By Nur Adilah Ramli
I used to think that an interview is largely for your potential employer to get to know you, but it dawned on me, after failing in three interviews, that an interview is essentially about you knowing yourself.
It is about you identifying your strengths and how to leverage those qualities to benefit the employer. It is also about recognising your weaknesses and finding actionable plans to overcome those issues.
But I also came to realise that selling yourself is one of the hardest things, though it centres on you, not anyone else.
To help you know, and in turn, sell yourself, here are my personal DO’s and DON’Ts based on my three failed interviews.
#1 DON’T sell yourself short
It is good to be humble, but do not devalue yourself and what you can offer.
I showed up at my first interview with a thought that as a fresh graduate with no working experience, I don’t really have any extraordinary story to tell, what more a professional track record to list down.
What that thinking psychologically did to me was that it led me to emphasising that I have no working experience, and that I am unsure whether I am worth the employer’s attention.
What I should have thought about and highlighted to the interviewers are my qualities and skills that are useful for the position I was applying.
I remember briefly mentioning my writing ability and my short stint as a freelance writer, but I failed to correlate my accomplishments with the scope of work I was applying.
In the eyes of the interviewers, my accomplishments might be perceived as nothing big as I didn’t sell my accomplishments, rather, I only stated them.
Therefore, instead of presenting yourself as inexperienced, look further into yourself and find your qualities and your conscious efforts in grooming those. Where possible, include your related achievements and link them to the career you’re applying. That way, say that you’re applying for the position as a human resource executive, your interviewer will see you fit for the position, given your demonstrated skills you serve them with, athough you have zero working experience in human resource.
#2 DO ask yourself whether the job fits you
Because an interview is about you knowing yourself, you have to know whether a job you’re thinking of applying matches your interests and abilities.
If you are thinking of applying the position as a customer service executive, ask yourself whether you are patient entertaining queries, able to cope with angry customers and cool them down, and maintain your composure when answering numerous repeated questions.
The first step to identifying whether a job is suitable for you is to read the job descriptions, line by line, word by word. The next step is to list down what you want and are capable of doing. To make yourself clear, put the first category (job descriptions) on one side, and the second category (your interests and capabilities) on the other. Now that you have both categories, see whether they match. In the end, you’ll be able to tell yourself whether the job suits you.
#3 DO pay attention to interview etiquettes
You do not have to be schooled on dressing up appropriately, being on time, greeting your interviewers, presenting required documents, listening carefully and responding accordingly to the interviewers, and thanking them at the end of the interview. Those are the basics that everyone should have been well informed of.
But there are etiquettes which are not always practised, but are commendable to be done especially when you are competing against hundreds of applicants who have a fair chance of being recruited.
In all three interviews, I did not carry out the etiquettes, which, in hindsight, I found to be significant.
One is the thank-you note. Please spare a minute or two to make an effort to thank the interviewers for making time for you. You should verbally thank them after the interview, but you should also thank them via email, the same day you attend the interview. Use the thank-you note to once again sell yourself, make them consider you for what you can offer them.
Another etiquette that you should observe is to ask for feedback. I group it under etiquette because this follow-up shows that you regard their opinions and that they are in the position to advise you. Some interviewers might be occupied, thus unable to attend to your query, but it does not hurt to try. Perhaps, they could offer you useful advice or pinpoint some of your flaws that could have otherwise passed unnoticed.
#4 DO practise your interview, but DON’T memorise it
For me, an interview should be spontaneous and honest. That means, I am not a fan of scripting interview answers.
And if you have ever Googled “interview questions”, chances are, you would have stumbled upon many similar questions on many different sites. And most probably, you would be asked the exact, same questions in your interviews.
With the questions already served before you, you just need to prepare yourself by not memorising the answers, but putting thoughts into the questions.
If asked on what your weaknesses are, carefully think about situations caused by or could trigger your weaknesses and how you overcome the situation.
For example, you say that your weakness surfaces when you are assigned as a group leader as you are impatient with colleagues working at a slow pace, thus delaying the group project. That is a weakness because indirectly, it shows that you are incapable of leading your team, making sure they work within the time frame. Do not stop at telling the conflict, but go on with presenting the solution. For instance, you set a deadline for each task and periodically check on the progress of each colleague by having weekly meetings asking for updates and solving the issues.
#5 DO be patient
Attending interviews is nerve-wracking, failing them is heartbreaking, but in any case, do be patient because you need to trust yourself, that every interview attended is an opportunity to learn and know more about yourself. ***