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Second Interview Questions

How good are your time management and presentation skills?

Two items that often come up in second interviews or assessment centres are in-tray exercises and presentations.

Don't let the time pressure rush you into rash decisions on the in-tray. Make sure you know your exact aim for your presentation.

They can simulate your in-tray very dramatically nowadays, with twenty emails in your inbox, your computer buzzing to signal an urgent message and a tray overflowing with paperwork.

BE SYSTEMATIC AND BE SEEN TO BE SYSTEMATIC

Don't act on the items as they come. Make sure you've read everything before you make any decisions. There could be a snake at the bottom of the pile. It's also likely that one item will have an impact on another. The most popular way of handling an in-tray exercise is, like all great techniques, very simple. Put the paperwork and emails into three categories - A, B, C - by assessing their urgency and impact. 'Urgent' is something that's got to be done or it'll be too late. 'Impact' measures how much an item affects the profit-and-loss account or other people.

A: Stuff that you think is urgent, that in real life you would do today - things you're going to deal with during the exercise. Matters to do with customers are most likely to occupy this category.

B: Stuff that's important but not as urgent as A. You'll get round to these today only if you finish with A. Tomorrow these matters could well go into A.

C: Material that may still be important. You need to know where it is, so that if something happens that changes its urgency or impact you can promote the item to A or B.

If during the exercise they interrupt you with phone calls, establish quickly who is calling and what their position is. You'll want to speak immediately to your boss, for example, since they may well change at least one of your priorities. When these interruptions occur, make sure that an observer can see you're applying the same systematic rules to each one, and putting those that don't need action now into C, even when someone on the phone says the matter's urgent.

PRESENTATION TIPS

If you're not a natural at presentations, go on training until you can at least survive. Ken knows one senior manager who made it to the top and remained a complete liability on his feet. When asked how he'd survived he replied, 'Ducking and weaving, old boy. I avoided presentations like the plague.'

The best tips for making effective presentations are the usual suspects: set tight objectives and talk exclusively in terms the audience will understand. The easiest way to set objectives for a presentation is to write down, 'At the end of this presentation the audience will:

do something
be able to do something
have a certain attitude towards an event or plan.

This works well for an interview presentation and makes your preparation easier and quicker. In an interview, you will also have in mind the impression of you that you want to leave behind. For example: 'They'll see my drive and energy, my good listening skills and the fact that I work thoughtfully without making rash decisions.'

During your preparation, try to put yourself in the audience's shoes. This should help you to use only the language that they use and understand. Don't forget when you're planning your magnificent opening that you've also got to finish with a bang. (We've both found that 'Er, well, that's it' is a frequently used ending.) Allow time for questions and think through what the questions are likely to be, so you can respond professionally. Lots of good presentations founder at question time. Only cover the main points on the visual aids, make sure they have impact and don't just read them out. They're aids for you to talk round.


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