Skill Based Interviews

The key to your success in any interview is the preparation that you do before hand. If you attend your interview without fully understanding the requirements of the job spec or having an idea of the questions that you may be asked, then you are highly unlikely to leave a positive and lasting impression with the interviewers.

The following points are designed to give you the best opportunity for success. Remember - always be specific with your answers and be ready to provide examples to support your claims. 

Avoid giving general answers that you are unable to support with examples. Make the interview process easy for the interviewers by supporting your answers with examples. If they have to constantly probe you for examples of your experience, then you may not leave the impression you were hoping for.


Interview Questions You May Be Asked


What do you know about the company? Always research the company that you are seeing a few days prior to your interview.Your answer simply requires you to demonstrate an understanding of the clients business and you should be able to answer the question in no more than 30 seconds. 

What do you understand this role to be? To answer this question you must ensure that you have a thorough understanding of the position, the person specification and the positions key requirements as this will form the basis of your interview. Without this information it will be very difficult to create the right impression when answering questions.

Tell us about your experience. The best way to answer this question is to talk about your current experience and ensure that you discuss the elements of your job that are relevant to the position. The best way to prepare for this is to check-off your experience with the key requirements of the job description that you understand.

Why do you want to leave your current role? Your answer for moving from your current position must always be credible. For example, if you are looking for career development, then you must be able to demonstrate how this position gives you the career development that you are looking for. Are you being given greater responsibility in this role? Are you being given greater variety? Is it a larger team? Does the role offer fresh challenges? Once you have identified the reasons why you like the position, then it becomes easier to explain them during your interview.

What do you like about this opportunity? Again, in order to answer this question you must fully understand the job description. When answering the question give examples rather than general answers that are non-specific. E.g. if you like the fact that the role has good variety, then you must be able to give specific examples of the elements of the position that you like.

What experience can you bring to the role? This is an opportunity for you to discuss your experience in relation to the job description. Check-off your relevant experience against the specific requirements in the job description and pay particular attention to those elements that are essential and desirable. The more experience that you are able to demonstrate you have, the greater the chance of you giving a very good impression.

What are your strengths? This is one of the most popular questions and easiest to answer. Your strengths should always be specific and not purely general. The answer is generally in the job spec and you should relate your strengths to the essential and desirable elements of the job spec. Try to pick 4 or 5 key criteria that you know are important to the company and that you can do well. By using this technique you will be able to demonstrate that you have key strengths that are useful to them.

What are your weaknesses? The best way to answer this question is to try not to use the word weakness in your reply and to think of a specific skill that you have less experience of that is not important for the position. E.g. there may be elements of your current or previous roles that you had less experience of that are not requirements in the role that you are interviewing for. 

Why should we employ you? In order to answer this question well you should use the technique that covers the question "What are your strengths?" This is an opportunity to sell yourself and you should talk about your key strengths in relation to the job spec e.g. employee relations knowledge and experience, recruitment experience, organisational skills, ability to work well under pressure etc.

How will this position benefit you? Think about the key elements of the role that will give you professional growth and development. When you answer the question be specific and not general. You may be leaving your current role because you require greater variety in your next role. If this is the case, you must be able to talk about key elements of the position that are of particular interest to you and give you the variety you require.

If you found these tips useful, click here for more tips on competency based interview questions.
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