Little do people know how important it is to work on your interviewing skills to find the sort of work you like. Having come to Australia at the age of 21 with no language skills or much experience in anything, I couldn’t rely much on my resume, but instead I really had to work hard on my interviewing skills. I thought “okay, my resume will not probably get me too many interviews, so I need to be REAL good when I do get an interview.” Fewer interviews with a “rocking” performance is way more effective than too many interviews with a “shitty” performance. Before I touch on the skills you need in job interviews, I want to talk a little bit about what you need to do before the job interview, things that most people, especially foreigners, take for granted.
Pre-Job interview skills
Resume layout
The least thing you can do if you do not have much to talk about in your CV is to make it look good okay? Spend a bit of time trying to make it look, well simple but clear and professional. By clear, I mean easy to get the information out of. Also, make sure there are no grammar and spelling mistakes, I mean for God’s sake that’s the least thing you can do. Use Microsoft word to correct the obvious spelling mistakes and maybe ask someone good with the language to correct your grammar, improve the structure and suggest better word choice. For example, I have had hundreds of students showing me their resume with sentences like “I work very hard” which can be shrunk to “I’m hardworking” and “I work well with other people” which could be translated into “I’m a team player” or “I’m collaborative” etc. The point is make it look good. That itself earns you some points.
Voicemail message
If you get lucky and some employer decides to actually phone you to maybe ask you a few questions or invite you to a face-to-face interview, you wouldn’t want him or her to call and just stand there listening to the phone ring out or get through to some automated message that doesn’t sound anything like you or leave the same impression you hope to leave. So before you even send that resume, write a short voicemail message and practice it very well before you record it, and then record it, and when you do, listen to it again, delete and try again once, twice, 10 and 20 times if needed to make sure it sounds okay. At least now, if, for some reason, the employers cannot reach you, they will get off the phone with a bit of idea about who you are and what you sound like and then they can leave a message with a phone number for you to return their call on. Here’s a voicemail message if you can’t think of one:
Hello you have reached (your name), I’m sorry I’m not available to take your call at the moment, but if you leave your name, phone number and a detailed message, I’ll return your call as soon as possible. Thank you.
Phone interviewing
Before the job interview, most employers would give you a call to probably make sure you actually CAN work in the country or actually ARE available on the days they need you in or actually DO what you say you do, in other word, to make sure they are not wasting their time. That is a form of verification or elimination…a screening is what it is. Bluntly put, screening is the process of weeding out the losers and just holding on to the winners until the next screening comes when some of the winners from the previous screening become the losers of the current screening and so on and on. Depending on the kind of work and the number of applicants, screening can be very very short or very very long.
As far as you are concerned, and as a non-resident of the country you intend to work in, you can bet employers will double-check your visa status, how that affects your work, your hours of work and your character. There is no way for any employer to know for sure what kind of a person you are over the phone, they really have to act on a hunch. What does that mean? Judge you based on a feeling not fact. That’s where communication skills come into play.
So what do employers want to feel about you? It always comes down to one thing: trustworthiness or credibility. In other word, do you sound trustworthy? Credible? Confident? Reliable? So the question for you is then, how can you sound confident? how can you sound reliable? The funny thing is you can achieve that from the first few seconds of the phone call. To illustrate my point, read the opening of two phone interviews, one where you could sound confident and comfortable and the other stiff, timid or nervous.
| Not Confident Applicant | Confident Applicant |
|---|---|
| (Phone rings, you answer) Candidate: Hello |
(Phone rings, you answer) Candidate: Hello, Patrick’s speaking |
| Employer: Hi Patrick, John’s here giving you a quick call regarding your application for… Candidate: Oh yes |
Employer: Hi Patrick, John’s here giving you a quick call regarding your application for… Candidate: Oh yes John, thanks for taking the time to call. |
| Employer: Is that a good time to talk? Candidate: yes |
Employer: Is that a good time to talk? Candidate: It certainly is |
Do you see the difference? That’s how you leave a good impression over the phone.
My advice to you is that you should make a list of jobs you are not really interested in, which you know are perhaps out of reach and call away. The more calls your make, the better, the more time you spend on the phone, the more comfortable you will get.
Research the industry: problems and solutions
Whatever the industry is, or the job is, do your homework and learn as much as you can about it. What does it involve? What are the problems? What could be done better? What are common complaints or feedback do people working in this industry get? One of the things that’s going to help you sound confident and reliable is understanding the problems and bringing solutions. Even if you do not offer solutions, showing awareness of what the problems are make you sound knowledgeable and thus confident.
Job interview skills
Okay, now we are about to get serious. You have managed to pass the first screening (CV) and the second screening (maybe phone) and now you have just got to pass the final screening, the face-to-face interview. Let’s take a look at some of the things you should do to boost your chances.
Memorize sound bites about yourself
Yes you heard me! Memorize them and practice them over and over again until you can say them as quick as you can say your name. We are not talking about memorizing the entire interview as most of the interview will be predictable, but you can at least memorize the bits and pieces that we know for sure you are going to get asked. Here’s a few questions that you must prepare and memorize the answer for?
Q1-Tell me about yourself
Answer: Oh boy where do I start? Let’s see! I’m (your nationality), I’ve been in (Sydney)/(Australia) for about 8 months. I studied (university major) in (your country/or in Australia). I worked as a (job title such as waiter, office worker, personal trainer etc) for about (a month, a year, one and a half year etc). I hate to toot my own horn (meaning I hate to say very nice things about myself) but I believe I’m quite (an adjective – something that describes your personality like confident, intelligent, competent, energetic, reliable, honest etc) or I’m quite a good (a noun – something that classifies your personality like communicator, team player, organizer etc). In my spare time, I like (gerund – something finishing with ing like going shopping, going for a run, listening to music, watching movies etc). And that pretty much sums it up.
Q2-How long are you staying in Australia for?
Answer: Not quite sure but I would say at least a year or two
Q3-What’s your point of strength?
Answer: I’d like to think that I’m a quick learner and a team player. I’ve always been told that I have that ability to build rapport with people and just get on with everyone I work with regardless of who they are or where they come from.
Q4-What’s your weakness?
Answer: That’s always tough to answer. I guess I tend to work a bit too much. I need to find a balance between life and work.
Q5-How do you handle pressure?
Answer: I find time management and prioritizing are very good skills to use to cope with pressure. I try to keep myself organized and focused on the most important task at hand. Another thing I find helpful with handling pressure is taking up a hobby. So I make sure there’s something I can do to take my mind off work when I’m not working.
Mirror the employer’s movement
That’s a skill on its own. It’s actually called “mirroring”. All you have to do is “mirror” the movement or body language of the employer to help build that rapport between the two of you. If he’s leaning forward, you should lean forward a little bit too, and if he’s leaning back, so should you.
Use your common sense though. As a candidate, there are things you can’t do regardless of whether he’s doing them or not. Some employers might be holding a pen and twisting it around their finger, that does not mean you should take a pen out of your pocket and start doing the same thing! Just do what you can to create a sense of “we’re getting along” sort of thing.
Show you’re listening
One thing most people forget to do in job interviews is to show they are actually listening. Even if you listen very well but do not say anything to prove it, you will just look like a weirdo with a funny stare, the tonight-I’m-going-to-show-up-at-your-house-and-murder-all-your-family-kind-of stare! So do yourself a favor and keep reacting to what the employer is saying with things like:
- Mm
- Yes
- I see
- right
- It is isn’t it?
- Tell me about it (I know/obviously)
- You can say that again (I agree)
- I couldn’t agree more
- Wouldn’t you say!
- I think so
- Exactly
- Absolutely
- Sounds good
- Brilliant
- Fantastic
Do not hesitate to say “i don’t know” if you really don’t know.
Nothing makes you look or sound more stupid than pretending you know about something you have no clue about. Don’t we all try to do that at some point. We simply hate not knowing! Trust me! I know how you feel. You don’t want to ramble on about something you do not know beans about. That will guarantee you not getting the job. For the employer, it’s way better if they hear a firm and honest “To be quite honest, I don’t know much about that” or “frankly, I can’t say I know much about it”. That said with confidence and sincerity sounds more appealing to the employer rather than some made-up and clueless answer full of stammering and faltering. Just be honest and do not hesitate to say “I don’t know” when you really do not know.
Ask questions to show a genuine interest
Asking questions mean one thing to the employer: that you have given this some thought. Asking about the salary is also fine in some cases but not from the beginning. Do not make it your first question. Just imagine how weird that can sound. After talking about the job for half an hour, the employer finally asks you if you’d like to ask any questions, and then you go “Yeah how much are you going to pay me”? Awkward right? So be ready to ask a couple of good questions first perhaps about the company’s culture and the path for career growth that the company offers etc and then say something like “Just one final question if I may, what is the salary you are offering for this position?”.
Leave a Reply