15 Tips to Face Interview Session
by Taufik Arief Hasibuan
Hi, in today talent market situation, invited and coming to an interview sessions would be more frequently to perform, particularly for top talents in the market. Me and my team at People Search Indonesia wrote some tips, that you can apply and prepare before coming to interview sessions. Hope you enjoy your interview sessions, and being successful on your job hunting or recruitment process. Here they are:
- Prepare yourself, by reviewing again your resume or CV before interview session. Please recall all the major moments, measurement, success, failures, lessons learned occurred and stated on your CV. Point to remember, interviewer also look at your CV and put it as the basis/reference to interview you.
- Understanding contemporer interview method, such as STAR concept (Situation-Task-Action-Result). Please recall all significant/major situation and tasks given to you at the past, also the actions you took, and also explain the result sincerely and truthfully.
- Study about the employer. Checking at the internet and asking for people who might know about this company. Making sure you know well some basic information such as business model, type of products, number of employees, shareholders, business coverage, BOD member, etc.
- Understanding the role and responsibilities offered to you, and before going interview, please evaluate your suitability, competencies and potency related with the job opportunity. Think, how you do help/contribute the next employer with your current attributes.
- During the interview, please answer all questions straight. If you have to explain longer & wider, please ensure that you really answer their questions by end of your term. Todays interviewer, they want to see the clear cut explanation.
- Show the mixed between confident and being humble. You need to answer questions with confident, but not showing arrogant and bluffing.
- Although, sometimes we made presumption, but try to speak with interviewer with half-empty glass. You have right to dig some information from them. You can ask open question or make them as confirmatory questions, that’s the reason you need to prepare yourself.
- During the interview, send positive aura by being relax (not tense) but still with polite gesture.
- Dress up properly and professionally. Wear the most representative clothes you have, but indeed it has to be fit with the environment. We know some industries or jobs do not wear business suit, so If you apply to such environment, don’t wear suit.
- Know yourself well and assess your strength and weaknesses. Interviewer nowadays is looking for more than just your knowledge. They are looking for other competencies, such as leadership, team-building, decision making, problem solving, stress management, analytical abilities and other skills. Use this opportunity to convince the interviewer of your strong points by giving example of previous success.
- Make sure you stay on the positive note, especially when the subject appears to be your weakness, by mentioning how you overcome it or what you will do to improve. Remember nobody is perfect, but it’s about how to develop your self, and remove your weakness as much and fast as possible.
- When you find difficulty to explain complex situation, such as business structure or professional portfolio, utilize paper drawing to express your message through. Not only it shows how active your attitude is during the interview, but it also indicate how well you communicate your opinion or ideas. Therefore, always prepare several blank sheets with you even though some interviewers may bring in blank papers to the interview room.
- Emphasize why you are the best person for the job by concluding all your points in summary near the end of the session. Express your enthusiasm enough to show your interest for the opportunity.
- Please prepare your current compensation-benefit data and your financial expectation before interview session.
- Always be honest in mentioning your current salary, if necessary you can show your salary slip to your interviewer
Taufik Arief is an entrepreneur and professional recruiter in ASIA Regional who lived and worked in Jakarta.
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