How would you keep this knowledge up to date? What do you know about the competitors in this business? What are the key strengths of their strategy? How do you think we could we be more successful? What opportunities do you see for growing the business in this area? Why, in your opinion, do customers choose our products and services? What benefits do they have for the customer? How could we make them more competitive? How could we make them more profitable? What are the market trends that affect us? In what way do you think the role for which you are applying contributes to our overall business performance? How could we measure this impact? What is the most important thing you have done to take account of costs/profits/commercial value? What prompted you?
How to answer hard interview questions Other related titles from How To Books Handling Tough Job Interviews Be prepared, perform well, get the job Be Prepared! Getting ready for job interviews High Powered CVs Powerful application strategies to get you that senior level job Management Level Psychometric Tests Everything you need to help you land that senior job How To Succeed at Interviews For full details, please send for a free copy of the latest catalogue: How To Books Ltd Spring Hill House, Spring Hill Road, Begbroke Oxford OX5 1RX, United Kingdom info@howtoboooks.co.uk www.howtobooks.co.uk How to answer hard interview questions .and everything else you need to know to get the job you want Charlie Gibbs howtobooks Published by How To Content, A division of How To Books Ltd, Spring Hill House Spring Hill Road Begbroke, Oxford OX5 1RX Tel: (01865) 375794. Fax: (01865) 379162 info@howtobooks.co.uk www.howtobooks.co.uk How To Books greatly reduce the carbon footprint of their books by sourcing their typesetting and printing in the UK. All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or stored in an information retrieval system (other than for the purposes of review), without the express permission of the Publisher given in writing. The right of Charlie Gibbs to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. © 2008 Charlie Gibbs First published in 2008 First published in electronic form 2008 British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN 978 1 84803 245 3 Cover design by Baseline Arts Ltd, Oxford Produced for How to Books by Deer Park Productions, Tavistock Typeset by Pantek Arts Ltd, Maidstone, Kent NOTE: The material contained in this book is set out in good faith for general guidance and no liability can be accepted for loss or expense incurred as a result of relying in particular circumstances on statements made in this book. Laws and regulations are complex and liable to change, and readers should check the current position with the relevant authorities before making personal arrangements. CONTENTS PREFACE xi 1 FINDING THAT JOB 1 Filling in your application form 2 Curricula vitae 3 2 PREPARING FOR THE INTERVIEW 5 Assessing yourself 6 Personal ratings and competencies 6 Levels of competence 10 Researching the organisation 31 Timing is everything 34 Planning what to wear 35 What should I take with me? 38 Outside the dragon’s den 39 3 LEGISLATION THAT EMPLOYERS NEED TO COMPLY WITH 40 Legislation affecting recruitment 40 Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 41 Sex Discrimination Act 1975 41 Race Relations Act 1976 44 Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 45 Disability Discrimination Act 1995 45 Asylum and Immigration Act 1996 48 Police Act 1997 50 Employment Equality Regulations 2003 51 Data Protection Act 1998 51 The employment tribunal 51 V 4 UNDERSTANDING THE EMPLOYERS’ PERSPECTIVE 54 Preparation 54 Conducting the interview 55 The importance of interview notes 56 5 CONDUCTING YOURSELF AT THE INTERVIEW 57 6 COMMON INTERVIEW QUESTIONS . AND HOW TO ANSWER THEM 60 Questions about . . your drive for achievement 60 . your strategic thinking 65 . your relationship building 69 . your commercial awareness 73 . your leadership of change 77 . your leadership skills 81 . your continuous improvement 86 . your customer awareness 91 . your decision-making skills and judgement 94 . your influencing skills 97 . your development of self and others 101 . your teamworking skills 105 The ‘ . and finally’ questions 109 7 QUESTIONS YOU CAN ASK AT YOUR INTERVIEW 111 First-round interviews 111 Final-stage interview 113 8 AFTER THE INTERVIEW 115 Learning from rejection 115 Resigning from your current job 120 VI • HOW TO ANSWER HARD INTERVIEW QUESTIONS 9 TELEPHONE INTERVIEWS 123 10 FURTHER TYPICAL INTERVIEW QUESTIONS 126 Drive for achievement 126 Strategic thinking 129 Relationship building 130 Commercial awareness 131 Leadership of change 133 Leadership skills 135 Continuous improvement 137 Customer awareness 140 Decision-making skills and judgement 142 Influencing skills 144 Development of self and others 147 Teamworking skills 149 Specialist knowledge 150 Appendix: The joke’s on HR 152 Index of questions 157 Index 161 CONTENTS • VII This page intentionally left blank I’d like to thank all those who have directly or indirectly contributed to this book by inspiring the questions, giving both great and terrible answers when I’ve asked them, or have simply been supportive during the creative process – that means you Julie Fry, to whom this book is dedicated. . United Kingdom info@howtoboooks.co.uk www.howtobooks.co.uk How to answer hard interview questions ...and everything else you need to know to get the job you. • HOW TO ANSWER HARD INTERVIEW QUESTIONS Chapter 1 FINDING THAT JOB While the intention of this book is to provide you with great answers to tough interview