Top Interview Gripes
We have recently asked some of our consultants what their biggest interview gripes are. Where do they feel candidates fall down needlessly?
James Willacy – The most frustrating thing for me is when a candidate hasn’t researched a firm prior to their interview – it’s just laziness and anyone can learn something from a website. If you don’t know about the firm how are your interviewers going to be convinced you want to work for them?
James Boxall – An inability to answer with a decent response when asked “Tell me about yourself”. This is such a simple question but surprisingly is where a lot of candidates fall down. It’s very general but is a great opportunity to inject some of your personality into the interview from the off. If you can show some of that personality early on the whole interview becomes a lot easier. If you don’t answer this with some substance and personality then the interview is likely to fall by the wayside.
Tasmania Smith - When a candidate isn’t able to apply their answers to examples or scenarios. It is so important to be able to showcase practical ability on top of your theoretical knowledge. If a firm isn’t convinced of your practical experience then it will be difficult for them to trust you as a hire.
Fergus Hooley - It is pivotal that candidates are able to support the experiences which they list on their CVs. Many hiring managers will probe candidates on these details, and it is less than ideal for either side if these details are not forthcoming. This is not “a grilling” rather a hiring manager who is seeking assurance that the candidate has the key technical competencies. As an agency when we meet with candidates we go through their CVs line-by-line to ensure that they are happy with the entire document as a basis for a face-to-face interview.
We hope this helps people in their current or future job search – if you want to have a chat about the market or your search feel free to get in touch or browse our latest jobs section to see what we are currently working on.