INTERVIEW STYLES

Company recruiters and recruitment agencies use a number of different interview styles and quite often a combination of styles is used. To help you prepare for interviews, learn to recognise these styles since each requires a different approach by the person being interviewed.

The most common styles are:

·         Behavioural or Competency Based

·         Preference Based

·         Ad hoc

The basis of behavioural interviewing or 'targeted recruitment' is 'past behaviour as a predictor of future behaviour '.

The questions asked will relate specifically to your experience, and so expect questions such as

Tell me about a project you have managed from beginning to end.

Describe a problem you have solved. What was your approach and what was the outcome?

When confronted with a behavioural interview, you will be glad you practised your replies. If during the interview you find yourself beginning answers with:

'Well, what I would do...'

Stop and think about a specific example and begin an answer with:

'Well, what I did was...'.
 
If you have detailed information about the role you are being interviewed for, you can do some very specific preparation by aligning your experiences with the job's key competencies. You may find the following table useful for this:

 The preference-based interview is, in reality, the preference-based 'part' of an interview. You will probably encounter this style when being interviewed by a consultant from a recruitment firm.

This method is used to find out what individuals really want out of a career. It is based on a theory, for example, that a recruiter could be interviewing an accountant who would prefer to be a HR manager.

Do not be thrown by questions (at the beginning of an interview) such as:

·         What are you looking for in the future?

·         What sort of company would you like to work for?

·         Which industry preferences do you have?

·         Where do you want to live?

·         Why are you exploring other options?

·         Who had the most significant impact on your life?

·         Describe your past mentors.

If a line manager in an organisation is interviewing you, there is a good chance that no pre-ordained method or model will be followed. It is still very important in this situation to know your CV and the organisation.

You will need to develop answers so that you are prepared for the following questions:

·         Why did you choose this particular role? What do you really want to do in your next career move?

·         Why would you like to work for our organisation?

·         What do you want to be doing in your career, five years from now?

·         What was your last salary and bonus?

·         What style of management gets the best from you?

·         What interests you about our products and services?

·         Can you get references from your previous employers? What would they say about you?

·         What have you learnt from some of the jobs you have had? Which did you most enjoy?

·         What have you done that has shown initiative?

·         What is your major weakness? What are you doing about it?

·         What do you think determines a person's progress in a good company?

·         Are you willing to relocate?

·         How do you spend your spare time? What are your hobbies?

·         What does teamwork mean to you?

·         What type of books do you read?

·         What are your strengths?

·         What can you bring to this role?

Answers to some of these questions will call on self-knowledge from two sources: the assessment of your ideal next career move and your CV. Whenever possible, use these strenghts to demonstrate your achievements in answers to these questions. However, other questions can only be well answered if you have anticipated them and prepared an answer beforehand, for example, questions about salary.

It is important in an ad hoc interview to be prepared to answer questions about weaknesses or areas of development. It is important to acknowledge weaknesses but it is equally important to state your intent to do something about these, for example:

Question: What are your weaknesses?

Answer: I have an energetic marketing orientation. I enjoy meeting people and am pro-active towards my customers. However, I do not always follow-up paperwork so that is something I need to work on...

Two commonly asked questions at the start and end of interviews provide you with the opportunity to give an impression summary to the interviewer:

Question: Why are you here?

and later, maybe last, in the interview:

Question: Do you have any questions for me?

These examples will give you an opportunity to explore the different kinds of information the interviewer might be looking for in the CV and in your interview conversation. They will also indicate the different kinds of questions that you could prepare to ask the interviewer.

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