Interviews- needing help with.

tiff

Thats fab, I'm glad you found work at last and you're enjoying it. Once you're in work its much easier to move into other areas if thats what you want and do NVQ's etc.

I have my interview tomorrow and dreading it, I still cant think of actual examples of when I worked in a team etc, everything I think of seems so pathetic to say at interview. I know that my experience and skills show that I've worked with children, dealt with parents, received money (fees) and recorded it, issued invoices, worked in an office, can use Word and Excel (excel v basically) so I know that I am in a good place its just selling myself I struggle with!

Savvy_Sue

Deep breaths, tell yourself "I CAN do this!" Over and over again ...

Spendless

tiff- the self development course I mentioned, my last class was the morning before my interview for this job and the course that day was 'I don't believe I will ever be able to ..........'. and then you were to put in positive things in that place. The tutor helped a lot of people, but a fellow student helped me, not believing I'd find work and made me write down

I am valuable
I am organised
I am qualified
I am experienced
I am value for money
I am methodical
THEY need ME

and so on, and on my way to interview they minute a self doubt crept in I shut it down and instead thought the above.

Good Luck. Tell us how you get on.:)

tiff

Thank you both. I really do not have much self confidence at all but I do believe in my ability to do this job so I will practice your advice until its all over!

SueC_2

Just wanted to say what happy reading this thread makes - from despair to elation in less than a month. Just goes to show that it really is horses for courses. Well done to you Spendless - for fighting on in the face of adversity and finding your 'course'. And let it be an inspiration to any of us who may be tempted to give up at any point.

tiff

Just to add, I didnt get it :-(

Savvy_Sue

Sorry about that tiff. Better luck next time. Did you get any useful feedback?

SarEl

Spendless wrote: »

I think that one was where she said a couple of things when I asked for feedback but one of them was 'bringing a fresh pair of eyes'. I have never used that phrase ever so the chances of me 'hitting upon' it is remote.

That's exactly what I'm going thru! Fair enough the one in the school I could roughly guess, but there were a lot of staff in there and I did't know what my 'role' would be, but counting dinner money and you don't ask...have you much experience in cash handling? In favour of one of the questions listed?????? The charity one they asked me what I knew about the area of work but again didn't expand on what you'd actually do- though their JD had been a lot clearer.

This thread has made my mind up though, I'm only prepared to put myself thru more interviews like this if I've already applied (ie I'll see them thru) but I'm not applying for any more that I can spot are likely to have this style.

ETA - Also does anyone know when the scoring is done? Is it during your interview or after? Just I was talking to Mr S about this, he has interviewed in his job for years and didn't know what I was on about when I started talking about this style and he said 'do they score afterwards and make the score fit their preference/'. I have a sneeky suspicion that I have lost out to volunteers who were working for the organisations involved. The last one where it went to someone with more experience, that area of working has only been in in our area since Autumn last year (I know due to a presentation I attended as a volunteer) so I wondered how they'd managed to get more, of course redundancy, moving from a different area that was using this is all possibilities, but I just get a 'feeling' otherwise. My last feedback when I questioned more about this style of interview and how I could improve my answers I got the distinct impression I was being fobbed off.

In the public / charitable sectors the scoring varies slightly from organisation to organisation, but generally it is done after each interview. At the end of the interview the interviewers will go back over each candidates scores to see if they have braodly scored each at a similar level. If they haven't this will be looked at - one interviewer may have picked up something that another has missed and then the score would be adjusted up; or someone may have scored a particular candidate highly when other interviewers didn't agree, in which case it may be adjusted down. When that process has been completed, the scores for the cadidates are pooled usually, and then the highest overall score is the "winner".

I would add that having used this type of system in interviews over many years, please don't let it put you off! There isn't a single employer in the world who has a foolproof sytem that makes utterly all interviews fair, and if an employer is determined to make a certain appointment they always find a way. This one is, like any other, as fair as the interviewers are! But having done this type of interview a few times you will get better at it.

The other point is that whilst feedback can be useful, it also isn't always helpful - or easy to give. There are a lot of very skilled and experienced people chasing jobs, especially right now, and especially women who want employment that fits in with child care. So the competition is tough. An interview panel may interview 6 or more people, and every one of them could easily do the job and score enough points to be appointable. Sometimes, the difference between the one who gets the job and everyone else may be a handful of points. Saying "You did really well and we could have given you the job but didn't" sounds totally naff, so on occasions people giving feedback tend to lapse into totally esoteric statements just to try and be helpful, when the fact is that it really was just tough luck! So be cautious about taking it too much to heart.

tiff

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

Sorry about that tiff. Better luck next time. Did you get any useful feedback?

Yes, most of it was useful, will be applying for a few more this week but I get so nervous, I wish there was something I could do about that!

SarEl

tiff wrote: »

Yes, most of it was useful, will be applying for a few more this week but I get so nervous, I wish there was something I could do about that!

Don't worry about getting nervous - everyone does. Over-confidence can be a much bigger pitfall. Prepare carefully for the interview, as someone else here suggested, using the person specification (even more than the job description - most questions will be based on the specification), making sure that you can give real examples of as much as possible to show your skills and experience.

One of the biggest mistakes I have seen loads of people make is letting nerves fluster them and then loosing track of what they are saying. Take a note pad and pen and make a quick note of the point of the question to remind yourself what they asked. Or if you feel that you are getting lost, ask them to repeat the question. None of this will make you loose marks - rambling on because you have forgotten what they asked will because you will be talking about things they don't want to hear.

Try to make the interview into a conversation - tell them the answer but follow it up with an intelligent question or observation. So if they ask you what your experience of handling cash is, tell them about it and end with something like "what kinds of amounts of cash handling does the job involve" or "how well do you think your current systems for cash handling suit your business needs - do you think there are improvements that could be made?" The best interviews are engaging - not interrogations!

Always make sure that you have at least two intelligent questions to ask at the end of the interview - asking about training opportunities, career progression, whatever seems most appropriate. Avoid anything that sounds like "what's in it for me?" - you want to come across as being enthusiastic to do well, not looking for great hours, pay or holidays.

Don't forget that childcare / home responsibilities can be great experience too. You may never have done any setting of budgets, for example at work, but you will certainly have done at home. Don't underestimate these things - especially in public sector type jobs interviewers are trained to consdier these "home skills" just as valuable as work gained skills. If you can successfully manage a home, with a husband (and none of them need organising, do they?) and children, then you can manage anything!

The right job does come along - it just may not turn up exactly when you want or expect it.