10 things to attend the interview
1. Research about the company.
Get to know about the company you’re applying because chances are the interviewers will be interested to know how much you know about the company. Go to their websites, and browse through the information about their corporate structure, size of organization, worldwide operation et cetera. If you’re going for Accenture job interview, visit Accenture’s website. If you’re going for IBM’s interview, go to IBM’s website. You get the idea.
Think about this. You’re an interviewer from Petronas and you’re interviewing 2 different job candidates. When asked how much they know about Petronas, you get 2 different answers:
1. Petronas is one of the largest organizations in Malaysia with specialization in oil and gas activities.
2. Founded more than 30 years ago, Petronas is a Malaysian-owned integrated oil and gas company with operations in over 30 countries covering various facets of oil operations. It is also one of the fastest growing companies in Malaysia and made a history for becoming the first Malaysian company to be listed in the Fortune 500 corporations list.
Which answer impress you more? While the first answer is not at all a bad attempt, the second answer will make the first looks like a cuckoo. You know it.
You should also study the positioning and strength of the company in the market and industry you’re in. Is there any market news that give you hint that the company is downsizing or facing financial difficulties? The last thing you want to happen when you are on board is hearing an announcement that the company is moving its operation to China due to cost reason. And for a new employee, being retrenched means that your compensation will be the size of a peanut.
2. Research about the position.
To avoid embarrassment and to save yourself from getting that funny look from the interviewer, make sure you know how to elaborate about the specific job position you’re applying. Even if you don’t have the exact idea about the roles and responsibilities (because different companies may use the same job title but with differences in the job functions), conduct a research and make a sensible judgment. If you still keep the job advertisement, use it as a reference because it tells you some things worth knowing.
One of my earliest interviews I attended after graduating some 6 years ago is for a Product Engineer position for a major manufacturing company in PJ. I swear I had my lip frozen when the interviewer asked me what does a Product Engineer do. I didn’t know, and I wasn’t prepared. The outcome was inevitable. I flunked it. From there on, I made a resolution. I will get as much information as possible about the position I’m applying before coming for job interviews.
With the presence of the internet facility, the information you need is at the end of your fingertips. Search something useful other than “mykakis”, “melayu boleh”, “cikgu suraya” and the likes. For example, for a Product Engineer position, you can key in the keywords such as “product engineer roles”, “job description for product engineer” in Yahoo, Google and so on. The list is endless. If you have senior friends who work for similar position and industry, talk to them. Understand the cycle of their every day routine, who they deal with, who they report to and so on.
3. Prepare a list of possible questions.
There are endless sources where you can get samples of popular interview questions. You can get a list of Popular Interview Questions from this website. If that is not enough, here are some list of common interview questions from external websites:
1. Working-Smart’s Interview Questions & Preparation
2. Interview Tips and Questions by Career Consulting Corner
3. Sample Behavioral Questions by Quint Careers
4. Sample Interview Questions by About.com
4. Role play & practice.
There is little point for you to collect all the interview questions if you don’t practice the answer! Get a colleague to assist you in a mock-up interview or role-play interview. Your colleague start asking you questions, and you answer.
One role play interview will result in a quite a significant improvement of your interview performance. Try it. You will feel the difference. This is also an opportunity for you to get a constructive feedback from a third party about your interview skills. Make sure the mock-up interviewer is prepared with an interview check list of your evaluation on your behavior throughout the interview, grammar and dictions, clarity of your voice, accuracy of the answers and so on.
5. Know/learn about the interviewers
As much as possible, try to get to know who your interviewers will be. You don’t need to know their name, but knowing which department or position will be enough. The interviewers may come from the Human Resources department or the department where the position is based. Sometimes, it is a combination of both.
If your interview is with the Human Resources people, there will not be a lot of technical questions related to your job (unless, off course, your position is as Human Resources executive or anything related to HR). In recruitment, the HR department becomes the gate keeper between job candidates and the hiring manager. They want to make sure the hiring manager will not receive candidates which are so-caput-one-lah for interview. Most of the interview session with the HR people will involve in assessing your soft skills e.g. communication, personality and intelligence. While your interview with the hiring manager (or your future boss) will be a combination of both.
Enter the world of networking. Using your colleagues, high school seniors, girl friends, cousins or your long lost brother-in-law’s auntie’s stepmother who is currently working (or used to work) with the company you’re applying, get as much information as possible that will increase your advantage to prosper in the job interview.
Never underestimate this power of networking. It will be even more useful when you already start working. Use it well and it will, in a positive way, shoot you up through the roof. But remember, don’t use it to take advantage over other people. Apparently, many people abuse the power of networking to climb up the corporate ladder, which is normally short lived. Sooner or later, their incompetence prevails. I remember, a friend told me about his company, “Here, if you want to grow fast, you need to have a strong ‘cabelity’, rather than a strong capability.”
6. Know the type of interview you will be facing
This is also imperative to enable you making a proper preparation to give you that unfair advantage over other candidates. Is the interview a one to one session? Is there any assessment and test papers that you need to take, prior to going to the interview room? Is it a group interview assessment, just like the Shell Job Interview I posted before? Because if it is maybe you want to grab 2 pieces of large pizzas the tonight so that you can store energy for the whole day of assessment tomorrow.
7. List your own questions to them.
An important but often neglected preparation. Job interview is not really a rigid, one-way interview where job candidates will be bombarded with interview questions without the slightest chance to ask anything back. You should also get your turn to ask questions.
Ask questions like:
1. How is my career growth opportunity will be like? Is there any succession plan that allows me to learn new skills after being in my expertise for 3 years?
2. What would be the main issues and challenges that I need to immediately look into if I am accepted for this position?
3. What is your main expectation out of this position?
And more. After all, you get about a few hours of window of opportunity that could decide where you’ll be for the next 5 years or so, so it is imperative that both of you get all the information needed. You want to know where they are headed, whether there will be any diversification in their business, expansion, down sizing and so on.
8. Prepare your most updated resume and relevant documents.
Don’t come to interview with your resume stored in your bloody thumb drive and ask the interviewer to print it out for you. Don’t bring the resume that you have not updated many centuries ago. When asked to bring photocopies of your documents, don’t come with the original ones and say, “my photocopy machine ran out of ink”. Don’t bring resume that you’ve written with your own hand writing. Don’t defend your hand-written resume by saying “my handwriting has got a lot to do with my personality”. Don’t come and tell the interviewer and tell, “I’ve just finished my last resume attending one interview before coming here.”
Don’t mess with this. Really, don’t play play.
9. Know where the interview is, and device strategy to be early.
Just like one of my posts, come early in your interview. If you cannot, don’t come. Period.
10. Prepare to dress well
Regardless what kind of fashion you’re into, when it comes to job interview, stick to the proper dress code. For guys, light color shirt with tie or suit is better, coupled with dark pants. And for girls, where executive blouse or dress. Put your socks on!
Then one of you guys ask, “I got confused. One guy advise me that wearing a long-sleeve shirt and a tie would suffice. Another ask me to war suit. Which one should I follow?”
If you ask me that questions, here is my own version of answer:
If you know their standard dress code or every day dressing, you should upgrade your dressing to one step further. For example, if the dressing is casual, with cotton shirt and jeans allowed (e.g. Engineer, Shift Technician etc), you can wear long sleeve shirt with tie. If they are wearing shirt and tie (e.g. Business Development Executive, Consultant etc), then go one step better by wearing suit. If you’re not sure about their dress code, go for suit. It does not kill. If Borat can wear suit, why can’t you?
Get to know about the company you’re applying because chances are the interviewers will be interested to know how much you know about the company. Go to their websites, and browse through the information about their corporate structure, size of organization, worldwide operation et cetera. If you’re going for Accenture job interview, visit Accenture’s website. If you’re going for IBM’s interview, go to IBM’s website. You get the idea.
Think about this. You’re an interviewer from Petronas and you’re interviewing 2 different job candidates. When asked how much they know about Petronas, you get 2 different answers:
1. Petronas is one of the largest organizations in Malaysia with specialization in oil and gas activities.
2. Founded more than 30 years ago, Petronas is a Malaysian-owned integrated oil and gas company with operations in over 30 countries covering various facets of oil operations. It is also one of the fastest growing companies in Malaysia and made a history for becoming the first Malaysian company to be listed in the Fortune 500 corporations list.
Which answer impress you more? While the first answer is not at all a bad attempt, the second answer will make the first looks like a cuckoo. You know it.
You should also study the positioning and strength of the company in the market and industry you’re in. Is there any market news that give you hint that the company is downsizing or facing financial difficulties? The last thing you want to happen when you are on board is hearing an announcement that the company is moving its operation to China due to cost reason. And for a new employee, being retrenched means that your compensation will be the size of a peanut.
2. Research about the position.
To avoid embarrassment and to save yourself from getting that funny look from the interviewer, make sure you know how to elaborate about the specific job position you’re applying. Even if you don’t have the exact idea about the roles and responsibilities (because different companies may use the same job title but with differences in the job functions), conduct a research and make a sensible judgment. If you still keep the job advertisement, use it as a reference because it tells you some things worth knowing.
One of my earliest interviews I attended after graduating some 6 years ago is for a Product Engineer position for a major manufacturing company in PJ. I swear I had my lip frozen when the interviewer asked me what does a Product Engineer do. I didn’t know, and I wasn’t prepared. The outcome was inevitable. I flunked it. From there on, I made a resolution. I will get as much information as possible about the position I’m applying before coming for job interviews.
With the presence of the internet facility, the information you need is at the end of your fingertips. Search something useful other than “mykakis”, “melayu boleh”, “cikgu suraya” and the likes. For example, for a Product Engineer position, you can key in the keywords such as “product engineer roles”, “job description for product engineer” in Yahoo, Google and so on. The list is endless. If you have senior friends who work for similar position and industry, talk to them. Understand the cycle of their every day routine, who they deal with, who they report to and so on.
3. Prepare a list of possible questions.
There are endless sources where you can get samples of popular interview questions. You can get a list of Popular Interview Questions from this website. If that is not enough, here are some list of common interview questions from external websites:
1. Working-Smart’s Interview Questions & Preparation
2. Interview Tips and Questions by Career Consulting Corner
3. Sample Behavioral Questions by Quint Careers
4. Sample Interview Questions by About.com
4. Role play & practice.
There is little point for you to collect all the interview questions if you don’t practice the answer! Get a colleague to assist you in a mock-up interview or role-play interview. Your colleague start asking you questions, and you answer.
One role play interview will result in a quite a significant improvement of your interview performance. Try it. You will feel the difference. This is also an opportunity for you to get a constructive feedback from a third party about your interview skills. Make sure the mock-up interviewer is prepared with an interview check list of your evaluation on your behavior throughout the interview, grammar and dictions, clarity of your voice, accuracy of the answers and so on.
5. Know/learn about the interviewers
As much as possible, try to get to know who your interviewers will be. You don’t need to know their name, but knowing which department or position will be enough. The interviewers may come from the Human Resources department or the department where the position is based. Sometimes, it is a combination of both.
If your interview is with the Human Resources people, there will not be a lot of technical questions related to your job (unless, off course, your position is as Human Resources executive or anything related to HR). In recruitment, the HR department becomes the gate keeper between job candidates and the hiring manager. They want to make sure the hiring manager will not receive candidates which are so-caput-one-lah for interview. Most of the interview session with the HR people will involve in assessing your soft skills e.g. communication, personality and intelligence. While your interview with the hiring manager (or your future boss) will be a combination of both.
Enter the world of networking. Using your colleagues, high school seniors, girl friends, cousins or your long lost brother-in-law’s auntie’s stepmother who is currently working (or used to work) with the company you’re applying, get as much information as possible that will increase your advantage to prosper in the job interview.
Never underestimate this power of networking. It will be even more useful when you already start working. Use it well and it will, in a positive way, shoot you up through the roof. But remember, don’t use it to take advantage over other people. Apparently, many people abuse the power of networking to climb up the corporate ladder, which is normally short lived. Sooner or later, their incompetence prevails. I remember, a friend told me about his company, “Here, if you want to grow fast, you need to have a strong ‘cabelity’, rather than a strong capability.”
6. Know the type of interview you will be facing
This is also imperative to enable you making a proper preparation to give you that unfair advantage over other candidates. Is the interview a one to one session? Is there any assessment and test papers that you need to take, prior to going to the interview room? Is it a group interview assessment, just like the Shell Job Interview I posted before? Because if it is maybe you want to grab 2 pieces of large pizzas the tonight so that you can store energy for the whole day of assessment tomorrow.
7. List your own questions to them.
An important but often neglected preparation. Job interview is not really a rigid, one-way interview where job candidates will be bombarded with interview questions without the slightest chance to ask anything back. You should also get your turn to ask questions.
Ask questions like:
1. How is my career growth opportunity will be like? Is there any succession plan that allows me to learn new skills after being in my expertise for 3 years?
2. What would be the main issues and challenges that I need to immediately look into if I am accepted for this position?
3. What is your main expectation out of this position?
And more. After all, you get about a few hours of window of opportunity that could decide where you’ll be for the next 5 years or so, so it is imperative that both of you get all the information needed. You want to know where they are headed, whether there will be any diversification in their business, expansion, down sizing and so on.
8. Prepare your most updated resume and relevant documents.
Don’t come to interview with your resume stored in your bloody thumb drive and ask the interviewer to print it out for you. Don’t bring the resume that you have not updated many centuries ago. When asked to bring photocopies of your documents, don’t come with the original ones and say, “my photocopy machine ran out of ink”. Don’t bring resume that you’ve written with your own hand writing. Don’t defend your hand-written resume by saying “my handwriting has got a lot to do with my personality”. Don’t come and tell the interviewer and tell, “I’ve just finished my last resume attending one interview before coming here.”
Don’t mess with this. Really, don’t play play.
9. Know where the interview is, and device strategy to be early.
Just like one of my posts, come early in your interview. If you cannot, don’t come. Period.
10. Prepare to dress well
Regardless what kind of fashion you’re into, when it comes to job interview, stick to the proper dress code. For guys, light color shirt with tie or suit is better, coupled with dark pants. And for girls, where executive blouse or dress. Put your socks on!
Then one of you guys ask, “I got confused. One guy advise me that wearing a long-sleeve shirt and a tie would suffice. Another ask me to war suit. Which one should I follow?”
If you ask me that questions, here is my own version of answer:
If you know their standard dress code or every day dressing, you should upgrade your dressing to one step further. For example, if the dressing is casual, with cotton shirt and jeans allowed (e.g. Engineer, Shift Technician etc), you can wear long sleeve shirt with tie. If they are wearing shirt and tie (e.g. Business Development Executive, Consultant etc), then go one step better by wearing suit. If you’re not sure about their dress code, go for suit. It does not kill. If Borat can wear suit, why can’t you?
MOHD ADHA MOHD ZAIN (ADHA ZAIN)
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