How to Cope with a Job Interview
How to deal with a job interview? How can I distinguish myself if I have a curriculum with few experiences? What are the most insidious questions?
In this article I will answer these questions with 9 tips + 1 bonus.
Preparing for a Colloquium
Imagine that you are looking for a job.
The most commonly used strategy, alas, is to send out CVs around Italy hoping that someone will not bins and summon us for further study.
One day, incredibly, he answers one of the 1,000 people you've harassed with the wild spam in your CV.
You have been summoned to attend an interview, the next step.
The question arises to you spontaneously: How can you deal with a job interview?
Maybe it's your first job interview or you're just upset because you keep us very much in mind.
You really want to get that place and therefore exercise for days at home talking to the wall, as if in front of me I had a hypothetical recruiter.
Before you present yourself, however, read these 9 tips on how to deal with a job interview in a memorable way.
#1. What Are You Talking During a Job Interview?
Job interviews are all characterised by the same thing: you have to tell a story.
The more compelling the story (and consistent with the needs of the company), the better.
I'm talking about the story of your life.
A short story that summarizes in a few minutes your training, your previous experiences and your skills that you could put at the service of those in front of you.
You don't have to invent a bale. You must be honest.
Lying is the worst thing you can do during a job interview, not least because it takes just a few clicks to reveal the truth.
Already have a compelling story to tell? If the answer is no, in the next paragraph you will find an example of how to create one.
#2. How to Transform a Neous Curriculum In Engaging
And if I have nothing exciting to tell?
It happens, especially at the beginning, that you don't have particular work experience or results to be flagged.
In these cases, you have to turn the boring into a compelling one.
Let's imagine that Marco (fantasy name) is going to an interview to be hired as a pizza maker in a renowned pizzeria in Turin.
He has as his only experience that of having made for a year the helper pizzaiolo in the activity of his uncle Peppe in the municipality of Moncenisio, which is the most remote village in Italy with only 30 inhabitants.
I'm not joking, it's really the smallest municipality in Italy. I could not believe it when I discovered it.
It has 30 inhabitants! It is practically as if my family and relatives had an entire municipality in their hands (which you can see in the picture below).
But let's return to our young pizzaiolo helper who must understand how to get the job, despite having little experience.
It doesn't have a very attractive curriculum, right? There are hundreds of candidates with a much stronger curriculum than her.
Marco, however, knows he's good. Of course, he is not an expert, but he feels brought and would only like a chance to make everyone think again.
My curriculum doesn't do me justice ", he will think between himself and himself.
Then Marco remembers that time he attended the fair of the year, in which the pizzeria of his uncle tried to beat the record of "the biggest pizza in the country".
His uncle is the only Christian who owns a pizzeria in that place forgotten by God, so it is quite useless and self-celebrating as title.
But it doesn't matter, because the recruiter is not aware of it at the moment.
It is something that distinguishes Marco from the crowd.
It's a unique experience that he has had (how banal it is) and that he can tell to capture attention.
He's not lying, he's just telling a story that really happened.
Let's summarise: Marco is at the job interview and the interviewer asks him about his work experience.
Marco replies that he made the pizzaiolo helper for a few months? NO.
Marco starts by saying that you helped to create the biggest pizza in the history of the whole country, stressing his desire to overcome the limits and telling curious anecdotes about the event.
At this point he captured the attention of those in front of him.
I'm sure the interviewer will give him or her a chance that he or she has not given others.
He will ask him to make a pizza before his eyes to assess his skills.
Now it's all in the hands of Marco (literally).
Remember: Your goal is not to rub people off.
Your goal is to get a minimum amount of attention to prove your value.
# 3. When You Present Us, Use A Language Understandable To Everyone
The mistake that most people make is to assume that the person they are dealing with has the same knowledge.
This mistake is committed even when I'm at a job interview.
Paradoxically, you might think that flaunting your knowledge using technical and forbidden terms will make you look bright in the eyes of the selector, especially if he does not know them.
Mistaken. It only makes you more unpleasant.
People hate feeling stupid, and hearing someone who speaks proudly of something they do not know makes them feel stupid.
It should not happen with professional breeders, but it can always happen that someone dislikes you for the words you use.
I tell you this because in Italy it is better not to risk it.
Put pride aside and speak in a common language.
Only if you see that your interlocutor uses technical terms can you use them too.
#4. Use Words For Creating Empathy, Not Antipathy
Using a simple and clean language is not only to avoid enmire the recruiter, but also to create empathy.
When we are stressed we tend to defend ourselves by distancing ourselves from each other.
Using a language that is difficult to understand and full of technicalities is a way we unconsciously use to distance ourselves from someone.
Reflections: How much empathy does a lawyer or doctor generate for you who speaks of your problem in an academic language that you cannot understand? Zero.
Why would you like to do the same thing with the person interviewing you to give you a job?
You must enter into empathy with him/her, to have more chance of convincing him/her that you are the right choice.
Also here, avoid terms that are too technical, abstract or difficult to understand unless you have also used them by your interlocutor.
Describe your skills in a simple way using concrete examples of how you apply them on a daily basis.
#5. Prepared In Advance The Answer to the Question About Weaknesses And Defects
Dai, this is a classic. Even those who have not yet made any job interviews know this question.
It's a cliché spread by many films that see the protagonists replace an interview (or were the many films that made this question fashionable?).
A stupid way to make a silent scene during a job interview is not to prepare a prompt answer to the question:
What is your best value and what is your worst defect?
You will be surprised (at your own expense) at how difficult it is to describe your strengths, weaknesses, strengths and weaknesses when asked.
The most ingenious try a strategy for transforming a defect into a value:
My worst defect is that I'm willing to work until midnight to achieve a goal!
Fine attempt, but whoever does the professional recruiter is not so naive and knows well that this is a circumstance phrase.
My advice is to prepare a sincere response, even at the cost of admitting oneâs own lack, provided that we emphasise the desire to improve.
One solution is to give real examples as in this case:
My worst flaw is that sometimes I'm coming under pressure because of the upcoming deadlines, but I've learned to handle this type of situation.
Have you noticed the difference? In this case you have admitted a defect of your own (in reply to the initial question), but you have taken advantage of this opportunity to sell you an asset ("I can handle this type of situation").
Boom!
#6. How to Address Unexpected Questions of the Job Interview
You made a spectacular interview.
You had the qualifications, skills required and the right personality for that job.
In a nutshell: you've split, the place will definitely be yours.
At some point, the interviewer asks you:
It's your best day at work. That kind of day that comes home and you think you have the best job in the world. What did you do during this day?
But what kind of question is it?You will think between you and yourself.
It's the classic Unexpected Question of the job interview, the one that gives you at the last minute when you already foretaste the signed contract and the pastas that you will buy in the evening to celebrate.
If you think that only a madman can ask you something like this, know that the question I've mentioned is Miranda Kalinowski, who decides who deserves to be hired by Facebook or not.
Every company has its "preferred answer to its gnarled question".
Microsoft, for example, was asked:
If you could choose between two superpowers - be invisible or be able to fly - what would you choose?
Apparently, these particular questions would serve to understand in general terms the personality of the subject, even if I am very sceptical about their predictive efficacy.
There is little to do in these cases. I recommend that you search Google or Facebook for employees/ex-employees to ask you what are the "magic questions" and related answers of the company you are interested in.
#7. How to Summon a Passionate Candidate To What the Company Do
If I were to hire someone, I would like him to fall in love with my project or at least to be able to find out what my company does.
Employers are very proud and everyone considers their unique "creature".
As a result, they get irritated when they find out that someone has come to their job interview without knowing what they are doing.
If discovered, the candidate is labelled as "what she randomly sends out a curriculum, hoping that someone will take it". In short, they feel almost betrayed.
That is not the best way to present yourself.
This is why recruiters ask questions about the company.
For example, they may ask the candidate where the head office is located (reported on the company website) or they may ask why they have sent their own curriculum vitae to them and not to the competition.
My advice is to always do a search about the company and the owner on Google.
LinkedIn makes it even easier to find employees and managers and "browse" through their activities.
#8. Be Serious, But Not Serious!
Those who have been following Applied Psychology for a long time know it: you can be serious without being serious.
Talking about a science is really heavy.
It takes some skill to make something digestible that has to do with research, data and experiments.
You have to entertain. You have to be serious (i. e. correct and competent), but not serious (in my parts it is called "foolish").
At this precise moment, you have read 1775 words and you miss another 445 words to finish the article.
If I managed to keep you glued up to this eighth paragraph it's only thanks to the lightness that I used to explain these concepts.
Otherwise, you would yawn and close the web page.
And it would have been my fault.
Here, and if this long text had been your resume or presentation?
It would have been discarded by the bored interviewer.
Appearing professional during a job interview is crucial.
Using a language that is free of grammatical errors, dressing appropriately and many other tricks makes a difference.
This, however, does not mean that you have to disguise your personality and enthusiasm.
I'm excited to write this article, did you perceive it?
This enthusiasm of mine has kept you stuck to the text.
You also have to be enthusiastic when you talk about your experiences, passions and story.
Be serious, but never serious.
#9. Attention to Your Communication Non Verbal: May Tradirti
Finally, there is the last paragraph on non-verbal communication.
Did you know that people can deduce if they are anxious about him?
Of course you know it, sometimes you too have done it.
Well. Those working in the field of Human Resources are particularly able to recognize these signals.
Stirring legs, playing with the pen, inability to maintain direct visual contact: these are all signs that your body exudes and betrays your safety.
To reduce this type of behaviour, I recommend that you exercise yourself in the mirror.
If you can't, take a camera and place it on the table with the lens facing you.
Make your speech and then watch the recording. Detect unwanted and busy ticks and movements to reduce them to the next attempt.
READ ANKS:"Tell me how I Stringe The Hand And I will tell You Who You Are".
#Bonus - How to Express Better
You've arrived here, you deserve a prize: here's a bonus tip.
Not only is it important what your body says about you silently, but also what you say with your own language (and it would be missing!).
When answering questions from the interviewer, highlight keywords.
How to do it?
For example, take a short break before introducing something important about yourself (such as a result you've achieved or a prestigious title you've achieved).
Not only that.
Pay attention to the rhythm of your voice: it must not be too slow or too fast.
