Types of Interview



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TYPES OF INTERVIEWS 

There are many types of interviews serving diverse purposes.  

Knowing what to expect can help you achieve your goals.

Competency-based interviews

Competency interviews are increasingly popular and usually follow a strict set of questions, so the opportunity for ice-breaking chatter is reduced. This type of interview focuses on your work-related skills and abilities rather than questions about your personality, and they can be trickier to answer as you have to use examples to demonstrate your answers…

Prepare by reading the job ad carefully as the core skills mentioned usually make up the questions asked.

For how to anwer interview questions using the STAR technique click the button on the right: 

One-to-one interviews

You are more likely to get a one-to-one interview with a smaller company. It’s slightly less formal than panel interviews (see below) but that doesn’t mean you should let your guard down! After all, a one-to-one interview means you are more likely to be directly questioned by the boss – or at least the person in charge of deciding whether ‘You’re hired’ or ‘You’re fired’ (Alan Sugar would be proud).





Strength questions don't have a right or wrong answer. 

It is, however, important that you answer all questions honestly - failing to do so will give the interviewer a false impression of you.


Just like in any other interview you'll need to include examples to back up and illustrate your responses. You can draw these examples from all areas of your life including your studies, work experience, previous employment, volunteering or extra-curricular activities.


If you're asked to identify your weaknesses stay away from generic responses such as 'I'm a perfectionist'. Think of things that you've struggled with in the past and select a real weakness, such as a lack of organisational skills that impacts on your ability to meet deadlines, or low confidence when it comes to networking or public speaking.


Ensure that you explain how your strengths compensate for this weakness and what you're doing to overcome it. For example, for a lack of organisational skills you could explain how you're using alerts and apps on your smartphone to positive effect and how a combination of lists, spreadsheets and a daily planner help keep you on track. End this response on an upbeat note.


Taken from prospects 2023

Strengths based interview

Here are some examples of strength-based interview questions:


What do you like to do in your spare time?

What energises you?

How would your close friends describe you?

Do you most like starting tasks or finishing them?

Do you prefer the big picture or the small details?

Describe a successful day. What made it successful?

What are you good at?

What are your weaknesses?

What did you enjoy studying at school or university?

When did you achieve something you're really proud of?

What do you enjoy doing the least?

Do you find there are enough hours in the day to complete your to-do list?

What tasks are always left on your to-do list?

How do you stay motivated?

How do you feel about deadlines?

Have you ever done something differently the second time around?

Do you think this role will play to your strengths?


For more information : 

https://www.prospects.ac.uk/careers-advice/interview-tips/strength-based-interviews



Telephone interviews

Instead of inviting a large army of candidates to battle it out in the interview room, many employers use a telephone interview as a quick and cost-effective way to whittle down candidates in the first round.

This type of interview can be good as it cuts out the need to brush up on interview body language and interview dress code; however, it does test your social and telephone skills. 

Tips 

Video interviews

These are growing in popularity with the growth of Skype. You may be invited to an office or asked to connect at home using your own computer. Sometimes video interviews are done by agencies, using questions set by the company (managers can then see each candidate answering the same questions and can compare responses).

There are a lot of things to think about in a video interview, above the usual interview advice and it’s important that you are fully prepared as it’s easy to get flustered if you’re not used to communicating via a webcam or similar.

Tips