Job interviews: The most important tips
Marianne Bom & Rie Jerichow, Publicér
Prepare for the interview
- Prepare – read everything you can find about the company and the people you are going to meet: online, in the press, in business media. You have to know the company and their challenges.
- Bring questions on a piece of paper. Use the questions to engage in a dialogue and ask in depth-questions. Always have a question ready for the end when they ask if you have more questions.
- Bring stories that link your experiences and results to the company’s needs and demands for the job. The stories can elaborate on what you wrote in the résumé: which work related challenges you experienced during your study, study job, or during volunteer work, and how you solved it.
The frequent questions
Before going in to a job interview, it may be a good idea to prepare answers for the most common questions. Practice saying your answers aloud, and let your answers point in one direction: you are the right one for the job.
- Can you tell us a bit about yourself?
- Why did you apply for this position?
- Why should we hire you?
- What are you most proud of during your career/what is your biggest success?
- What is the biggest compliment you have received?
- What is the biggest mistake you have made?
- How do you work in a team?
- What expectations do you have for your boss?
- What experiences do you have with xxx?
- Tell us about your career so far/a conflict you have been in/a case where you were in disagreement with your colleague or boss.
Interview over phone or video
You may be asked for an interview over phone or video, especially when the employer wants to screen a large number of applicants. For this, the rules are the same as for regular interviews: prepare, and have relevant questions and stories ready. Furthermore, you have to give a nice first impression:
- Be ready at the agreed time. Greet them nicely, and say that you are happy that they want to talk to you.
- Be prepared for small talk. You can, for instance, ask about what is happening in the business – preferably something positive.
- Smile when it is relevant and natural. This also goes for over the phone. You can tell by the voice if someone is smiling.
- Dress so that the clothes match your professional attire – even for phone interviews. If you are sharply dressed, you will feel more professional. Remember to also wear a complete outfit if you’re on a video call so it does not get embarrassing if you have to get up and get something.
- Keep your tech in check: charge your device. Make sure you have a good phone signal or WiFi. Use a buttonhole microphone or a headset so the sound is good. Test it all before the interview.
Read more
At scorjobbet.dk you can read about the book ‘Scor jobbet til samtalen. Et job er ikke noget, du får. Det er noget, du tager.’ (‘Land the job at the interview. A job is not something you get. It is something you take.’)
