Ace That Interview
Ace that Interview
Going for that first interview after a career break can be a pretty stressful experience, learning and development coach Martin Horan has some practical advice on how to prepare for that first step in getting back to work
“You’ve been out of the workforce for some time, what steps will you take to re-adjust?”
There’s an interesting Interview question. Challenging? Maybe so. Particularly if you have taken a decade or more out of the mainstream to raise a family or care for an elderly relative. I’ll come back to that specific question later.
If the question piqued your interest you are probably female, you’re probably not in your 30’s and you may well feel intimidated with all the preconceptions that are so common and so often inaccurate.
Here’s 7 tips that will help with your preparation for and performance at an Interview:
1. Do not undervalue your experience. You have significant budget experience. You have motivated people (kids, partner, neighbours). You have managed projects. You have planning skills. You’ve organised events. You have been creative. You have been active in your Community / GAA club / Kids school / Charity.... the list goes on.
2. Read the job advertisement (or job description) carefully. Pick out key terms and phrases; e.g. ‘must have good customer service skills, be familiar with Quickbooks, able to work on own initiative, be deadline driven, have good I.T. and Social Media skills, have effective communication and interpersonal skills, be flexible, work in a team’.
3. Make the link between your attributes that you have listed from point 1 above (referred to as competencies in HR circles) and the key items you identify in their advertisement. Prepare relevant examples from your experience to answer questions like; “Tell us about a situation where you had to meet a tight deadline and how you did that”.
4. If there is an item listed on the ad that you are not familiar with e.g. Quickbooks – do a google search where you’ll see that it is a simple accounting software system. You haven’t used it but maybe you did use Sage back in the 80’s or you have a bookkeeping certificate or at very least show how willing and quick you are to learn, giving a relevant example.
5. Preparing for an interview should include obvious steps like researching the organisation, visiting their website, visiting their premises, calling them, trying out their service, and best of all making contact with someone who works there and asking them a few questions: “What are they like to work for? What are their values? What approach do they take with Selection”?
6. Do a dry run – practice answering questions you can predict. Get your partner or a friend to ask:
Give us an example of the toughest customer you ever had to deal with.
Tell us about the most significant written document you produced.
Describe a time when you had to work with a challenging team mate and what you did.
Have you ever had to give someone negative feedback? How did you handle that?
Talk us through how you approach a problem.
7. Be positive, be upbeat and be friendly at the Interview.
Back to my opening question... you should be taking steps to readjust. Good answers to that question would include:
I have been reading relevant business related materials (and have examples)
I enrolled in a course on ***, it was very useful because I learned ****.
I have been Networking. It might have been on LinkedIn, or with local community based groups - I have met and talked with relevant business people e.g. “I spoke to two people who work in this company”.
I have been busy identifying and researching companies and organisations with opportunities that interest me.
Keep in mind that the more interviews you do the better you will become at them. So don’t see a refusal as a failure. Look at it as good practice and good learning. There are jobs out there. Organisations are hiring women. And they are hiring people over 50. In fact some are positively discriminating in these areas. They recognise the values of maturity, experience, versatility and realistic expectations.
If you want to do one of Martin Horan’s online courses in interview preparation and more visit martinhoran.com