The Official Interview and CV Thread
 

Just as it says on the tin. I'm finding it hard to find half decent tips on the net so this can be our home for personal tips and pointers that you have found helped you. Or interview pointers in general. I know you all have something up your sleeve :).

Chop, chop. ;)

Have someone you know on the inside recommend you :p: Works very well!

One of the main things is to make a good first impression. Make sure you dress really well, arrive early and great the interviewers with a handshake and a smile. A sincere greeting makes a big difference and always be sure to make eye contact. I have a Word file here somewhere with loads of tips and possible questions that a recruitment firm sent me. I'll post it as soon as I find it...

Found it. Had to copy it into a txt file and attach it due to the post character limit here. It's a very good guide if you can manage to read through it.

Note: in Notepad go into Format and click Word Wrap, should make this easier to read.

I've always been told to mirror your interviewers attitude. Like if they're informal, and laid-back copy it :).

Also, a girl giving a handshake? I'm not sure I should or not :(.

Blow them a big kiss.

You should be persistent so they know that you want the job.

Depends what kind of job obviously, but one thing that really helped by brother land a job at Cravath next summer was to have a general knowledge of not just the firm, but literally anything big going on in the world (business, economics, law, anything). The people that interviewed him said he came across as a worldly 30 year old (he's actually 22) with nothing to show for it, which I guess is a good thing.

Something my dad tought me was to always ask questions about the company and the interviewer's job. It shows interest, even if you could care less about the answer. If you can reflect back on the answer, great, but just asking it can go a long way sometimes.

Get involved with charitable activities. Aside from being the right thing to do, it shows you are actually about doing a good job, instead of just gaming the system for maximum personal benefit. Further, they look way, way better on a resume than the standard priest/teacher personal reference.

lol this works the best in my area. No matter how well you interview, if you aren't someone's friend or a distant cousin of theirs then you are just assed out.

Yup, same here. I was born into my first job, and I knew someone that worked at my second job. No such luck since then, but I'm still on the search for a car. I just got some more money so now I can finally get one that's halfway decent.

Not a tip that will surprise anyone I'm sure, but if you give anyone anything written like your Curriculum vitae or just an email, for Darwin's sake remove spelling errors. Consistent errors are the worst, like getting a particular word or phrase wrong several times.

me?

I find rather that if i just be myself, the job i'm getting is far more suitable for me

obviously if the interviewer dislikes some egoistic irascible punk, i have no interest in working there

so just be yourself

and if you can't answer the questions, just say so

Shaking hands is really important! It shows maturity and respect.

Also babe, make sure you act confident, even if you don't feel it.

Dont rush answers when they ask you something, think it over first. Otherwise you'll say 'Ummm' and 'errrm' alot, and look a bit stupid, especially if they've asked you a relatively simple question.

Always give answers in the most positive way possible, and never insult your present/past employers. Your strengths are your strengths, and your weaknesses are also your strengths, dress them up. You're not a slow worker, you're sometimes 'too much of a perfectionist' etc.

You can never be over dressed for an interview, but you can be under dressed. No one ever got negative feedback for wearing a tie, but you can be sure that the person who didnt was spoken about as 'not giving a professional vibe'.

Speaking of professionalism, if you add your email to your CV/Resume, make sure its a sensible email address like your.name@gmail.com, and not SeXXi-BABEEE218@hotmail.com. People look at that and immediately throw your application away.

Be 'confident', which of course isnt easy if you arent. But its easy enough to fake, just hold your head high, grip their handshake firm, make good eye contact and speak clearly.

Hasn't this become more or less cliche now? I get not wanting to state actual weaknesses, but I can't help but think many interviewers would roll their eyes at this.

The two questions I absolutely hate at interviews are:

1) Why do you want to work for our company?
Unless it's a dream job (working in film or within the music industry aside), what answer do you really want to give? I'm fecking skint, my kids are badgering me for the latest X Box game. I get called every night with people wanting bills paid and I really want the new Pink Floyd boxset. This is the correct answer.

The acceptable answer is some bollocks about you admiring their company and that it has been your goal in life to sit at a desk answering the phone to goons and earning minimum wage whilst 99% of your colleagues appall you with their limited views on music, film, politics, the nature of celebrity and choice of food and I just need the money you pen pushing fuckwit.

2)What are your weaknesses?
I am not an over confident person at all but I find the process of sitting in a chair in front of a stranger and demeaning yourself rather counter productive.

I shave my head, go to music festivals and get drunk like I'm still 20. Are they weaknesses? Probably but I won't mention them so I always maintain eye contact, dress smartly and even do a little research into the company before interviews but my weaknesses should be found by said employer and then tweaked or taught if only you would give me the damn job in the first place. Even some job descriptions are spelled incorrectly in the first place and I can address that for you straight away.

I have constantly found that it's not what you know but who you know in life and I am not trying to put you off interviews at all. I have been unemployed for 9 months now and have a good employment record and references but still no work and it get's to the stage where you you cannot muster that false enthusiasm anymore.

However it seems to me that pretending to be something that you aren't is probably the best way and I am sure as you are young you will find work and don't want to put you off at all!

Good luck and I mean that sincerely with future interviews but personally I am utterly despondent with employment prospects.

Of course its cliche, but what are you going to do instead? Tell them that in fact you dont work very hard because you spend too much time chatting? That you dont want to work with anyone ethnic or gay because you're a bigot? I know from when my company is hiring, unless you say something stupid interviewers dont actually listen to a thing you say, and the people why do get hired always get reviewed as being 'really nice people to talk to'. All the cliches are expected really, its about how you dress them up in terms of your appearance, attitude and personality.

Although I work in retail, where the required qualifications are 'do you have the ability to breathe with your mouth closed'.

I shook the managers hand. As it turned out he was interviewing me (something my centre doesn't do) but he uses our pool regularly and his son swims for my club so he knows of my existence anyway. I think I done extremely well considering it was my first interview.

But then again I don't have any past experiences to compare it with. I shall just hope for the best and the worst thing that can happen is I'll still be in this same predicament.

Let's all cross our fingers now.

Don't be too disheartened if you don't get it Kay, but if you feel you did well then theres a very good chance you did.

I say don't be disheartened because I used to have a very good record when it came to job interviews. A perfect record actually. I was very confident in my ability to interview well. I think I walked the line between typical business bullshit, like what Jackhammer mentioned, basically lying through your teeth, and being rather grounded and genuine. Sure I'm gonna make up some crap about why I wanna work here, but I'm damn sure gonna say I'm here to for the money too, and that I'll work hard to earn it. But then that 100% record was shattered after two years of unemployment and having interview after interview with no success.

Basically what I mean is that I'm sure you did well and I'll keep my fingers crossed for you, but this is such a difficult time to get a job and you have to remain confident in yourself no matter what. There are just too many people out there exactly like you, looking for the same thing. It's easy to start believing things about yourself that aren't true.

Oh and for fuiture reference. Take a tip from Leon/Larry.

I used to work for a company that rented the seventh floor of a skyscraper. One day, I was in my boss`s office while he was waiting for an interview candidate to show up: suddenly the phone rings, and the doorman tells my boss," I just sent a lad up to your office. He said he was here for an interview, but I want to tell you that he was really disrespectful to me."
Although he didn`t know it, this cocky young candidate had already lost the job while he was still riding up in the elevator. So.... be nice to everyone in the building.

Jackhammer`s post is a good one. Two other difficult questions which I`ve been asked are :-
Why do you think you`d be good at this job ? and How much would you expect to be paid ?

Anyway, congrats on your first interview, Aurora. Sounds like you did fine. All you need is a bit of common sense, and to follow the good advice on this thread. And yes, I think shaking hands gives a good impression.

Sorry to hear that some of you are struggling with unemployment - I know how horrible it can feel. In the end, the only way I could find work was to leave the mother country altogether. Thanks, London !

What?

Why wouldn't you give a handshake? Has Scotland turned into Saudi Arabia or what?

Probably cause it isn't really seen as a very feminine thing to do. I would still say it's a good idea for something like a job interview though.

Why would I ever shake someones hand? I'm not a ****ing man.

What else would you do? Hug them? Maybe it's different in Scotland, but over here in a business context you shake hands regardless of what gender anyone is.

Are you ****ing serious? I make no distinctions whatsoever between genders in my handshake and hugging practices, and I don't know anyone who does. This is seriously the first time in my life I've heard of a woman who doesn't shake hands.

Lol yeah, women not shaking hands is a new one to me.

:laughing: I mentioned asking them questions earlier in the thread but Larry's much better at getting the point across.

Maybe it's just me, if you'd read the OP you'd know I've never been to an interview. It's unlikely next time I'm down the pub I'll give oor good mate Jeany a handshake and ask her what she's having.

Depends on what position your applying for really...and how bad they want the job.

Well there's a big difference between an interview and meeting up with a friend. If a friend introduces me to someone new I still shake their hand though, regardless of if it's a guy or girl.

Another thing in an interview is to remember to shake their hand before you leave too.

Well I'd never been to an interview before Wednesday so I'd never shook someones hand, which is why I questioned it. How is that weird or unheard of?

All depends where you're from I guess. Here that would be considered almost unheard of, but where you're from I guess it isn't.

You've never shaken someones hand? Ever? Ever? What do you do when introduced to someone?

It seems odd to me but maybe that's just a cultural difference between here and there. I would just kind of assume shaking hands would come up at some point in life. I mean what do you do when you're introduced to someone who isn't a part of your friends and family social circle?

I think ive shown you this before Jans...

Yeah, as others have said, how do you do when you meet a new person in your social life? Do you hug everyone the first time?

maybe she's like me

just jerk my chin up and smile

In a formal situation, like a job interview, I thnk most women here would shake hands. But I can vouch for Kayleigh, that I think alot of women here wouldn't normally shake hands. I'm not saying that all women think that but some definitely do. It isn't uncommon for shaking hands to be considered a masculine thing to do.

Again, what do they do instead when they meet a new person?