We are now going on to the next stage of the selection process. If you have been called for interview, then you can assume that you have made a good start with your application form or CV. Hold this thought in your mind, and you will approach the next stage with confidence.
If you have been invited for selection, you’ve done a good job with your application form – so be confident as you go into the next stage.
There are several good printed and online sources of help with all of the areas we are going to consider in this chapter and we will direct you to some of these but first, let’s think about what employers are seeking to achieve.
The employer’s perspective
Employers need to choose candidates who have the potential to be successful in the job – not an easy task, when applicants may not have had the opportunity to carry out similar work and may not, therefore, be in a position to offer evidence of success. While the interview is the most popular method of selection – and a strong predictor of success in the job – it is usual for other selection methods to be used alongside, in order to explore applicants’ skills, knowledge, personality and motivation.
- In order to assess your skills, employers will usually break down the role into smaller components, for example managing a project, or working in a team, which they can find a way to assess.
- Employers may also want to find out if you have the specific knowledge needed for the job. They will make some assumptions based on your degree content, but may also test you through exercises, scenarios and case studies.
- An important question for employers is whether or not you will fit in, so they may look at aspects of your behaviour and personality, including your motivation – why do you want the job?
From your point of view (as the candidate), a range of selection methods is helpful because it gives you more chances to succeed and you can offset poor performance in one area by showing your strengths in another. For example, some people are not comfortable contributing to an unstructured group discussion, but can show excellent leadership in a group task.
Employers use the selection process to look for skills, knowledge and motivation.
Next, we’ll look at tests, interviews and assessment centres in turn, outlining what to expect and giving some pointers for good preparation.
Tests
We talked about psychometric tests in Chapter 8 as aids to help you to know more about yourself. They are also used by employers to measure candidates’ performance against either:
- the performance of an identified group in the population (graduates, adults, Year 11 pupils, a group in the same profession), known as norm referencing; or
- the standards or criteria determined by the employer, known as criterion referencing.
Psychometric tests must be objective, valid and reliable. In other words, they must be designed to: treat everyone who completes them in the same way so that scores can be compared; be relevant for the purpose and measure what they set out to measure; be consistent in the scores they produce, both over time and across similar groups of candidates. A quiz in a magazine, though interesting to do, is not objective, valid and reliable in comparison to a well-established personality test.
Kinds of tests
Most tests fall into one of two categories:
- Ability/aptitude: e.g. verbal, numerical and abstract reasoning tests, examine your ability to think logically and to problem solve, using words, numbers, diagrams, shapes or pictures. These tests consist of questions with right and wrong answers, and they should not depend too heavily on what you have learned at university, unless they are for a job-specific aptitude, e.g. in computing. Questions are often multiple choice, which should enable you to work more quickly. You will find lots of sample questions in books on how to succeed in psychometric tests – some titles are included in our useful reading list at the end of this book.
- Personality: e.g. measures of leadership, teamwork and creativity are usually questionnaires; the questions often ask what you would prefer in a choice of situations, or how you would behave in a given set of circumstances. Employers may not see how you have answered individual questions, but will have a profile or summary that tells them about how you typically respond. While these tests don’t usually have right and wrong answers (and shouldn’t really be called tests), employers will often have a preference for what kind of person they are looking for. They may be looking for evidence of your ability to act decisively, or exploring your preference for working in a team or alone.
Most tests are time-limited, and are administered either online or in conditions that will remind you of taking an exam. An online test is often used as a first stage in selection, with successful candidates invited to the next stage.
Exam conditions are not meant to add stress, but are to ensure that candidates’ results can be meaningfully compared with others, as all will have carried out the test in the same conditions.
How to prepare
Do
practise – use ‘how to’ books and online practice sites, and ask your careers service if they run practice sessions;
try to do it in ‘test conditions’ when you practise – no interruptions or distractions, working to a time limit;
find out as much as you can about what to expect – look at the employers’ information online or in print;
read letters and emails carefully: check what the employer is looking for and get the basics right, such as when and where the tests will take place;
be aware that some online tests are lengthy and you may not have much notice. Be prepared to rearrange your schedule to clear a time and space to work on it without interruptions or distractions.
Don’t
linger over a difficult question. Move on to the next – a good strategy in a timed test is to answer as many questions as you can;
guess at random in a timed test as you may be penalised for wrong answers;
leave it to the last minute: it won’t help your performance;
try to get out of it or offer excuses for lack of time.
Interviews
A job interview should not be a contest between two opponents – both you and the employer want the job to be filled. The vacancy is a problem to be solved, and both of you are on the same side of the problem. Employers want to get it right – it is costly to advertise, interview and appoint and they don’t want to have to do it again – and you want to be a successful candidate. Be aware that employers are increasingly using telephone and video interviews, usually at an early stage in the selection process. We will talk about the particular demands of these interviews later in this section.
‘I was a bit unsure as to how to approach finding jobs in the area of nutrition. I approached the university careers service and they gave me guidance, helped me prepare for interviews and informed me about the type of conditions to expect in an interview.’
Adam, MSc Public Nutrition
In the book Brilliant Answers to Tough Interview Questions the author, Susan Hodgson, provides an excellent summary of the purpose of interviews. She says:
Interviewers are seeking the answers to three fundamental questions: Can you do the job? Will you do the job? Will you fit in?
Break the interview down
Like all challenging tasks, tackle this one by breaking it down into three stages:
- general preparation before the interview;
- during the interview;
- after the interview.
General preparation before the interview
- Research the organisation and the job. You will have done this already for your application form – do it again, go deeper this time, talk to people who work there or are in similar work. Who are their main competitors? Where does the revenue come from? What are the developments and trends in the sector? How are new entrants trained and supported?
- Check your invitation to interview. This may sound obvious, but make sure you know where you are going, how you will get there and how long it takes. If you are driving, where will you park? Arriving in good time isn’t just good manners, it will help you to feel calmer and more confident.
- Decide what to wear and take. No matter how informal the dress code is for the people who already work there, there is usually an expectation that interview candidates will dress fairly formally and conventionally. This doesn’t mean an expensive suit that you will never wear again, but it does usually mean a smart suit or jacket and trousers, and a shirt and tie for males, and a smart suit or jacket and skirt/trousers with a shirt, blouse or top for women. If you are worried about your student budget, tour the charity shops for great bargains. Above all, make sure that your outfit – including footwear – is clean and well fitting, and that you can be comfortable without even thinking about what you are wearing. Check your personal grooming, and keep make-up, jewellery and perfume understated. Take with you as little as possible, in a neat bag or briefcase. If the interview requires you to take some documents (proof of identity, qualifications, sample lesson plans for a teaching post), put them in a tidy folder.
- Just before the interview. Your final preparation means checking that your phone is switched off, staying calm and quiet, being pleasant to other candidates if they are present, and to any staff you meet – but focusing on yourself with a few deep breaths until you are called in.
Look and feel smart, ditch the clutter, and you will be able to focus totally on the interview.
Remember those three questions we looked at earlier – Can you do the job? Will you do the job? Will you fit in? – and think about how you will demonstrate that the answer is yes to all three. Employers increasingly want evidence to back up candidates’ answers, so think of examples that will illustrate your ability to solve a problem, work in a team, manage your time under pressure, meet targets, follow instructions, lead others and so on. This might seem impossible – but think about not just your academic work but your part-time and vacation jobs, voluntary work and activities in student societies and sports teams.
What evidence can you offer to support the following skills? Make a note of your answers.
| Skill | Evidence |
| Solving problems | |
| Working in a team | |
| Managing your time under pressure | |
| Meeting targets | |
| Following instructions |
The question ‘Will you do the job?’ is a tricky one and it’s about motivation. So an employer will ask you why you have applied and how you see your career progressing. No one expects you to have had a lifelong ambition to work for a specific organisation, and employers will realise that you might have several applications under way at the same time. What they are looking for are signs of planning and of choosing their organisation because it offers the opportunity for you to do what you want to do.
There are some great examples of interview questions and answers in our companion publication Brilliant Answers to Tough Interview Questions – more details in the ‘Further reading’ section at the end of the book. While it would be a mistake to learn an answer by heart, the examples given will be a big help in your preparation.
During the interview
First impressions count!
A smile will help you to relax as well as giving a good impression. Experienced interviewers know that candidates are nervous and will do their best to settle you down. Wait to be invited to sit and shown which is your chair. If there is more than one interviewer (which is usual), make eye contact with them all – often those who did not ask the question are listening most intently to the answer.
Open and closed questions
Most interview questions will be ‘open’ – tell me about . . . describe a situation when you . . . how difficult did you find . . . If you get the occasional ‘closed’ question, such as ‘Did you enjoy your degree course?’, then give a full answer – they want more than yes or no.
Smile at the start of your interview, wait to be invited to sit, and make eye contact with all the interviewers. Breathe out, gently but purposefully.
Your turn
Be prepared for your turn – when you can ask the panel your questions. It’s tactful to avoid questions about pay and holidays at this stage – all that can be discussed when an offer is made. So, focus on topics like training and development, opportunities to specialise, future plans for the organisation and the role. Try not to take too long – the candidate who gets out a list of questions fills the interview panel with dread. If you came prepared with questions, but in the course of your visit they have been answered, for example during a pre-interview talk or tour, then it’s fine to say, ‘Thank you, I did have some questions but they have all been covered.’
Being interviewed is a skill. As with any skill, you will get better with preparation, practice and feedback.
After the interview
If you are successful in your interview, your feedback will be that you are offered the job.
If you are not successful, you might want just to put it behind you and move on. However, if you do the two things we suggest here, your next interview will be better.
- Firstly, reflect on your own performance. While the interview is fresh in your mind, make a note of the questions you felt you struggled with, so that next time you can do a bit more preparation. Think too about the questions you felt you handled well and where the panel seemed to respond well – sounds like you have the right idea with those questions.
- Secondly, seek feedback from the employer. They are not obliged to give you feedback but, if you ask in the right way, i.e. that you want to learn from the experience for next time, not that you want to challenge the decision, then you may get something really useful. A helpful employer might say something like, ‘In the interview, you didn’t convince us that you would be an effective team member. You talked generally about teams you had been in without identifying your own role in the teams.’ So make a list of the teams and groups you have been, or are, in and the role you play(ed). Next time around, then, you might be able to talk about your own part in a final-year group project – keeping the group to deadlines, or being the one with the creative ideas.
 | Even if you go for an interview, and you don’t get it, you have moved forward because you’ll learn from it. And if you get feedback, do listen to it. |
| Carl Gilleard, Chief Executive, Association of Graduate Recruiters |
A word about telephone and video/Skype interviews
These are becoming increasingly common, especially early in the selection process, unsurprisingly as they are more time- and cost-efficient for both the employer and the applicant. They might also be a possibility if you are unable to attend a face-to-face interview – it’s always worth asking.
Much of what we have already said about interviews still applies, especially with respect to anticipating and preparing for questions. There are, however, some important additional considerations.
Unlike a face-to-face interview, you are using a form of communication that you already use extensively to speak to friends and family, so it’s important to make a conscious effort to be more formal and businesslike. We have mentioned inappropriate email addresses elsewhere – you should also ensure that your Skype profile username and image are fit for jobseeking.
For both telephone and video interviews, choose your setting carefully to be free from extraneous noise, interruption and distraction, and warn anyone who might ’barge in’ that you are not to be disturbed. Make sure that your phone/laptop is charged and that any sound alerts are muted. Sit at a desk or table with your CV and any notes you might need to hand, and for video interviews make sure that the background behind you is clean and simple so that the interviewer focuses on you.
We recommend that for a video interview you dress as you would for a face-to-face interview – this is your first chance to make a visual impression – and always look into the camera to make eye contact with the interviewer. Even for a telephone interview you are likely to perform better if you feel alert and as if you are in interview mode – hangovers and pyjamas are inadvisable!
A particular challenge of telephone interviews is that you have no visual cues to help you and you need to concentrate even harder on both what is being said and the impression you are giving through your answers. Pauses are particularly difficult on the phone compared with face to face or even video. Take care not to interrupt as this is easily done with the slight delay over the Internet. Don’t be afraid to ask for a question to be repeated if you didn’t hear it or if you are not clear what it meant.
Once the interview has come to an end, send a short email thanking the recruiter.
‘I applied online to a big company near Paris. I sent in my CV and a covering letter (in French). They did a telephone interview which was fact finding really. That was terrifying because I wasn’t used to speaking French on the phone, but it went OK. They invited me to Paris for the second interview . . . there were the usual questions: strengths and weaknesses, experience of team work, that kind of thing. At the end of the interview she offered me a job on the spot.’
Hannah (Undergraduate), Economics and Politics with International Studies
Assessment centres
For our final section in this chapter, we’ll take a look at assessment centres – what they are, how to prepare and how to find out more. While not all employers use the term ‘assessment centre’, most will include other activities, in addition to an interview, in the final selection process.
An assessment centre is a collection of activities that are designed to test candidates’ suitability for a job.
Some of the activities are simulations of workplace tasks or activities, as many employers believe that such tasks give candidates a better chance to show their suitability for the job than a straightforward interview. They do not replace interviews though – typically an assessment centre might include short interviews, and then the most successful candidates are invited for a final, long interview.
Assessment centres can last for one day or more, and may even include cocktail parties and formal dinners.
There are usually several assessors, who may be assigned to individuals or to activities. The assessors will mark performance on each task according to predetermined scoring criteria. After all the tasks are completed and scored they will reach a collective view about candidates’ suitability.
What they include
A typical assessment centre may include:
- Psychometric tests: as discussed earlier in this chapter.
- Group discussions: these could be on a work-related topic such as, ‘How can this company increase its market share of 18–25-year-olds?’ Or a current affairs topic like, ‘To what extent should economic migration to the UK be controlled?’ The purpose is to assess candidates’ ability to speak and listen, to persuade, to seek agreement, to contribute without dominating. If the topic is job-related, candidates’ contributions could be assessed for the extent to which they demonstrate business awareness and understanding of the organisation.
- Group tasks: again, this might involve a job-related task, such as, ‘Devise a marketing strategy to reach 18–25-year-olds’, or an apparently irrelevant task like constructing a bridge from Lego. Candidates are assessed for the extent to which they contribute to the successful completion of the task, and the role they play in the group.
- Presentations: these assess the ability to communicate in a clear, structured and persuasive manner. An additional challenge might be to prepare the presentation in a very short time, say 20 minutes.
- Simulations: these are tasks that resemble activities which occur in the job. A popular simulation is the ‘in-tray exercise’ where candidates are asked to indicate how, and in what order, they would tackle a collection of messages and requests they might find on their desk on arrival at work.
- Job-related tests: these are activities that assess specific skills and knowledge required in the job and that candidates would have been expected to develop in their previous work or study. For example, preparing a budget based on information supplied, or demonstrating competence in specialist software.
- Case studies and scenarios: candidates, either individually or in groups, are presented with a job-related situation and asked to answer specific questions or to make recommendations on how the situation could be addressed.
- Social events: these can range from a ‘cocktail party’ setting to a formal dinner. Candidates are assessed for their ability to identify and interact with key people in the room, to engage in social interaction, and even for their table manners where formal dining might be part of the job role. Assessors are looking particularly for candidates’ ability to remain professional in an apparently off-duty setting where there may be generous supplies of alcohol and food.
An employer with a group of applicants may programme the day as a ‘carousel’, so that, while some candidates are carrying out psychometric tests, others may be tackling a group task.
How to prepare
You may already be hoping that you will never be invited to an assessment centre – but it need not be daunting, especially if you think about two things:
- the organisation and its position in the sector;
- what you have already done that will prepare you for the assessment centre.
You know what the employer is looking for from the person specification for the job – and by putting yourself in the employer’s shoes. Good interpersonal skills, showing initiative without being pushy, the ability to complete a task accurately and under pressure, sensitivity to and awareness of others – these are all fairly obvious requirements of most jobs. However, remember that the employer is looking for evidence, and the assessment centre is an ideal source of first-hand evidence as it provides it in a number of ways.
In terms of what you have already done that will help to prepare you, look back at the list of likely activities we have just mentioned. You have a lot to draw on – presentations in seminars, group projects, organising your work as a deadline approaches – and we have already talked earlier in this chapter about preparation for psychometric tests.
So, to prepare for an assessment centre:
- think about what the employer wants;
- identify what you have already done that might make you feel more familiar with, and therefore less intimidated by, the tasks you are asked to do;
- check with your university careers service to see if they do practice assessment centres;
- use some of the excellent books on the subject – see our ‘Further reading’ section at the end of this book.
- To succeed in selection, make sure you know what the employer is looking for.
- Focus in particular on the person specification for the job.
- Employers use tests, interviews and assessment centres to select staff; make sure that you understand and are prepared for all these methods.