Interview learns

Reflection of an interview for a client role

- not much background information

- not clear whether 1 or 2 clients will be interviewing

- from appearances, doesn't sound exciting, but during the interview your opinion

 

Did well

- client & context background research.  amazing what you can get from google.

- rapport and humour

- appear as a team

- listen & replay

 

Choices

- both candidates arrive at client site together?

    - pro: shows collaboration not competition, enables client to brief together

    - challenge: H2 make client feel comfortable to transition to individual interviews if wanted

     - challenge: if both candidates interview together, H2 manage this dynamic.  e.g. 'selling oneself' vs. over-modesty vs. competitiveness.  H2 coordinate styles, so as to support or complement rather than compete

 

Interpreting the requirement and positioning

- when asked for a CV, be insistent on tailoring opportunities

 

Pre-interview preparation

- prepare some specific questions in advance, tailored to each person

- bring spare business cards - in case you get introduced to many people on a office tour

- research your client contacts - who works on that floor, who might know them.  do you want to name-drop international contacts?

 

Preparation relating to group (multiple candidate) interviews

- make a conscious (and thought through) group decision about whether account manager will accompany

- plan your seating - place the less talkative candidate in the middle, and the account manager in a supporting position?

- agree / explain personal styles - e.g. short/long answers, humour, self-introduction

- plan some staged support - e.g. can your colleague feed you a question or support, if he believes you are not selling one of your strengths? (e.g. "say bob, how about mentioning your HR experience?")

 

Enthusiasm

- know thyself - and in that knowledge act upon it.  knowing that you are easy to read, plan in advance.

- prior to the interview, if not 100% enthused by the opportunity, search for the win in the opportunity - what could/would make it great?  if still not 100%, then make it a 2-way interview - search for the win

- if your enthusiasm turns for the better during the interview, then ensure that this is observed (and attributed to the right reasons)  e.g. (more generically speaking) make a comment or ask a question which addresses an undiscussed but observable weakness e.g. "when I first walked through this door, I wasn't so aware of what

 

Other learns

- bringing account manager lends weight to the situation, and emphasises the non-transaction nature

- my level of enthusiasm can easily be read, and in this instance the client was specifically looking for it