Answering tough interview questions
Interviews are challenging and often we have good reason to feel worried coming up to the big day. Some of the biggest difficulties people have involve explaining reasons why they haven’t been working or personal issues that are difficult to talk about - or both!
The first thing to remember is that:
The truth will set you free!
Showing competence
What employers really want to see is that you’re ready to work now and that you’re confident and competent to do the job. So you need to show that to them by the way you answer the questions, by your voice tone and body language. Remember that there is a good reason why they’re invited you for an interview - they’ve already seen your CV and they’re trying to make you fit. So help them make the decision!
Intent
When going into an interview situation, there may be genuine reasons for you to be concerned. But businesses shouldn’t be overzealous in finding your weak points, the reason they hire people is to profit from their strong points. With that in mind, you need to prepare to say the best things that you have achieved your career so far and be ready to fit those points into the conversation whenever it’s suitable. That way, whatever happens in the interview, you will still be able to say the best things about yourself and that’s what they really want to know.
Positive Language
Humans have a great ability to hear what they want to hear and delete things that they don’t want to hear. And sometimes it can be confusing to remember all of the details of what someone said, but much easier to remember the words that they used. Therefore, it’s essential that you say the words that you want people to hear, even if you need to say something negative. For example, it sounds much better to say that something ‘didn’t go well’ compared to saying that ‘something went badly’. Ultimately both of those statements have very similar meanings but the feelings that go along with them are different.
I hope this post has helped you and given you some good ideas. If you’d like some interview preparation and practice, feel free to get in touch for a session. Thanks, Ronan.
