The document provides guidance on preparing for, participating in, and following up after a job interview, including researching the employer and position, practicing responses to common interview questions, dressing professionally and bringing required materials to the interview, asking relevant questions of the interviewer, and sending a thank you letter after the interview. Students are advised to contact the Student Learning and Transitions department for additional help with interview skills and job searching.
3. 1. Preparation
Research!
Review the organization:
What do they do?
What’s involved in the position you are applying for?
What skills is the employer looking for?
Whom are their clients?
What do you have to offer?
4. Practice!
Participate in a mock interview
Think of answers to questions they might ask you:
Tell us a bit about yourself.
Why do you want to work at our organization?
How would other people describe you?
Tell us about an achievement you are proud of.
Why should we hire you?
5. Now you!
Think of an interview question and write down on
the paper provided.
6. Now what do I say?
Keep all of your responses focused on your
relevant experiences and what skills you have to
offer
‘Tell me about yourself?’
8. STAR Response to a behavioural question
Situation / Task
Action
Result
9. More behavioural questions
Give me an example of a situation when you had
to teach or explain something? How did you do
it?
Tell me about a time you had a problem to solve.
What happened?
Tell me about a time you were working as part of
a team and one person wasn’t ‘pulling their
weight’. How did you handle it?
Tell me about a time you noticed that a system or
idea wasn’t working efficiently. What did you do?
Describe a time you had a number of priorities at
once. What were they and how did you handle it?
10. On the day..
Know exactly where you are going, and aim to
arrive no more than 15 minutes early.
Bring the contact phone number of the company
with you, in case you are late or lost.
The interview starts the moment you walk in the
building. Be professional and courteous to
everyone you interact with.
11. Bring…
Pen and paper
Bottle of water
Copy of cover letter and resume
List of questions for the employer
Career portfolio
12. 2. Interview
Dress for success
No jeans, tee shirts or running shoes. Ever.
Turn your phone off
Act confident
Shake the interviewer’s hand
Eye contact, Clear voice, Stay calm
Listen and ask for clarification if needed
13. Questions for them
Do Ask About
What a typical day would
look like
Project priorities for the
role
If it is a new role or an
existing one
What their idea of
success looks like
Do Not Ask About
Information you can
easily find out yourself
Rumours or gossip
Wages or Salary
Vacation and benefits
14. Ask any questions you have at the end.
When they will be deciding
References
Thank them for their time
Shake their hand
15. 3. Afterwards
Write a thank you letter.
If you don’t hear back from the employer by the
date they expect to make their decision about
hiring, you can follow up
You can always ask for feedback from the interview
to improve for next time
16. Questions and more information
Contact Student Learning and Transitions in the
Office of Student Development and Services
In North Bay, room B210
In Muskoka, room 227
Email: slt@nipissingu.ca
Phone: 705.474.3450 ext 4459
Web: nipissingu.ca/slt
Editor's Notes
**Required: ½ page blank paper per student, pens
We will cover three main sections today, interview preparation, the interview, and what to do afterwards.
Research!
Many people think it is difficult to prepare for an interview, because you don’t know what the employer will ask. However, revisiting the job description will give you a great idea as to the types of skills they’re looking for, and likely to question you about.
- Read the company website, familiarize yourself with current projects they are involved with, awards they have won, their mandate or mission. If there is no company website, do a general google search on the industry as a whole, know what the trends are and any notable recent events.
The best way to learn how to ride a bike is to practice. Not reading manuals, watching you tube videos or plummeting down a mountainside hoping you’ll figure it out on the way down. The BEST way to learn how to ride a bike is to practice. The same goes for interviews. The more you do, the more practice you have sitting across from a person armed with questions for you, the better you get at interviews. Unfortunately for some, interviews are few and far between, which means you don’t get much opportunity to hone your interview skills. And, as we all know, most people get heart palpitations at the prospect of an upcoming interview, so organizing a PRACTICE interview is just out of the question. However, if you leave your interview to chance, even if you are the most qualified, experienced and enthusiastic, but you bomb the interview. You won’t get the job. It’s that simple. To increase the chances of landing a job, you need to excel in an interview. And to do that, you need to practice. Maybe you talk too quietly, or you fidget, or you talk too fast, or you don’t make eye contact, or you talk about your cat when you should be talking about your previous job experience. If you practice, you can figure these things out beforehand and improve them.
So, to practice, think of possible questions they might ask you. Look at the job ad to see what skills or experience they’re looking for. It’s hard to come up with intelligent, professional and relevant responses off the top of your head. But if you’ve already thought about it and practiced your answer, you’re much more likely to give a great answer on the day. Consider some of these questions, and what your answer could be:
Tell us a bit about yourself.
Why do you want to work at our organization?
How would other people describe you?
Tell us about an achievement you are proud of.
Why should we hire you?
PROVIDE PAPER AND PEN
Interviews are designed for the employer to get as much information from you in a short time, to see if you fit in with their organization. The opening line of many interviewers is to ‘tell us a bit about yourself?’ which many people misunderstand to mean they should talk about their interest in action movies and mountain biking. This is in fact, your opening line.
They want to know about your ‘soft skills’ – attributes that enable people to work well with others. Things like your ability to work in a team, to communicate effectively, to be able to solve problems effectively and prioritize and manage tasks effectively. Give a short, specific outline of what experiences and skills you have had up to now, that make you a great candidate for the job.
The best way to avoid rambling on and on in your interview responses, is to use the STAR response, which stands for Situation or Task, Action and Result. A behavioural question was at one time used to assess senior and executive level candidates, but it is now used in interviews for all levels of positions and across a range of industries. The idea is that the best predictor of future performance is past performance, so asking you to describe a time you had to deal with a difficult co-worker or customer will show your ability to problem solve and work with others.
Using the STAR response: The Situation / Task would be to outline the situation where you were working with a person who was difficult, including why they were difficult and how this impacted on you and what you were trying to achieve in your job. Action: Outline the steps you took to resolve the situation. Be sure to speak to your skills. Highlight what you did specifically. Result: Outline the benefits or consequences of the action that you took. You can also discuss what you learned from the experience.
Practicing behavioural questions like these can help get you thinking about good examples of situations where you’ve demonstrated experience and success, which the employer then knows you can also do for them. The more you practice, the better you can deliver your responses with clarity and confidence.
As an example response to the first question on the slide, ‘give me an example of a situation when you had to teach or explain something? How did you do it?’ – an answer could be: Situation/Task: As a volunteer at the local YWCA in the little sisters mentorship program, I am in charge of facilitating group workshops once a week, with seven girls who are between 10 and 12 years old. As part of my role, I design and implement age appropriate activities geared to promote confidence and relationship building. Action: Each week I explain the activity we will be doing by outlining in clear and plain language the steps involved, and the final outcome. If possible, I have an example of a completed activity or craft to show them what they will be working towards, and I also write down the steps on a large whiteboard so the girls can refer back to the written instructions later if needed. I encourage questions from the girls to clarify any steps they might not understand and am available, along with 2 other adult volunteers, to provide support or information while the activity is taking place. Result: As a result, the 6 activities I have designed and run so far this session have all been successful, with the girls completing the activities as planned and explained to them. I continue to make myself available to the more introverted girls as the activity is taking place, to answer questions they may not want to ask in front of the group, which has been a successful strategy so far.
With the person nearest to you, choose one of the behavioural questions on the slide, or the question you wrote down yourself earlier, and give an answer to that interview question, using the STAR response (go back to previous slide).
Know exactly where you are going, and aim to arrive no more than 15 minutes early. Remember to consider parking, traffic congestion, public transport etc when timing your arrival.
Bring the contact phone number of the company with you, in case you are late or lost.
The interview starts the moment you walk in the building. Be professional and courteous to everyone you interact with.
Paper and pen (to write down longer questions or prioritize your thoughts for an answer)
Bottle of water
Copy of cover letter and resume to refer to, or to provide the employer with
List of questions for the employer, to prompt your memory at the end of the interview
Career portfolio, which is a collection of awards, momentos, reference letters, certificates and achievements demonstrating your skill and experience in your career to date. This can be a hard copy binder of materials or a usb or dvd. This is not usually required for an interview, but can be very effective in showcasing your most relevant experiences. If you do bring a Career Portfolio, always bring one with copies of your materials, not the originals, as you will want to leave it behind for the employer to further review after the interview, if they wish.
For the actual interview, dress professionally. First impressions are key. No casual clothes – jeans, tee shirts, running shoes are never professional enough. Even if you are applying for a job on a construction site, mowing lawns or waiting tables, you need to dress in a way that shows the employer you are a professional. This is communicated by how we dress.
If you are ever unsure about what is appropriate to wear, remember - it is always better to be overdressed for an interview, than underdressed. For men, a suit is always a safe bet. If you are applying for a position that is typically outside of an office environment (also known as a blue collar job), suit pants and a collared shirt are usually appropriate.
For women, the same rules apply. Dress pants or a skirt to the knee with a blouse or cardigan. You don’t want your skirt too high or your shirt too low. Keep jewelry and makeup to a minimum, so it is not in the way or distracting.
Turn your phone, or any other device off. Even on vibrate or silent, it can still distract you during an interview session, which is the last thing you need. Answering a call during an interview is a sign of disrespect. You would likely have jeopardized any chance at being hired for the job you applied for.
Another tip is to ACT confident. Often in an interview scenario, it is an unnatural and unnerving experience, and we feel anything but confident. Studies have found however, that if you pretend to be confident in stressful situations, your confidence does increase. And – confidence breeds confidence. If you are confident in your abilities and communicate that in an interview – the employer will feel confident in you too.
When you first meet your interviewer, always shake their hand. Make eye contact with the person asking you questions, use a clear strong voice and keep calm. Smile. Although interviews are stressful, you want to show your enthusiasm and interest in working there, and a person who doesn’t make eye contact, mumbles their answers and frowns when they speak will not impress an interviewer.
During the interview, you are asked a series of questions. Sometimes the questions are long or can be confusing. If you are not 100% sure what the interviewer is asking, it does NOT look bad if you ask for clarification. By saying, ‘Just to be clear, are you asking if I have experience working with difficult customers?’ or ‘I’m not sure I understand what you’re asking, could you rephrase?’ – you will be showing confidence and the ability to ask for clarification when needed.
At the end of an interview, the employer will always ask if you have any questions. You should always say yes, and have a question or two prepared. Things you can ask about are (column 1). The main thing to remember is that you also get to decide if this an organization you want to work for. Ask questions that will help you decide. However, there are topics to avoid in a first interview setting, which include: (column 2).
After you have asked your questions, they will usually give you an idea as to when they will be deciding on the successful candidate, or who will move to the next round of interviews. If they don’t offer this information, you can ask. Also, what the process is to submit your references. Sometimes an organization wants two, some want three, and who to send the reference contact details to.
Even if you don’t think the interview went great, stay a professional. Thank them for their time, smile and shake their hand.
It is good practice and shows great initiative to send a hand written thank you letter to the employer, thanking them for the opportunity to meet them for an interview. If you feel you could have answered a certain question better, you can mention that, and reiterate your interest in working for the organization. Most people who are invited for interview do not send a thank you letter, so all the more reason for you to. It will separate you from your competition and impress the interviewers. Send the day of the interview, or the next day – so it arrives before they have decided.
Please hand in your interview questions you wrote down earlier.
