Some notes on how to be successful in a job interview. I used this presentation with my students from the business school who had to look for an internship at the end of the master

1. Mastering The
Interview
“To be a great champion, you must
believe that you are the best; if you
are not, pretend you are”
- Muhammad Ali-

2. The Truth About Interviewing
Critical aspects in the first five minutes
 Your appearance
 Your grooming
 Your handshake
 Your personal presence
 Your eye contact
 Your articulation
 Your personality!

3. The Three Step Interview Process
1. Establishing rapport
2. Gathering information
3. Close

4. 1. Establishing rapport
 Personal appearance
 Company culture
1. Does this person fit in?
2. Would this person represent our company well?
3. Would others feel I made a good selection in
recommending?
 Verbal articulation and vocabulary
 Opportunity to make a personal connection
with the interviewer

5. 2. Gathering Information
Asking questions and matching your responses
against their critical success factors
 Closed-ended: Where did you study?
 Open-ended behavioural Qs: Can you give me
an example of a time when you had to make an
unpopular decision?
 Probing Qs: What’s beneath the surface?
 Attitude, work ethic, intelligence, honesty

6. 3. The Close Step
 Personally close by establishing continuity of
the process
 Make sure you understand the next steps
 Be prepared to follow up on your side

7. The Personality Matching Technique
The process of mirroring the personality of the
person you are speaking
we like people who are like us
anyone who is like me must be a good person
1. Match the voice > tempo and pitch
2. Match the physical characteristics of the
interviewer > facial expressions and features
 You need to first understand your
own personality range

8. The Eight Types of Interview Questions
1. Credential Verification
 To place objective measurements on
features of your background
 What was your degree?
2. Experience Verification
 To verify experiential features of your
background
 What were your responsibilities in that
position?

9. The Eight Types of Interview Questions
3. Opinion
 To subjectively analyse how would you
respond to an scenario
 What would you do in this situation?
 What are your strengths and weaknesses?
4. Dumb
 To test your ability to think on your feet
 What kind of animal would you like to be?

10. The Eight Types of Interview Questions
5. Math
 To evaluate not only your mental math
calculation skills but also your creative
ability in formulating the mathematical
formula for providing an estimate
 How many ping pong balls could you fit in a
Volkswagen?
 What is 1,000 divided by 73?

11. The Eight Types of Interview Questions
6. Case
 To evaluate your problem-solving skills and
how would you analyse and work through
potential case studies
 How many petrol stations are there in
England?
 What is your estimate of the American
online retail market for books?

12. The Eight Types of Interview Questions
7. Behavioural
 To anticipate predictable future behaviours
based upon past responses
 What were the steps you followed to
accomplish that task?
 Can you give me a specific example of how
you did that?

13. The Eight Types of Interview Questions
8. Competency
 To align your past behaviours with specific
competencies which are required for the
position
 Can you give me a specific example of your
leadership skills?
 Explain a way in which you sought a creative
solution to a problem

14. Predictive validity for the job success
Credential verification
Experience verification CV review
Opinion
10%
Dumb
Math 15% Intelligence – a
common key
competency
Case 25% Slightly higher for
consulting positions
Behavioural 55% Past performance is
the most reliable
Competency
indicator of future
results

15. The STAR Technique
Tell me about the last time you had to solve a
difficult problem
Situation: explain the situation and the nature
of the problem
Task: explain what needs doing to solve it
Action: describe what actions you took to deal
with the problem
Result: define the result as a measure of the
effect on your solution

16. Top Ten Critical Success Factors
1. Positive attitude toward work
2. Proficiency in field of study
3. Communications skills (oral & written)
4. Interpersonal skills
5. Confidence
6. Critical thinking and problem solving skills
7. Flexibility
8. Self-motivation
9. Leadership
10. Teamwork

17. Ten Tough Interview Questions
1. Tell me about yourself
2. Why should I hire you?
3. What is your long-range objective? Where
do you want to be 10 or 15 years from now?
4. How has your education prepared you for
your career?
5. Are you a team player?
6. Have you ever had a conflict with a boss or
professor? How was it resolved?

18. Ten Tough Interview Questions
7. What is your greatest weakness?
8. If I asked your professors to describe you,
what would they say?
9. What qualities do you think a successful
manager should have?
10. If you had to live your life over again, what
would you change?