February 2006 ISSUE
INSIGHT
Are You Ready for Your Interview?
Editor’s Note: The following article is tailored from notes from Ginny Nicholson, CMA, APEGGA’s former Manager, Administration and Human Resources. Although Ginny has moved on to a position outside APEGGA, we’ll continue offering her insight on job hunting as space in our Careers section permits. Check the June 2005 and November 2006 PEGG Online editions for earlier stories in this series.
You’ve done your research and landed an interview for a job that’s
just for you. Now’s your chance to make an impression, find out even more
about the job — and, if all goes well, earn yourself an offer.
Your work begins in the mirror, before you head out the door. What should you
wear?
Here are some hints.
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Conservative is the key
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As long as she doesn’t dress like Courtney Love with a hangover, call your mom for advice
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If you can, check out employees as they enter and exit the company premises
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Downtown in a big city or for a position with public contact, tend to be more dressy, professional, polished
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In industrial complexes, smaller cities and towns, be more casual, relaxed
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But never jeans — or anything that shows your underwear
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A blouse and dress pants or skirt is a good choice for women, dress shirt and dress pants for a man.
Arrive on time or with a few minutes to spare. Here’s what you can expect next.
Every interview is unique, but all of them do tend to fall into categories
or a blend of categories.
There’s the technical interview. Here, the interviewer wants to learn more
about your skills and how they apply to the job.
There’s the behavioural interview. It’s designed to draw out what kind of person you are — your life ethics and attitudes.
There are pre-interviews, over the phone. And there are follow-up, second
or shortlist interviews.
You might be interviewed by one person — the person who manages the position,
perhaps. Sometimes, you’ll be interviewed by a human resources person,
both the position’s manager and the HR person, or some other combination
of managers. Sometimes workplace peers will be part of the process.
For this month’s article, let’s look only at the technical interview. Following are a few pointers you need to be aware of.
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Main purpose is usually to authenticate that you know what you say you know and should know for your level of education and experience.
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Usually your potential supervisor conducts the technical interview.
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This is usually the more comfortable part of the interview for you.
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Anticipate technical questions and practice the answers, in the same way you would behavioural-style questions.
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If there are some technical qualifications or knowledge requirements for the job that you do not have, or only partially have, include in your research a study of the topic and find ways to fill the gap (courses, on-the-job training supplemented by courses, research papers identified, experts to consult etc). Show that you understand what you have to offer the job and what you would need to supplement.
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Good companies will give you some form of knowledge or technical skills test within the interview. Some may ask you to prepare some type of technical document to bring to the interview, usually about something to do with the requirements of the job.