Slides supplementing the University of Sydney Writing Hub's Profiling Your Professional Self portal.

1. Interviews
How to position yourself as the ideal job candidate

2. Introduction to questions
• The person who asks the questions, typically occupies
a position of privilege and power in Western cultures.
• The interviewee’s challenge is to flow with, then
channel that power, to personal advantage. i.e. To
spring from the power of the question into effective
answers.
• The key is preparation, essentially in thought, but the
best candidates will also rehearse their responses
verbally.

3. First and always: listen well
• The first key to responding to questions well is to
LISTEN well.
• If you are in doubt about the meaning or intent of a
question, you might say, “I want to make sure I
completely understand your question. Could you
please rephrase it?”

4. Interview Types
Adapted from Harvard’s OCS Interview Guide.

5. Video interviews
1. Prepare as for any other interview type.
2. Test and practice on the technology beforehand.
3. Review your filming location. Make your background professionally
appropriate.
4. Position yourself properly in-frame. Ask at the outset if the vision is okay.
5. Maintain eye contact: look at the interviewer, not your own monitor of
yourself.
6. Dress appropriately.
7. Ensure the surroundings are private, suitably quiet

6. Behavioural interviews
1. Employers assess candidates’ potential position and cultural fit
based on past behaviour
2. Key employers phrase: “Tell me about a time when…”
3. Key to success is to focus on your past actual ACTIONS and the
RESULTS they produced, to align with the sought-after
COMPETENCIES
4. Common competency areas are: Technical Skills, Problem Solving,
Leadership, Communication, Teamwork, Critical Thinking,
Learning
5. Aim to pass the ‘airport test.’ Are you someone another person
would want to be stuck at an airport for 12 hours with?

7. Phone interviews
1. Sit with back erect, or stand, for better breathing and vocal projection
2. Speak a little more slowly and clearly than you would in person. Articulate
consonants.
3. Beware allowing too many rising inflections, which sound hesitant and
noncommittal, at the ends of sentences or points.
4. Allow emotion to project through your voice
5. Spread out notes for quick, easy reference
6. When you have finished your responses, allow silence to indicate that it’s
time for the interviewer to speak
7. Locate yourself to avoid interruption and background noise during the call

8. Technical interviews
1. Typically involve a mix of questions, including
technical, case and behavioural styles
2. Be prepared to write, draft and do tasks to prove
competencies claimed in your CV or resume
3. Be up-to-date in your field. Show awareness for
current industry news, trends, issues

9. Case interviews
1. Popular interview style with big strategy consultancies, keen to
find out how you approach and solve complex problems
2. Restate the question, and ask any clarifying questions you need to
ensure you understand the problem’s focus
3. Organise your thinking and approach before responding
4. Articulate your thinking process and analyses out loud or in-writing
(whichever is expected)
5. Deal in round terms, not in complicated detail, but state that’s what
you’re doing, for the purpose of the exercise
6. Present your solutions

10. Question Types

11. Open question
• The generic question type designed to elicit a
conversational, discursive response. i.e. It gets
interviewees talking.
• For the reason above, it is the most commonly asked
and generally effective interview question type.
• Opportunity for candidates to demonstrate several
higher order communication skills including listening
and focusing attention; and to interweave skills and
experience demonstratively into answers.

12. Closed question
• Forces a closed answer or decision, usually ‘Yes’ or
‘No’.
• Discourages short, sharp replies.
• Can usefully supplement and clarify longer
answers.

13. Hypothetical question
• Employers often use “what if” (reflexive) questions to
test imagination, lateral thinking and thinking on the
spot.
• Interviewees can make hypothetical questions work
for them, if they relate them to demonstrating skills
and experience relevant to the potential position.
• The key is not to allow yourself to be thrown onto a
tangent. Do this by returning quickly, to your focus
messages about your skills, experience, attitude, etc.

14. Common question forms
• What are your strengths/weaknesses
• Tell us about a time you…
• What did you do when…How did you handle…
• Tell us about a time you found it difficult to…
• Tell us about your most/least successful…

15. Criteria questions
• Before the interview, ask what type of questioning will be
used in the interview.
• Many questions in interviews are criteria-based, formed on
the (somewhat limiting, but indicative) view that past
behaviour is the best predictor of future performance.
• Criteria-based questions encourage candidates to talk in
ways demonstrating whether or not they possess and
perform the relevant criteria.
• Answers often refer and rely on what you have done and
how you have responded in the past, to relevant situations.

16. Case study questions
• Many prestigious employers, in academia, business and
government use case study interviews to plumb the depth of
candidates’ higher reasoning, creativity, knowledge and
problem solving abilities.
• Case study questions test your abilities and aptitudes by
giving you a complex problem to tease out, identify and solve.
In many cases, even the problem itself may not be clear, in
which case, finding the problem is also part of the test.
• Many examples of case study tests can be found on the
internet, including on the websites of the prestigious
management consultancies.