Self Marketing: Interviews

The purpose of an interview is to give the selectors an opportunity to assess your suitability for the job/role andfor you to provide evidence of your skills and personality.

In order to make effective preparation for your first interview, you need to give some thought to its purpose. Just as the application form or CV is used as a way of eliminating a proportion of candidates, so the initial interview acts as a screening process to identify potentially suitable people.

Selectors have a checklist of requirements. These are usually based on the job specification drawn up by the personnel department. The job analysis you did prior to the application should help to direct your preparation for the interview and should mean that yourexpectations match those of your interviewer.

An interview is a two-way process. Do not ignore your own needs in this. The selector wants to find out about you and you need to find out about the organisation. The selector wants to recruit the best person and you want to convince him or her that you are that person. You cannot do either of those things unless you prepare well and take an active role in the proceedings.

Resources
Session 4 Presentations

Links
Interviews (Careers and Employability Service, University of Nottingham)
Interviews (Careers Advisory Service, The Open University)
Interviews Tips (Prospects)

References
This page uses an image from the Open Clip Art Library page "Directeur / Principal", which is available under the CC0 PD Dedication