence can be your friend. Pause before you start answering to give yourself a moment to think. If you have brain freeze mid-way through, stop rather than talk yourself into a hole.
Have a handful of questions lined up as you’ll usually be asked if you have any. Good questions refer to the company directly or something they have achieved. Really good ones ask a question and allow you to follow-up with an example of how you’ve done something similar. Try to avoid too many questions about pay and conditions – those can all come later after you’ve got over the initial hurdles.
After
A short email thanking them for the interview and saying how much you enjoyed it doesn’t do any harm. It keeps you in the recruiter’s vision. If they’ve given you a timeline, then make a note of that and don’t contact them again until after that’s passed. Once it has passed, it’s ok to send a polite message asking if they’ve made a decision. If you made the interview stage, most companies will have the decency to tell you if you’ve made it through or not (but some may not).
Lastly, remember that this is a two-way street. Interviews are a chance to see if you like the company as much as whether they like you. While you’re talking, consider if you can see yourself working with this person every day. You have a say in this process too, and it should be an active one as you consider whether you’d want the job, if they offered it.
