Giving Brilliant Interview Answers
Of course, the content of what you say is very important, but there are a few basic rules that will help all your interview answers to make the best possible impression.
Open or closed job interview questions
Questions can either be open – ‘Tell me what you like about your current job?’ – or closed – ‘Do you like your current job?’.
Good interviewers will always ask open questions that encourage you to give a full answer, but it is not a perfect world – not every interviewer is a good interviewer.
Job Interview Answers Do’s and Don’ts
- Do give a full answer to a question – never just say ‘yes’ or ‘no’.
- Do react as if every question is an open question.
- Don’t give other monosyllabic answers.
- Don’t take this to extremes – if you are offered coffee and you would like one, a simple ‘yes please’ will suffice. No-one wants a lecture on caffeine addiction halfway through an interview.
In anticipating potential questions and planning brilliant interview answers, don’t forget that some of your answers will automatically lead to a follow-up question from the interviewer. Don’t be disconcerted by this, it usually means you have said something that captures their interest and they want to know more. If it is just that they want something clarified, they will say so.
The key to success is to rehearse what you want to say, but not learn it off by heart. Reciting many of the free interview answers your downloaded from th internet will not win you any favors. Recall all your relevant experience, your unique selling points, your personal qualities and strengths and any problem areas you might encounter. Become so familiar with this material that if someone stopped you in the street and asked you to tell them everything about yourself in the next 60 seconds, you could do so with ease.
Say it without words
A good, well-constructed interview answer to any question loses its impact if that answer is given in a diffident, lackluster way that doesn’t match up to what is being said. The non-verbal clues that you give during an interview say a great deal. This starts from the minute you enter the interview room (or even me building) – staff you meet there may be giving informal feedback to the interviewer or interview panel.
Be pleasant to everyone you meet. Cliches are sometimes truths and a smile really does cost nothing, even if your stomach is churning and your palms feel sticky.
It is always a good idea to rinse your hands just before an interview, so that you don’t have a clammy handshake. If your file or briefcase is in your left hand, you are ready to shake hands without suddenly having to shuffle everything around. Make sure you use a good, firm handshake without trying to convince the interviewer that you were the national arm-wrestling champion for the past three years.
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