Eight tricky interview questions - and how to answer them Viewpoint careers advice blog

Eight tricky interview questions - and how to answer them So, you’ve been invited to interview for your dream job, and you’re starting your all-important preparation. As part of that preparation, you’ve thought about the most likely things you could be asked, such as “why do you want to work here?” or “what first attracted you to this role?” and you have diligently prepared your answers. But, are you prepared to answer those trickier interview questions? We find that many candidates are caught off guard because they’re not fully  equipped with a satisfactory answer. So, what are these trickier interview questions? Why are you being asked them? And how should you answer? 1. Tell me about yourself This is likely to be one of the first questions you are asked and can set the tone for the rest of the interview. Because of its vague nature, this question can prompt an all or nothing response. Either the candidate tells their entire life story, or simply recites their current job title and company. By asking this question, the interviewer really wants to know how you got to where you are, how suitable you are for the role and the company, and what makes you tick. Therefore, my advice would be to tell your story up until now but focus on what you can bring to this opportunity. For instance, if you are a Marketing Manager for a national business, interviewing for a role at an international company with better opportunities, you could follow the below structure and provide answers like the below: Open your answer with what first drew you to your profession “Upon completing a Marketing Management module as part of my Business Degree, I realised this was a field in which I excelled and felt passionate about.” Tie this into a headline overview of your (relevant) career history up until now “Since then I have applied this knowledge to a number of Marketing roles, whilst developing new skills, progressing my career, and reaching my current position of Marketing Manager at x company.” Now, end your story with why you are here “I am now looking to expand upon my skills within a role that has a global remit and plenty of scope for continued progression, hence why I applied.” In sticking to the above structure you can strike that balance between storytelling, and getting straight to the point about why you think you’re the right person for the job. 2.Can you tell me about a time when you implemented an innovative idea successfully? This question is not to be underestimated. Employers are becoming increasingly aware of the fact that in order to survive the latest digital, political and industry changes, they will need a workforce of innovative “ideas people” who can pre-empt these. Our CEO and LinkedIn Influencer, Alistair Cox explains the importance he places on the need to recruit staff with an innovative mindset in one of his recent blogs, and outlines how at Hays, we enable our staff to act ‘like an owner’, encouraging employees to introduce their own ideas.” Therefore, try and think about a time when you not only came up with a good idea but more so came up with an idea which was topical, responsive and produced a great result. Adhere to the “STAR” technique when planning your answer so your point doesn’t get lost amongst the storytelling i.e. â€" S to set the situation “I was a Marketing Manager for a small cyber-security company. One morning I read a news story about a new data protection law that was to be implemented over the next few months affecting the healthcare sector. This law required all healthcare records to have a certain level of encryption, with penalties attached for not doing so. The company I worked at sold a market leading product for encrypting files to the highest standard.” T to describe your task and involvement I saw this occasion as a chance to get ahead of the game, and put together a marketing campaign which promoted this product to the healthcare sector. A to tell of your action (or in this case, idea) I made it my priority secure some budget and invest in quality healthcare sector data for our telemarketers to cold call.   I also put together a follow-up email template with a link to an on-demand product webinar, which the telemarketers could send out following a marketing call. R to show off the results As a result, product webinar views went up x percent that week. My company secured x meetings with x IT procurement managers for the healthcare sector, and closed x amount of deals before this new law even came into practice. 3. How do you ensure your skills are up to date and relevant? This question has a similar objective to the above. Not only does the interviewer want to know that you have a keen interest or passion in the field, they also want to know that you are always eager to learn and develop within your role. Can you think of any training or mentoring programmes which you have undertaken in order to develop your competencies and skill set?   What about any interesting educational material? Some of the best answers I have seen when interviewing for positions at Hays will mention any expert-led content that they have recently read and enjoyed. You could also mention podcasts, press releases and books. 4. Can you tell us about a time when you failed? The word “fail” typically puts candidates on the defensive, which is understandable. However, the worst thing you can say in this situation is that you have never failed. Remember that by asking you this question, the interviewer isn’t trying to catch you out. They know even the most diligent and promising candidates would have experienced setbacks.  They want to know how you overcame them and what you learnt. Your failure doesn’t dont have to be massively detrimental. You could mention a time that you simply missed a deadline or didnt meet one of your Key Performance Indicators. When you answer this question set the scene, paint a clear picture of where you went wrong, what you learnt from it and what you would do differently next time. For example: “When I was a Marketing Manager at X company, I was tasked with co-ordinating the launch of our first company magazine. The launch date had been given; however, I underestimated how long it would take to gather editorial content from the magazine’s contributors. Therefore, the publication launched two days behind schedule. Whilst the magazine was well received, our clients did expect to receive their copy earlier than they did. From this, I learnt to give myself plenty of time when working with external contributors and to give plenty of leeway when deciding on launch dates.” 5. Describe your ideal job This isnt a trick to check you have read the job description properly. The interviewer will have asked you this question to determine whether you would actually be happy in this role, therefore, likely to stay and progress within the company. When preparing this answer, think about what your core responsibilities be in your ideal role, and how you would apply your key skills to these. Now think about how this can tie into the role that you are interviewing for, and highlight both what you are looking for, what you can offer, and why you are a good match for them. For  example: “My ideal job would be a Marketing Manager role with several direct reports and a global remit, within a forward thinking, sociable organisation, where there are opportunities to develop and work overseas.” 6. How would your friends describe you? This is a popular interview question, and by asking it, the interviewer will be trying to determine: a. if your personality suits the role and b. if your personality suits the team and company. Let’s start with how well your personality traits suit your role. What kind of personal attributes would be useful here? For instance, you might be interviewing for a sales role, and your friends describe you as friendly and a good listener. Therefore you would bring this up in order to demonstrate your ability to build a rapport with people, including potential and existing clients. For example: “My friends and family would describe me as friendly and a good listener. I have found that these attributes can translate well in a sales environment, especially when building a rapport with clients and establishing their business needs.” In this industry, we also encourage our clients to assess personality fit; because this is often the main reason a new hire does not work out.  Once again, it is in your interest to be honest here. Don’t just think about traits that relate to the job description, actually think about how your friends would describe you. This will indicate to the interviewer how well you will get on with your potential colleagues. 7. What type of salary are you looking for? Your interviewer should know the industry standard for your role and level of experience. Make sure you do, and if not, then check out our salary guides. Having this information will allow you to answer this question with a lot more conviction, and will put you in a much better position should you need to negotiate. If you are still in the early stages of the interview process and don’t feel that you want to negotiate just yet, you can always say that you want to better understand the company and the role before commenting on salary. 8. Do you have any questions for me? Finally, this is your chance to end the interview on a high by showing a genuine interest in the role. Some candidates make the mistake of having set questions in their mind, and not listening out for the answers to these questions during the interview. Therefore, they will proceed to ask these answered questions at the end, and the interviewer will think they weren’t listening. Pay attention and have a number of questions up your sleeve. You should also keep an open mind for any new questions which may crop up during the interview, stemming from any of the topics that your interviewer covers. By asking these trickier interview questions, the interviewer is trying to gauge more about you as a person as well as a potential recruit; be it personality fit, an innovative spirit or staying power.   I hope the above advice will give you an idea of why your interviewer might ask you certain questions; and more importantly, how to provide strong, honest and informative answers which put you ahead of the competition. Have you got a  job interview  coming up? These blogs will help you answer some of the most common interview questions: Why are you looking to leave your current job? So, talk me through your CV Why do you want this job? So, tell me about yourself Tell me about a time you failed Whats your story? Share this blog:

Find Out Whos Worried About Writing a Resume from Copy and Paste and Why You Should Care

<h1>Find Out Who's Worried About Writing a Resume from Copy and Paste and Why You Should Care </h1> <h2> Writing a Resume from Copy and Paste - Dead or Alive? </h2> <p>When you're recently out of school and watching out for your absolute first activity, the system can be overpowering. Be sure the substance is identified with your vocation field. Thus, while your resume target should join data on the profession which you need, you additionally need to illuminate why you are the ideal contender for the activity. A resume target may likewise have where you're, and where you might want to go in your profession. </p> <h2> New Ideas Into Writing a Resume from Copy and Paste Never Before Revealed</h2> <p>You must be in a situation to investigate every understudies' qualities and shortcomings and find out the best approach to best educate them. Composing a resume can feel to be a staggering undertaking. You can't miss the cutoff times. Wh en you clear the test, you can start getting ventures. </p> <h2> The Fight Against Writing a Resume from Copy and Paste</h2> <p>You should be accessible to answer to the clients. Make certain to have all the imperative affirmations to gracefully the absolute best instruction for your understudies. The utilization of employment explicit resume objective is just going to focus on the activity that you've demonstrated in the announcement. Center with respect to how you will profit the association or the manner in which the business would profit by you. </p> <h2> The Lost Secret of Writing a Resume from Copy and Paste</h2> <p>It's conceivable to erase noticed that are less-significant later on, however you may overlook it in the past 25, when it isn't in the layout. What's a post, blog or Press Release and how it is composed and what's the distinction. For example, in the event that you at last should be an overseeing editorial manager at a magazine, however you're requesting work at a paper, don't express this. Go on the web and sign into the work board or resume posting website where you wish to post your resume. </p> <h2>Using Writing a Resume from Copy and Paste </h2> <p>A continue target can clarify why you're equipped for the activity, regardless of whether the case you don't possess a great deal of related understanding. The subsequent point to mull over while choosing a style is the business you're applying to. Having a vocation objective is an amazingly critical segment of a resume. An obviously characterized vocation target will pass on aptitudes, preparing and encounters you will bring to a specific association in case you're given the chance. </p> <h2>Vital Pieces of Writing a Resume from Copy and Paste </h2> <p>Additionally there are bunches of assortment of designs promptly accessible on the web. In the first place, formats must be far reaching. Resume lay outs are likely the one most valuable apparatus when endeavoring to make your resume. </p> <h2> What You Don't Know About Writing a Resume from Copy and Paste</h2> <p>Closing paragraphThe shutting passage should be truly clear. Posting your resume is takes just a few activities and once you do it once, you will think that its a mess simpler to do the following second. Now and then Resume target can give off an impression of being a little proclamation however it has an amazingly colossal message to pass on. Spare it for an alternate application. </p> <h2> The Writing a Resume from Copy and Paste Chronicles</h2> <p>Once you get your record open, there are 3 methods by which you can continue to reorder the data on your resume in the content box. Make certain to put your contact information first, with your name being the best thing on the full report. It's ideal in the event that you have a book just duplicate of your resume, however the resulting steps will carry out the responsibility for most sorts of records. The entirety of the information on the page should be featured. </p>

How to conduct an interview in student media societies and outlets

Step by step instructions to lead a meeting in understudy media social orders and outlets This post was composed by an outer contributor. Connor Gotto gives the prescribed procedures to understudy media individuals who are talking with somebody. One of the most energizing parts of understudy media is getting the chance to talk with someone. It's a break from the standard, a much needed development from expounding on the most recent SU embarrassment, and it's an opportunity for you to feel like you're really accomplishing something advantageous. Be that as it may, when the energy wears off, it tends to be a serious overwhelming possibility, particularly when you're new to the game. That is the reason we've assembled our main 5 hints for getting ready, composing, and leading the most ideal meetings. Who? What? Where? When? Why? These are the things you ought to ask directly off the bat: You have to know what it's identity is you're meeting (self-evident, I know, however on the off chance that you go in dazzle you're bound to come up short) Discover what sort of meeting you will do. Is it a telephone or up close and personal? In the event that its the last mentioned, where it will happen? Record when its occurring in each journal you own. You would prefer not to be late! Likewise observe to what extent you have distributed At long last, you have to realize why you're doing the meeting, and precisely what you're assumed be concentrating on Do your exploration Almost certainly, you're not going to know all that much about whoever it is that you're meeting, and your perusers most likely won't either. You must overcome any barrier, and ask quite a few inquiries with the goal that the perusers need to peruse the piece and get a desire for the individual. In this way, research is fundamental. Ensure you know all the basics their experience, profession, and ongoing happenings just as certain subtleties that can identify with your outlet. Odds are they will have some great uni stories to tell, and for the most part once you make them go they don't stop, so make sure you get your cash's worth! Also, obviously, in the event that you don't have the foggiest idea about your stuff you're going to look ill-equipped and amateurish. To content or not to content? Perhaps the greatest mix-up you're probably going to make is composing an unbending content and adhering to it strictly. Trust us: it won't work. It's in every case great to have a general heading that you need the discussion to go in, with two or three key inquiries. Yet, anything else than that and you're simply not going to have time. In the event that you have 30 minutes, keep 4 or 5 focuses arranged should things go off course. As a general rule, you'll see that once you get moving, the discussion heads out in its own direction. Keep in mind: on the off chance that you sound sure, they'll oblige you. Have no desires Go with us on this one. Probably the greatest dissatisfaction when meeting comes when you don't get what you need and you can't toss a strap. The more you need to escape a meeting, the more probable you are to be disillusioned. Presently, we're not saying don't have objectives, however be sensible. All things considered, there are things that they can't discuss, and regardless of how enthusiastically you attempt you're not going to get it. Try not to burn through your time in case you're at an impasse, proceed onward. That way you're bound to get something you can run with, than be left with nothing by any stretch of the imagination! Appreciate it You will be one of numerous questioners that your subject addresses for the duration of the day, so make it one to recall! Unwind. Try not to be excessively inflexible. Make discussion. Try not to compel it. The best meetings happen when there's a decent connection between the questioner and interviewee and, trust us, it interprets onto the page. All things considered, this is extraordinary practice for that future media vocation, when youre meeting the fat cats! Download Debut and connect with us on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn for more vocations bits of knowledge.

Personal Branding FAIL 4 Errors Job Seekers Make - Work It Daily

Individual Branding FAIL 4 Errors Job Seekers Make - Work It Daily For those keen on looking for some kind of employment or propelling their professions, building up an individual brand is fundamental. This training adequately includes the development of certain, constructive relationship with a person's name, as when an occupation searcher brands oneself as a green pipes master, or a people-situated realtor. (Do you feel stuck in your vocation? In this online class, profession master J.T. O'Donnell will show you precisely what you can do escape your profession groove and into an all the more fulfilling vocation.) All things considered, an ever increasing number of people are beginning to pay attention to individual marking. Be that as it may, as indicated by internet promoting proficient Rich Gorman, not all marking techniques are made equivalent. Some benevolent people, either through disregard or deception, wind up accomplishing more mischief than anything to their own brands. By disengaging the most widely recognized individual marking comes up short, people can guarantee that their marking endeavors yield just constructive outcomes. Here are a couple: Utilizing A Boring LinkedIn Headline At this point, most occupation searchers comprehend that LinkedIn is an inconceivable stage for looking for and discovering workâ€"yet would you say you are truly utilizing the site to its maximum capacity? The open doors for individual marking by means of LinkedIn are bottomless, yet it is not entirely obvious them. For one, ensure you're not making due with an exhausting feature. Indeed, Salesman might be your activity title, yet that is probably not going to recognize you from others in your field. Rather, use something that is increasingly inventive, more alluring, or just progressively stacked with elucidating words. Being Afraid Of Social Media There are numerous who accept that, since online networking destinations can prompt individual marking breakdowns, they are in an ideal situation stayed away from through and through. These people are correct that an inappropriate words can cause reputational risk, however wrong in intuition the arrangement is to surrender online life through and through. Rather, be vital in utilizing Facebook and Twitter and other online life destinations to develop your ability and authority. Offer posts or articles that relate to your field, and offer your own bits of knowledge and sentiments. Extending Yourself Too Far On Social Media Sites A related issue: Biting off beyond what you can bite with regards to social marking. Truly, day by day posts on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, and Instagram, in addition to YouTube recordings and sites could assist you with building up your nameâ€"however can you truly stay aware of the entirety of that? It's smarter to be vital, and do a couple of things truly well, than to wind up with a lot of torpid or half-utilized online life profiles. Not Claiming Your Domains A simple method to fabricate your online nearness is to ensure you're guaranteeing the entirety of the appropriate online spacesâ€"not simply the vanity handles for your web-based social networking destinations, yet additionally YourName.com. The exact opposite thing you need is for another person to get this space and populate it with data that has nothing to do with your own proficient lifeâ€"or more awful, that is adverse or humiliating here and there. Burn through $20 or so at GoDaddy.com and get your area name today. No one at any point said that individual marking was simple, however the means included here are largely feasibleâ€"and they can put any person on the correct way to strong individual brand support. Maintain a strategic distance from these pratfalls and lurches, and ensure your own image is one that sparkles! (P.S. In case you're experiencing difficulty excelling at work, register for this free 20-minute online class to discover how YOU can escape your vocation trench.) This post was initially distributed at a prior date. Photograph Credit: Shutterstock Have you joined our profession development club?Join Us Today!