Written by Max Loong, Senior Career Advisor 

Thanks again to all the attendees for our webinar held last Thursday, 23 July 2020 on the topic on Impress your Interviewers: Best tips from Recruiters to ace interviews and get the job you desire.

We hope that you have enjoyed the webinar as much as we enjoyed preparing it!

For those who have missed out on the webinar, view the replay here.

Click here to download the slides.

 As promised, here is a summary of the key points discussed on the session as well as answering additional questions not covered during the session!

Key points discussed in the webinar

• Main Misconceptions

The importance of having an alignment between candidates and employers’ expectations can help to avoid any possible misunderstandings.

10. “Interviews is a one-way communication”
    • (Candidate can decide whether this job/company is for you, and ask questions)
10. “Everything you need to know is on my resume.”
    • Assume that they do not have your resume, give them as much details about yourself as possible
10. “I can’t prepare for an interview.”
    • As much as there will be surprising/spontaneous interview questions thrown to you, there are still some questions that you can prepare before the interview
10. “They know I’m interested in the job because I’m here.”
    • Again, don’t make assumptions. If you want to get the job more than the other candidates, you’ll have to show it.

• Interview Preparation

Other than being prepared for every interview session, it is good to have initiative in finding out more about the company that you’re going for.

Physical preparation

• Appearance – Attire, Hairstyle
• Things to bring
• Location
• Punctuality
• For Digital Interviews: Network/Lighting/Sound/Distractions

Do your Research

• Job Description
• Company
• Business
• Culture

• Answering Interview Questions

Being in the interviewer’s shoes will help you to understand what qualities are they looking for when they are asking you these questions. What is the purpose of interviewers asking me these questions? What kind of answers are they looking out for?

Here are a few types of questions that interviewers will ask:

Credentials questions: They want to know if you have the necessary credentials/qualifications for the job

Competence questions: They want to know if you have the knowledge, skills, and abilities to succeed in the role

Personality questions: They want to know if your personality is able to fit into the role, with team-mates, and the company culture

Situational questions: They want to see your approach to a different scenario and how you would handle it. These are possible scenarios that can happen if you are hired.

Behavioural questions: They want to assess your character – specifically how you have approached potentially challenging situations, in order to understand your behaviour if you are hired.

Responding to inappropriate questions: Remind the interviewers to be objective, think about why they ask these questions and rephrase what they asked. E.g. for my marital status – “I am focused on my career and you can be sure of my commitment to this job.”

Answering these questions:

Using a tried and tested technique in answering tough interview questions might help interviewers see a better picture of how your personality, values, and how you approach your work.

The STAR Interview response technique:

Source: thebalancecareers

Answering other burning questions

There was one question that came up regularly among participants, which we did not have time to answer:

What is the ideal answer when HR asks "How do you see yourself in the next 3 to 5 years?"

I do not know why HR is asking this question because I am not sure if I have the same answer for the next few years.

Generally, employers want to know if your future career goals are aligned with the company’s goals. Asking the question also helps them gauge whether you’re likely to have a long tenure at their company or if you’ll probably leave after just a few months or a year on the job.

This might sound like a trick question since we might have different expectation in our career and the company’s goals. You need to be honest in your answer, while keeping it relevant to the job and industry. Yes, it is not possible to know what the future holds, but see how this experience could really help in making that decision.

The key is to show interest in your career and the company. Do you have realistic expectations for your career? Are you ambitious? And does this particular position align with your growth and goals overall?

For example, one way to think about it is: Think about where this position could realistically take you, and think about how that aligns with some of your broader professional goals.

A sample answer can be:

One of the things that drew me to this job is the opportunity to wear many hats. As the Project Manager of this company, I know I will have plenty of scope to continue building my project management skills as well as a chance to put my engineering skills in the technical aspects of the projects. I’m also excited to learn more about the business from the most highly regarded professionals in the industry.