'You're Hired'- A Student Guide to Interview Success

As I am coming to the end of my degree, it has left me thinking a lot about getting a job and how to make employees see me as an asset to their team. I’m not going to beat about the bush, I am feeling slightly anxious about the whole thing and how I will get along with nerves, and interviews, and selling myself as a prospective candidate. I’m hoping that everyone else is feeling like this too?



Don't be an interview Dummy



In light of this I decided to create a list of attributes that will help people who are also soon to be facing the world of work by preparing them for interviews. I have put together my five top skills that I think will help increase your chances in an interview:

1.      Preparation. McRae believes the key to success in the workplace is preparation [1998:41]. In an interview it is important to find out about the background of the company, this makes it seem as though you are interested in what they do. Also prepare using your CV, revise the areas they are likely to ask you about and think about what you want them to know about you.

2.      Assertiveness. Being assertive makes you appear confident and expressive. However, be mindful that you are not being aggressive [Back, K et al. 2005].

3.      Nonverbal. Employees are essentially judging you on everything, so your nonverbal language is equally as important as verbal. Open gestures make you seem friendly, whilst body language such as good posture and positioning yourself toward to interviewer make you seem more involved, and therefore employable.

4.      Enthusiasm. By appearing enthusiastic you make yourself appear more interested, and also interesting. You will also come across more friendly and approachable.

5.      Negotiate. Negotiations is an important element when looking for a job as you need to be able to come to an agreement on what they are willing to offer and what you are willing to accept, this is in relation to salary, perks, and also negotiating why you are the best candidate for the job. However, be mindful that you have rationale for any negotiations you are willing to make [Thompson. 2005]

"You're hired!"

  

So, have these helped? Are you feeling more positive about interviews? Or what alternative skills do you think are important?

Shopping With The Devil On Your Back

Ok today I had the opportunity to put my tips into practice when going shopping, listen to this:

I went into a shop to return a top that I had not yet worn but realised when I got it home that it was dirty. I went to the till with my receipt and asked for a refund on the money I had spent. The sales assistant responded in a very uncooperative way. She appeared very grumpy and quite unwilling to help my situation. She then told me (in a rude tone) that she was unable to refund my money as it had been worn. This took me by surprise as I hadn’t already worn it and it still had the tag on it, I tried to explain this to her but she wasn’t having any of it.

So…you can understand my annoyance when being faced with a sales assistant who had made an unjustifiable assumption and who had outright refused the request I had made. So, this would have been a brilliant time to put my top 5 conflict containment tips to the test, I could have taken my own advice and calmly and rationally spoken to the lady so that we could have negotiated and come to some sort of agreement that benefited me as the customer and also her as a member of staff. What a brilliant opportunity.

BUT this wasn’t what happened! Instead I resorted back to my old ways. I became irritated, defensive and stubborn. I demanded to speak to her manager and took great pleasure in telling the sales assistant that she needed to work on her customer service skills and reminded her of my consumer rights (using my most patronising tone). It was almost like I had a devil on my shoulder whispering in my ear egging me on in a mischievous manner.

If only we could all have a conscience like Jiminy

Once having left the shop I thought to myself…. ‘WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU’? How did I manage to go so backwards in my journey of becoming a communicating genius? Who else knows how this feels? It is so much more difficult than just following a simple set of rules when trying to deal with a conflict, when your faced with a situation your initial reaction isn’t to get your little note book out and refer to your top confrontation tips. So what other ways can we go about handling conflict so not to become a metaphorical monster?