Learn from employer feedback on 2011 job interviews

By now, many New Year resolutions have been broken but there is one that should definitely not be – your career ambitions. January is the busiest time for job interviews and we have collated some valuable feedback from employers to ensure you achieve this goal as soon as possible.

2011 may have seemed bleak but there were still job interviews taking place. Read the feedback from top employers from the end of last year which provides an insight into why many people are failing and show how simple things make all the difference:

“Many interviewees turned up late, showing a total disregard of my time”

Never turn up late. Always aim to turn up 30 minutes early to allow for travel delays. If you are unfamiliar with the journey make a trip there a few days beforehand to get your bearings. However if this is not possible allow a bit longer on the day. If you arrive nice and early you should use the time wisely to sit down for a coffee, prepare mentally and read your notes. Read my Top 10 tips which include other basic errors to avoid – they are so obvious yet so easy to forget.

“Some interviewees lacked basic communication skills”

This comment is hopefully not true – we would prefer to put it down to nerves in the interview room so make sure you think before you speak. Don’t use slang or abbreviations in a job interview. Use well constructed sentences, do not give one word answers and look at the person when you speak to them to project your voice. The best way to avoid this common mistake is to practice being interviewed. The mock interview webcam service on InterviewGOLD was launched last year to tackle this same issue and has proved hugely popular.

“Graduates need to sell themselves based on their skills”

Many recruiters observed that some graduates expected too much from their first job and were perhaps not prepared to work their way up. The attitude of school leavers, however, was that they had something to prove. Whatever category you fall into, remember you ALWAYS have something to prove and you must convince the interviewer you have the right skills. If you do not show yourself as a team player or a hard worker you may not get the job. Any job involves working with other people and qualifications do not make a personality. If you are not a natural communicator or lack experience of team work try some group exercises beforehand using the InterviewGOLD training system.

“Key skills were lacking”
Other comments included a lack of IT skills and a quarter even cited poor numeracy and literacy amongst candidates. All of these key skills will be important at some point in your life so if you feel that you could improve why not take a short course which will boost your confidence and may even be free at your local college.

Joe McDermott of interview training service Anson Reed revealed “Many employers place huge importance on interpersonal and key skills, hence the reason for in depth job interviews. A glowing CV is a pre-requisite to the job, not the deciding factor so don’t be complacent just because you have a 1^st class honours degree or ten years relevant experience. Your personality is what colleagues will see every day.”

Read more useful job interview advice and interview tips on the BlueSky Interviews Interview Advice pages.