Personal Finance | Interview Answers | Winning CVs | Beat the Recession

Interview Technique

A CV has only really achieved its goal if you secure an interview, when you'll need to reinforce and build on its content.

If your CV isn't securing you interviews, then you might as well wrap your old potato peelings in it and lob it in a bin for all the use it is to you and your career.

If you're invited to an interview, you'll normally have a week or two's notice. This period is a crucial part of the proceedings. Used effectively, you can give yourself a real chance to shine on the day.

At this point I'd like to remind you of something glaringly obvious, but hugely important. The reason you've been offered an interview is because somebody liked what you put into your CV. The content will have struck them as relevant, interesting and at the very least sufficiently intriguing to suggest you might have something useful to offer.

So, when you go along to an interview, be ready to expand on each and every element of your CV. Every line, every point you make, every comma is a legitimate subject of conversation with your interviewer (OK, maybe not the commas unless you've applied to the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Commas or similar).

REFRESH YOUR KNOWLEDGE OF YOUR CV

All the achievement statements, for example, that make an appearance in your CV are entirely legitimate topics for the interviewer to explore, which means that if you want to impress the interviewer, you'll need to be able to expand on this information. So, refresh your memory about each achievement so that you have all the relevant details at your fingertips.

I've conducted interviews where the candidate has been asked about a particular project referred to in the CV. Hardly a trick question and yet people stumble over basic facts and figures. I remember one exchange that went something like this:

Candidate: The project started in April 1998.actually, it was July. Anyway, the project had three key aims.(candidate only remembers two of them).and it completed in May 1999.

Interviewer: Oh, you say in your CV that it finished in August 1999.

Candidate: Swipe me, you're right!

Now the odd slip of the tongue or the memory is understandable at an interview, as nerves often play a part. But let's face it, you were the one who mentioned the project in the first place, so it's hardly the interviewer's fault if they want to know a little bit more about it.

DON'T CREATE HOSTAGES TO FORTUNE

Something you absolutely want to avoid is putting anything in your CV where you've slightly buffed up the truth to make your contribution seem more impressive than it really was. When you're sat at your computer compiling your CV and there's a job requirement mentioned in the advertisement that you don't meet as strongly as you'd like, it's quite tempting to deploy just a smidgen of exaggeration. After all, where's the real harm in that?

Well, the harm becomes very evident when you find yourself blathering and blustering at an interview because you can't back up the substance of your CV. And the trouble is that an interviewer who uncovers just one chink in your credibility will not be inclined to believe that the rest of your CV is a chink-free zone.

So far, I've concentrated on how your CV can influence your interview performance, because CVs are the focus of this book. However, you might well want to seek out some more comprehensive advice on preparation and performance to supplement this perspective. In the meantime, here are a few general tips for optimising your interview performance:

Anticipate what the interviewer(s) might want to know about you.
Prepare a few questions to ask at the end of the interview.
Appear positive and enthusiastic. At the end of the interview, explicitly confirm your interest in the job.


Custom Search