INTRODUCTION

Are you a masochist, an egomaniac or an attention-seeking show-off?

If you answered ‘no’ to all the above, the chances are you don’t enjoy job
interviews.

For most people hunting for work, the interview is about as much fun as
chewing off your own elbow. For the compulsive show-off with narcissistic
tendencies it might be viewed as an opportunity to excel, but for the rest of
us the thought of packaging up our flimsy self-esteem and presenting it to a
stranger to trample into the shag-pile at will can be perfectly horrible.

The good news is that you can learn to love interviews. Even if this book
doesn’t make interviews one of the greatest pleasures of your life, right up
there along with the likes of buying your first Porsche or eating chocolate –
it will help to make the process easier and more enjoyable, as well as
ensuring your interview outcomes are far more successful.

This book is a practical, informative and fun guide for anyone facing
recruitment or promotional interviews, whether you’re a first or second-jobber,
career-changer or even someone who is returning to work after a break.

An interview is a both a ritual and a performance. We’ll be looking at the

simple steps of getting the rituals right – learning how to meet, greet, dress

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and impress – and then the inspirational and truly liberating techniques
of overcoming nerves, shyness and lack of confidence to ensure you allow
yourself to shine. There will be practical tips on CVs and preparation, plus
advice on handling questions, from the simplest to the trickiest. There will even
be a chapter on après-interview follow-ups.

We’ll approach all these skills with energy, commitment and humour. Why
humour? Because it’s the one thing that keeps you going when the energy and
commitment are in danger of running out of juice.
‘You grow up the Laughter is your all-important self-defence system.
day you have the We use it to diminish our fears and our enemies,
and when you start to take yourself too seriously
first real laugh at
during your interview experience you put out the
yourself’ ‘Welcome’ mat to anxiety, debilitating nervousness,
Ethel Barrymore low self-esteem and even paranoia. Professionalism
doesn’t have to be too po-faced and some of my
funniest stories come under the heading of: ‘Dreadful interviews I have been
on in my life’.

Learning to love interviews: rule 1

Don’t let them scare you!

An interview should be challenging, stimulating and only mildly daunting.

It ought to bring out the best in you, not the worst. It’s an opportunity, not a
battle. The interviewer wants you to be just as brilliant as you do. He or she is
there hoping to spot talent and potential, not to scythe an applicant’s legs from
under them. Don’t scupper your own opportunities by negative thinking. Like
sporting success or stage performance, your mental attitude will be just as
crucial to your success as your abilities and experience.

This book aims to keep you fired up and buoyant throughout every stage
of your interview process. At times it will feel like an encouraging pat on
the back and at others more like a firm kick up the bum! You’ll be learning
DIY motivational skills to keep you focused and upbeat, even in the face of
possible disappointment and turn-downs. It will ensure your determination
to succeed is far greater than your determination to fail. All you need to keep
in mind right now is the following inspirational message to yourself:

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 INTRODUCTION
Learning to love interviews: rule 2
Allow yourself to shine!

You are unique. You have talents, skills and quality of character. Your potential
is limitless. Not every company you apply to will be looking for your type of
uniqueness, which is why you’ll need to expand your skill and experience base
to improve your chances. And not every organisation will get the real ‘you’,
which is why it’s vital to present yourself in a way that works in a relatively short
space of time.

Learning to love interviews: rule 3

Never take advice
from someone in difficulties!

Advice is cheap and – when you’re preparing for your interview – it can be
pelted and lobbed at you from all sides like rotten fruit, but remember not all
of it should be heeded, let alone acted upon. Much of it will come from
people to whom success is such a complete and utter stranger they wouldn’t
recognise it if it came at them wearing a bowler hat and sporting a large pink
carnation in its lapel. In fact, many of the most well-worn words of interview
‘wisdom’ are so completely inadequate that if I were a lawyer I’d be suing
them for criminal negligence.

Want to know three of the dumbest pieces of advice you’ll ever hear when you
go to a job interview?

■ Just be yourself.
■ You can only do your best.
■ If it’s meant to be it’s meant to be.

Sound familiar?

The problem with advice like this is that it all points to one main hypothesis:
‘Why bother?’ All three statements are designed to seduce you into inertia
or idleness by implying the interview outcome is reassuringly out of your
hands. This lack of perceivable control means it’s not your fault if you fail,

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which is the brain’s damage-limitation exercise aimed at protecting your

self-esteem. Put any proper effort in and you start to accept liability for any
failure. Better to sit back and hope the interview panel will like you than to
take any steps to acquire the kind of skills that might ensure they approve.

Learning to love interviews: rule 4

You’re only as strong as your weakest think

Imagine applying these previous mantras to another core skill you’ve learned
in your life, like driving a car. You get in for your first lesson and your instructor
tells you that ‘If it’s meant to be it’s meant to be’. If you’re lucky enough to get
the motor running in the first place the ‘just be yourself’ tip will probably have
you losing control and skidding straight into the nearest lamp-post. So here’s
some quick advice about those three key messages.

■ Just be yourself. This is impossible and impractical. An interview is a

formal process, during which you will be asked to sell yourself and your
abilities to one or a group of strangers. Is this behaviour part of your
normal daily life? Do you have a ‘self’ for this situation? The answer is
probably ‘No’.
■ You can only do your best. How do you know? You have no idea what your
best is. We are all capable of wonderful and extraordinary things, well
beyond our own bounds of comprehension. There should be no false lid
on your achievements.
■ If it’s meant to be it’s meant to be. Since when did you turn into a hippie,
allowing cosmic fate to rule your life? Take control, pronto. It’s up to you to
decide how well you’re going to do, not karma. Or as someone once said:
‘The harder I work, the luckier I seem to get.’

Suck it and see?

Many of the key events in your life that prompted massive change – like falling
in love, getting pregnant (or getting someone pregnant) or buying a house or
flat – probably happened quite quickly, and the performance known as going
on an interview can be the same. For a few minutes’ exchange of information
you could end up with a career or job that will change the course of your entire
life. Yet many applicants are happy to pitch up without preparation, planning

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 INTRODUCTION
or even clear targets or objectives. They work on a process of ‘suck it and see’,
i.e. they turn up and play it by ear.

Do you believe you have no control over your own destiny? Do you really think
that the best advice before attending an interview is ‘just be yourself’? Or do
you think that success is something that anyone can achieve thanks to effort,
focus and the odd pinch of good luck?

This book is all about those last three qualities, but primarily the first two. It’s
for people who believe that: ‘The harder I work the luckier I seem to get.’ Or, as
Ralph Waldo Emerson said: ‘Shallow men believe in luck, strong men believe
in cause and effect.’ It’s about optimism and change rather than sitting back
and moaning about how life never deals you a winning hand. Remember, any
idiot can moan and whinge – and most idiots do!

How to use this book

Your skills at interview level will consist of five key ‘layers’, which you can
visualise as the layers of an large onion that has been cut in half (but without
the tears!).

Layer 1: qualified skills

This layer consists of your certified and measured skills, i.e. your qualifications.
You will have presented these in your CV before you attend an interview. If
you’re applying for promotion, you might need to add any qualifications gained
during your present employment with the company.

Layer 2: job experience

This layer consists of your work or work-related experience. These details
should also have been logged on your CV and will probably be discussed
during the interview. They can include unpaid voluntary work or temporary
employment as well as regular employment. If you’re returning to work after
an absence, you should consider logging work-experience like bringing up a
family or running a home.

Layer 3: personal talent

This is formed by your personality and behaviour skills. Are you loyal, punctual,
diligent or caring? Do you have teambuilding or management abilities? Can you
motivate or entertain? How confident are you? What is your self-esteem like?

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Layer 4: psychometric tests

These would be any skills that are tested during the interview process with
things like maths or written tests.

Layer 5: soft skills

These are the communication or performance skills that you will display
during your interview process. They include visual, verbal and vocal
communications and your ability to navigate through meeting and greeting,
listening and informing. It will include your ability to chat and do small talk,
answer questions about yourself and your experience, values and overall
employment skills.

Interpersonal skills are vital in modern business, and what are known as soft
skills are highly in demand. The ability to relate well to other people is so
important that, when Microsoft asked UK business leaders what the most
sought-after skills were, teamworking and interpersonal skills topped the list.
Your interpersonal skills will be assessed to judge whether you have the ability
to communicate with other employees, persuade and influence clients, and
manage or lead teams.

Layers 1–3 will be part of your career pre-planning and primarily dealt with
way before interview stage, although there will be advice throughout this
book in shoring up possible gaps for future interviews. Layers 4 and 5 will form
the heart of this book, with a large wad of advice added to help you deal with
any nerves or lack of confidence both before and during your performance
stages.

There will be pre-work that you can use for preparation but there will also be
quick-fix tips on each stage of your interviews plus a ‘Troubleshooting’ section
with emergency advice, should you need it.

So here’s the core mantra of this book repeated again:

Allow yourself to shine!

It’s the one key discipline you’re going to need. Because with the help of this
book, it’s not just your shoes you’re going to be polishing before your next
interview, it’s your presentation, your personality and your performance. We’re

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going to work on the basis that to fail to prepare is to prepare to fail, meaning
any effort and strategy planning work you put in before your interview can
only be a good thing. We’ll also be looking at the fact that charm and natural
charisma might take you a long way in life, but only if you know how to exude
them!

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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.