Your biggest struggle

paddyrg

SlopingBird wrote: »

Worst part for me is the interview - especially when they ask strange abstract questions that seem unrelated to the actual post you are applying for.

Those abstract questions "How would you weigh an aeroplane?" etc., if you understand what they are for they make a lot of sense. "How many cars are there in Wales?" may seem unrelated to anything, but they don't expecf you to know the answer, they expect you to demonstrate how you deal with unfamiliar conditions and situations.

If you say "1000005" you clearly guessed hoping you were right, but presented your guess as a fact (which doesn't bode well for reliable work)
If you say "Ooohh - working or all? Do we include dune buggies? How accurate an answer do you need? I can give you an estimate based on extrapolating that most families I know have 1-2 cars, let's say an average of 4 people per family, maybe a million cars? Then again many of those will be agricultural vehicles - do we include pickups?" - this suggests you want to find out the scope of what is required before giving an answer with appropriate granularity, and how you go about finding out things you don't know.
If you say "dunno" then sit mute, it suggests you cannot apply yourself to problems, etc.

That is why those questions are asked by a good interviewer. A bad interviewer may just ask them because they're an idiot who wants you to suffer, and not understand the reasoning behind it.

When I was in between IT contracts, I would apply for 10-15 jobs a day, and followed each CV up with a call to the agent. It got boring sometimes, but knowing how many applicants there are for each job makes it easier to excuse the lack of personal service sometimes!

Jerryjerryjerry

No contest for me. Its the interview I dread every time. I have no problem with CV's and covering letters.

I get to the interview area early. I go in five minutes beforehand. I make sure i've eaten, etc. I am well prepared. And then more than one person there (as is the case these days), and I fall to pieces.

My voice seems to lower and I end up almost whispering. I start waving my hands around. I get an inferiority complex, like i'm not worthy of being there! I start to tremble.

No wonder the last feedback from an interview was, "she didn't sell herself well enough".

Before that, "she didn't come across as confident enough to do the job".

Before that, "we feel she might not be able to handle the workload".


I've had lots of advice about interviews. I've read up on so much about them. But its the actual performance.. and when you are not confident, its very very hard to pretend you are.

Disenchanted

I have absolutely no problem writing CVs or cover letters, I have always been fairly literate and can write to my hearts content about how I fit in with the job criteria etc etc. However, when it comes to saying all these things verbally I stutter and get embarrassed, mainly when they ring me up for phone interviews I'm also really bad at ringing up employers about a job I've seen. I literally don't know why but I get very anxious making phone calls but then tend to find it's ok a few minutes in to the conversation. I much prefer sending applications by email or letter!!