Job Interview Techniques

Effective job interview techniques are not necessarily about learning a specific set of rules or remembering model answers to a list of interview questions. Successful job interview techniques are all about researching what your potential new employer is looking for, and convincing them that you have the skills and aptitude to fill that role.

Recruiting the best people is probably the most important task that any employer undertakes, so they try hard to find methods and interview techniques that will be effective and will provide accurate predictors of who is likely to make the perfect employee. This has led to an increasing trend in what is referred to as competence-based interviews.

Sometimes competency-based interviews are disconcertingly referred to as ‘behavior interviews’, but this term is used to cover work competencies rather than etiquette. These interviews do not focus on your education, work history or interests. You won’t get asked why you want the job or to tell the interviewer about yourself. These interviews focus on whether you have the right abilities to do a particular job, and do it well.

Interviews based on or including a large element of competency-based questions are becoming very much the norm so incorporating some the free interview techniques that you can find in most good job interview how-to books into your skill-set that helps you manage these situations is well worth spending time on.

You are most likely to encounter them if you are being interviewed for positions in large organizations. Not all interviewers who use them necessarily like them. Some complain that they are inflexible and artificial and that they do not give them such a full picture of the whole person. If you are reading this, however, then your present sympathies are not likely to be with the plight of interview panel members. Your concern is what you can expect from these interviews and how you can ensure that you can tackle them well to optimize your chances of success.

Below is a list of some of the most commonly sought abilities. Don’t be put off by the list. No single interviewer is likely to require you to have evidence of everything on the list. Usually, employers have a list of six or seven that are the most relevant to a particular post. Job descriptions and person specifications are likely to tell you what these are, so prepare your interview techniques to include descriptions of how you have these abilities and you should not be taken by surprise.

• Adaptability.
• Communication.
• Decision-making.
• Influencing.
• Innovating.
• Leadership.
• Management.
• Planning.
• Problem-solving.
• Project management.
• Relationship-building.
• Resource management.
• Self-management.
• Strategic thinking.
• Teamwork.
• Using and developing expertise.

You might encounter competence-based interviews at whatever level you are applying and in whatever type of employment. They are popular in many professions, from sales to healthcare, and at all levels of supervisory and management recruitment.

The dividing line between competence-based and other job interview techniques is often blurred. Many employers interview using a combination of biographical, general, scenario and competence questions.