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Interview Techniques

Here at Thomas Munroe we have put together a step by step guide to the successful interview process. We've split the guide up into easy to handle sections which are listed below:

1. The Interview Process 
2. Handling inappropriate interview questions
3. Closing the interview
4. Making a presentation

The Interview Process

Be Positive and Professional

• In meetings and interviews, body language, facial expressions and hand gestures enhance the message. On the phone, it's all in the voice. Tone and timbre affect the message you are trying to convey. Try to project a positive attitude at all times.
• Mobile phones help job seekers, job providers and recruiters to keep closely in touch. However, be careful. If you’re popping into the pub for lunch, divert your mobile phone to voicemail so as not to give a lasting bad impression.

Guidelines and Tips

• Prepare and use a script
  Making follow-up calls to talk about things you forgot about make you look disorganised and ineffective. Even a bullet point list will make sure that you touch all the important bases.
• Prepare the environment
  Find a quiet spot where you won’t be disturbed. Dogs, children and TVs don’t provide an appropriate background noise. Have your CV, a copy of the job details, pen and paper and your bullet list to hand. A glass of water nearby can help. If you are using your mobile phone, do make sure the battery has enough charge to complete the call.
• Get in the mood
  Think before you dial. Get in the right frame of mind. Sit upright so you don’t need to shuffle about. Although the other party can’t see your face, appropriate smiles and gestures will come through in your voice. Some people feel more comfortable making business calls in business clothes. If that suits you, try it.
• Speech
  Speak clearly and not too fast. You will find that you have a tendency to gabble when under stress, so take your time. Another symptom of stress is for your voice to be higher pitched. Work on modulating your voice to a lower pitch. Try to let your enthusiasm show in your voice.
• Don’t Be Negative
  Watch for questions that might have a negative answer. Answers like ‘I don’t know’, ‘I’m not sure’ and ‘Can I call you back on that one?’ do not give the right impression.
• Hide any negative emotions
  You won’t always get the outcome that you want from your call. Be careful to hide disappointment. Whatever the circumstances, stay calm and polite and always include a ‘thank you’.

Telephone Answering Machines

Handling inappropriate interview questions

There are some questions which are so unexpected that they can cause you to flounder. This doesn’t look good or do much for your confidence. The advice from Thomas Munroe is that you work out how to tackle these questions before the situation arises.

Innocent or indecent?

You may feel that you should try to answer every question, no matter what. The interview is how the employer judges your fitness for the job, so any question which does not address that can be deemed inappropriate.

Questions about your private life – ‘Do you live with your boyfriend?’ or ‘Are you planning to have children’ – may well make you feel uncomfortable or angry, and they are not appropriate. You need to consider the motive. Is this a warm-up question to help you get started? Or is it an employer who fears that you will want maternity leave in the near future?

Whilst you must quickly decide whether to answer, politely decline or deflect the question, your primary aim should remain at the forefront of your mind - you are here to get the job. A tactful approach should therefore be adopted. For instance, you might decline to answer directly by saying 'I try not to get into personal issues during interviews.' You could also deflect the question by saying “It’s not something that we’ve considered yet.” An experienced interviewer will know when s/he has crossed the line.

Illegal Questions

Handling illegal questions

What do you do if you are asked an inappropriate question about concerning your gender or ethnicity?

Here are a few ideas from Thomas Munroe that will start the ball rolling. You should tailor them to fit your own particular circumstances.

• You can politely say that you can’t answer the question because you think it is potentially discriminatory.
• Answer the question by saying, "I'm sorry, I don’t understand. Is this question relevant to my working career or my fitness for the post?"
• Respond to the question without any reference to its appropriateness
• Reflect the question by rephrasing it to show that you understand the underlying query so that you can put in the answer that you want to give.. For instance, “Where were you born?” might be answered by “if by that you mean that you are concerned about ……… then …..”
• It is important to understand that although you would be justified in refusing to answer an inappropriate question, doing so might cost you the job. Again, you have to ask yourself if you want to work in a culture that allows those types of questions.

Be in control

Please remember asking an illegal question does not constitute a criminal offence. Some questions may be asked out of genuine interest. Others may indeed show an underlying tendency to discriminate. A third possibility is that the interviewer is trying to see how you cope with stress and difficult situations.

It is important that you plan for all eventualities. Knowledge of what is right and wrong will put you in control. Be tactful, don’t lose your composure, don’t lie, but answer the question as you judge it should be answered and move the discussion on to a different area.

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Closing the Interview

• If you are interested in the position make that clear. Ask for the next interview if the situation demands. If you are offered the position, and you want it, accept on the spot. If you wish some time to think it over, be courteous and tactful in asking for that time and give a reason. Set a definite date when you can provide an answer.
• Don't be too discouraged if no definite offer is made, or specific salary discussed. The interviewer will probably want to discuss the interview with colleagues first or interview more applicants before making a decision.
• If you are not confident that you are making the right impression, don’t panic. Some interviewers work hard at not letting you know what they think. They can make every candidate feel as though they are the favourite, or make every candidate feel inadequate for the job. It’s a real test of character.
• Always offer thanks to your interviewer. The two most important questions that the interviewer will ask: 
  • Are you really interested in the job and the company? Why?
  • What do you bring to the job and the company?
• If you feel the need to reassure the interviewer about those two key issues, take the opportunity to do so.

After the Interview

Last, and most important, call your Thomas Munroe consultant immediately after the interview and explain what happened. It is important that you are debriefed by the consultant before the employer calls them. Your Thomas Munroe consultant will need to know how you feel about the job and the company, any concerns or misgivings you have and any really positive reflections you would like to make.

If you are interested in progressing further it will assist if your feelings towards the position are known, together with your perception of what the client's reaction is likely to be. 

Keeping Up the Pressure

If you have not found success through the process outline above, there are alternative strategies.

Some consultancies would leave you on the database and wait for another appropriate vacancy to materialise. At Thomas Munroe Ltd we believe in taking a more aggressive and proactive stance. Your consultant will work with you to draw up a list of preferred employers and roles and then, using our extensive employer network, seek to find vacancies that are upcoming but not yet in the public domain. Getting in on the ground floor can be attractive to employers who are keen to fill a vacancy quickly if we can provide a suitable candidate – and that could be you.

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Making a presentation

The Skills

It is very worthwhile taking the time to learn how to structure your ideas into a logical framework. You can use the skill on the telephone, in meetings with colleagues and with clients. You will gain confidence from knowing exactly what to say and how, and that confidence will go a long way to convincing others of your arguments.

Speaking in public is not necessarily a skill that we are born with. Some of us are naturally better than others, but we can all learn to be effective public speakers.

Whatever you are like – confident, shy, extrovert or introvert – when you are faced with an audience who are expecting you to speak, it can be daunting.

• Your voice will tend to become more high pitched than usual. You will have to deliberately modulate your voice to overcome this.
• You will tend to speak more quickly and perhaps gabble your words. You will have to consciously slow down your delivery and leave pauses of a second or two to let your message sink in.
• To make sure that you project your voice properly in a group setting, try looking at someone on the back row and talking to them. It will keep your head up and help you to speak more clearly.
• The major factor is your self-confidence. You will build that by practising – on colleagues, to a tape recorder or video camera, to yourself in a mirror. You must become accustomed to hearing your own voice projected rather than in conversational tones.

The Preparation

Although your audience will be aware only of your delivery, the quality of your planning and preparation is what is really important. If your delivery is not structured, with relevant ideas and background detail presented in a logical and understandable progression, your message will become garbled and less convincing. All your wisdom, knowledge and experience will be lost to your audience if the delivery does not make it clear that you are totally in control of your subject matter.

The Structure

In order to educate or convince your audience, you should be aware that different people have different learning styles. There are three learning styles.

• Auditory learners learn from what they hear. They may take few notes as you speak.
• Visual learners learn from what they see. They will make notes, draw diagrams and doodle.
• Tactile/kinaesthetic learners learn by doing and feeling. They respond to models, gestures and animation.

Your presentation needs to appeal to all three learning styles; structured, logical comments for the auditory learners; graphics, pictures, tables and graphs for the visual learners; hand gestures, facial expressions, movie clips and physical objects for the kinaesthetic learners.

Handouts with too much information can be a distraction – some of the audience will read the notes when they should be listening to you. However, remember that the visual learners will want to make notes and draw diagrams and the kinaesthetic learners want something physical to do, so copies of your PowerPoint slides with spaces for notes might be a good idea.

As you can see, the quality of the preparation and planning is what helps you to make a good, effective delivery.

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