Interview Preparation: What to Do When You Can't Answer a Question

Get ‘Interview Preparation: What to Do When You Can’t Answer a Question’ and other blog posts straight to your inbox by subscribing to this blog via email. Please see the subscription box on the right hand side and submit your email. Once submitted, you will need to use the link in the automatic activation email to VERIFY your subscription.

Interviews are all about questions and answers; whether it is your question to the interviewer or a question that they are posing to you. It is a simple process in those terms. However, I want to discuss what happens when you can’t answer one of the interviewer’s questions (or at least not straight away). In an interview, I was once asked ‘I want a red ladder, not just any type of red ladder, but one that is a certain red colour e.g. crimson. How would you get one?’ I wasn’t expecting a question like that and my initial thought was that I wasn’t sure how I would – under pressure I said the first answer that came into my head. Had I of done my interview preparation I would have been able to give a better answer to reveal my competence. Therefore, being nervous in an interview and having the added pressure of answering all the questions, and to answer them well, can be a daunting experience. So I’m going to provide a few tips below to help anyone who may land themselves in the same situation I was in.

Why is the question difficult to answer?

Firstly, you need to establish why can’t answer the question, do you not understand what the interviewer means. For example, I could have asked ‘What do you mean by red ladder?’ as it is important to fully understand the question in order to give a good answer. A good answer will consist of multiple answers to show off problem solving skills, ‘I would buy a ladder from B&Q and paint it red, alternatively I would check out company contacts and connections, failing that I would a colleague what they would do. Therefore, don’t worry about asking questions like ‘What do you mean?’ if it means you can you can provide a better answer.

How can I buy myself more time to answer a question?

You can understand a question and still not know the answer. It is not recommended to answer your interviewer with ‘I don’t know’, because you will look incompetent. Instead, if you buy yourself sometime you may be able to produce a good enough answer.

Simple ways of doing this would be to ask the interviewer to repeat the question. In doing so, they may as well elaborate on the question, giving you more of a chance to think. Furthermore, don’t be afraid of taking a few seconds to think about your answer before you reply. Nerves can sometimes get the better of you in situations where you may feel under pressure. So keep calm and take a few seconds to think before you respond.

What is the best way to deal with questions I initially can’t answer?

• Quickly establish why you can’t answer the question.
• Remain calm and don’t feel pressured to respond quickly.
• If you believe it will help, you can ask the interviewer at the start of the interview whether you can take notes. This may help you either to understand the question or to have a reminder of the question when you’re giving your answer.

For more advice on interview answers, check out my previous blog post on how to give STAR answers - http://diaryofapublishingintern.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/competency-based-interviews-star-q.html

Interview Preparation: Asking the Employer Questions

Over the last couple of months I've been receiving reader responses for upcoming posts. Job interviews was one of the recurring topics that came up, hence this week's blog post. Instead of doing some simple do’s and don’t's I’ve decided to create a series of blog posts called ‘Interview Preparation’, in order to cover this substantial topic.

The first post in this series is ‘Asking the Employer Questions’, this is an area I’ve been bad at in interviews and some of you may have overlooked it before too. Thus, have a read of the prompts I've created below.

Should I ask my interviewer questions?

This may sound slightly obvious considering the title of this post, but in short, yes you should ask the employer questions. This will reveal the full extent of your job interview preparation. Having no questions to ask the interviewer may give off negative impressions such as, incompetence and ill prepared.

Have your questions already been answered on the company website?

Saying that, you should make sure that your questions aren’t easy ones that the company website already answers. Instead, try to be a bit more original by asking questions like, how do I need to perform in order to be successful in the desired role.

Are your questions good?

Furthermore, once you’ve prepared your questions (this could be up to 10 or more), then decide whether the question is of a good enough standard to ask the interviewer. For example, your questions should be open ended and not closed (typically a yes or no answer is achieved through a closed question). You can get out of asking closed questions by using words like ‘how’ or ‘why’.

Once you’ve done that you can filter your questions down even more by removing the less useful ones. This may include questions that are hypothetical e.g. 'what if...' and so on.

What shouldn’t I do?

Don’t ask the interviewer anything irrelevant or personal. I know a lot of people research their interviewer before the interview – fair enough – but make sure you use any knowledge gained from this to your advantage. For example, are they on YouTube presenting a work-related presentation? Then can you apply this knowledge to one of your questions? There is no point just throwing in a statement highlighting the fact you have researched them – unless you think it’s necessary and/or want to look like a stalker.

I hope you've found this post useful as I’m sure that many of you are in the same position I am in now, and will be undertaking numerous interviews come summer. Good luck with those and keep reading my future posts about interviews!

For inspiration of what questions to ask the employer, visit http://www.krantcents.com/20-interview-questions-to-ask-employers.

Vocational Training: Should I do it?

Get ‘Vocational Training: Should I do it?’ and other blog posts straight to your inbox by subscribing to this blog via email. Please see the subscription box on the right hand side and submit your email. Once submitted, you will need to use the link in the automatic activation email to VERIFY your subscription.

I have been emailed previously in regards to completing vocational training courses, and whether this is good training to have on your CV. Obviously, there are plenty of courses available for pretty much anything and everything publishing related. If you are considering a vocational training course, then consider the questions below in order to make an informed decision.

Consider these questions:

1) What are your reasons for wanting to complete a vocational training course?

Create a list of your reasons and what areas you specifically feel you need training in. For example, when I was considering vocational training it was purely for improving English skills like, grammar, proof reading, editing etc. However, I found that if you do your own research, and use a search engine to look up e.g., ‘how to proof read?’. By doing so, you will be able to pick up plenty of skills/tips. Thus, I would encourage that you do your own research first, in the areas you fill you need help in the most, before undertaking a vocational course.

2) Is it feasible?

If you’re a student contemplating a course over summer, think about the feasibility of undertaking a course. This covers all aspects such as, cost, travel and time, as when you’re a student time is very valuable for building up work experience and skills.

If you’re a graduate seeking work and wondering if a course will improve your CV, it probably won’t. In the grand scheme of things, employers will be looking at the whole package. Your time will be better spent researching companies and applying for full time jobs. Expand your search if you’re not getting anywhere. Someone once told me that it’s easier finding a job when you’re already in a job.

3) Is your time better spent doing other things?

This comes back to whether the training is feasible as once you get a full time job in publishing; this is when you’ll be able to focus on your skills. Some companies will train up new employees too. Remember, publishing is a fast-paced industry, where you’ll be able to pick up and improve skills quickly.

4) What are your other options?

As I said before, if you want to improve your proof reading skills, you’re probably better off becoming a writer for your student newspaper, and experiencing editing first hand. Many areas that you may feel you are weak at can be improved by covering those aspects in a working environment.

Weigh up the pros and cons, everyone is different and will have different reasons for completing a vocational training course. As long as you have considered all the questions above, then you should be able to make your own informed decision. Don’t forget, you can also use my previous blog post ‘Working Skills: A Guide to the Six Thinking Hats’, to help you make the best decision possible.

Would you like any further blog posts on vocational training? Use the comments box below or tweet me to let me know.

Competency-based Interviews: STAR Q&A's

Get ‘Competency-based interviews: STAR Q&A’s’ and other blog posts straight to your inbox by subscribing to this blog via email. Please see the subscription box on the right hand side and submit your email. Once submitted, you will need to use the link the automatic ‘activation email’ to confirm your subscription.

Although it is rare, sometimes you will have to attend an interview as part of the application process for an internship. Previously, I have written two other blog posts on interviews, which are ‘preparing for intern interviews’ and ‘surviving intern interviews’. Both these blog posts provide basic advice that offers a starting point for completing a successful interview.

As you already know, the publishing industry is a tough one to get into, especially if you have zero contacts. This is why I have created blog posts that not only apply to students seeking internships, but also graduates that may need advice when looking for full time work. In particular, the interview will be the main part of your job application, and will make or break whether you are the person to secure the internship/job. This is why over the next month or two, I shall be creating a lot more blog posts, which tackle the fundamental part of the recruitment process.

As some of you may have found out from my Twitter page, I’ve currently been brainstorming new ideas for upcoming blog posts. These future blog posts inevitably mean that I’m going beyond my current knowledge of recruitment advice, and turning my attention to the stuff that I don’t know much about. In order to achieve this, I’ve been taking my own time to research various career based topics, which include expanding my interview based blog posts and specifically, competency-based interviews Q&A’s.

STAR is a method that most if not all employers are familiar with, and it is a popular way to structure your interview answers. STAR allows you to answer behaviour-based interview questions in a structured and coherent manner.

STAR interview questions, typically are questions that seek out a candidates level of competency and behaviour. For example, a sample question would be ‘Describe a time in which you have had to work as a team?’ These types of questions give the interviewer a feel for how you have acted in the past, which provides a good indication to how you will act in the future. To make sure that you don’t slip up on STAR questions, give your interviewer a STAR answer.

The STAR acronym consists of:

Situation – Describe the situation that you were confronted with, including the context, and any other relevant information that is useful to your story.

Task – Describe the task that you needed to accomplish. Make this concise and informative. If the question is about teamwork, then explain the task that you had to undertake within that team.

Action – This is the most significant aspect of the STAR structure. Now that you have set up the context of the situation, make sure that you are now describing your performance, personal attributes and highlight the skills that you have gained. This should include the standard details of what you did, how you did it and why you did it.

Result – Describe how the situation ended, what you have accomplished, and relate it back to any skills that you have learnt.

This universally recognised way to communicate will be valued by your interviewer, even if they haven’t directly been trained in STAR technique. As a result, your answers and the information given to your interviewer will be competently delivered in a concise manner. Please be aware that there are plenty of websites offering an array of sample STAR questions and answers. Do your research and impress your interviewer.

Get Started: How to Use this Blog Effectively

Since I first created this blog, I have had a steady increase in the amount of queries that people have sent to me, which is great. Mostly the queries I receive are all about applying for work placements. This is why I have decided to write a blog post that is focussed on giving you the most important posts that I have written, especially if you haven’t been following my blog since the beginning. Therefore, below I have compiled a list that could be used as a systematic guide for reading and gaining the most advice I have in my blog so far.

1) Where do I start?

Don’t forget that I have a page on this site that is focussed on where to start when you’re beginning your work placement search. This will probably be the first place you’ll want to go, and within that page, I have listed a few key blog posts that you may want to draw your attention to.

2) Older blog posts

If you haven’t been following my blog since the beginning, then you’ll find that there are a lot of significant blog posts that date back to July last year. Instead of searching for them yourself, here is a good list to get you started.

Blog posts:

Top 5 Tips for getting Work Experience http://diaryofapublishingintern.blogspot.com/2011/07/5-top-tips-for-getting-work-experience.html

Top 5 Tips for getting Employer Responses http://diaryofapublishingintern.blogspot.com/2011/07/top-5-tips-for-getting-employer.html

Why Am I Not Getting Employer Responses and What Should I Do? http://diaryofapublishingintern.blogspot.com/2011/11/why-am-i-not-getting-employer-responses.html

3) Guardian Careers

The Guardian Careers website is definitely worth going on regularly. It holds a wealth of information and advice for students/graduates that are looking for work placements or careers. To start with, if you haven’t already listened, you may find the Work Experience Podcast that I’m featured in helpful.

http://careers.guardian.co.uk/audio/work-experience-careers-talk-podcast

4) Covering the basics

Also, some of you may not know that I have written a series of CV Workshop blog posts that gives advice about how to format and style your CV. Please find the link below.

CV work shop http://diaryofapublishingintern.blogspot.com/2011/08/cv-workshop-top-5-headings-for-your-cv.html

Additionally, I have written these following blog posts to cover the other application basics.

http://diaryofapublishingintern.blogspot.com/2011/11/top-5-tips-for-creating-impressive.html

http://diaryofapublishingintern.blogspot.com/2011/07/top-5-tips-for-preparing-for-intern.html

http://diaryofapublishingintern.blogspot.com/2011/11/contributing-to-blog-to-enhance-your.html

5) Continue Researching

Remember that should use my blog as a starting point for your own research. I'm currently in the process of finishing my next Guardian article, which is all about the specific research I embarked on when I searched for placements.

Additionally, I know that some of my readers are seeking work placements in alternative industries to publishing but rest assured, the skills and techniques I write about can certainly be transferable.

Above, I have supplied some of the ‘Best of’ blog posts, which will help you to make the best use of my blog. All of the above, is my initial advice to finding and applying to work placements.

Don’t forget that I’m always happy to hear from you if you have any comments, queries or suggestions.

Website Pick of the Week

Guardian Careers

For those who have been following my work experience over summer 2011, will know already that I write in the Guardian careers section, so it will come as no surprise to find that they are my website pick of the week.

The Guardian probably should have been listed much sooner than this as it is a great source for reading about careers. I'm a big fan to say the least. Anyway, the blog section covers anything from CV's to disfigurement in the workplace, it is certainly thought provoking and holds a wealth of insight.

Moreover, besides the blog, there are many podcasts, live Q&A's and a directory containing the best career blogs (where you'll find my blog listed) and much more.

Visit the Guardian Careers website at: http://careers.guardian.co.uk/careers-blog

For links to my podcast, live Q&A and debut article, please go to the 'About Me' page.

Event - Breaking into the Industry

Future Rising is hosting an event called 'Breaking into the Industry', on the 10th November at 3.30pm till 6.30pm. This event is specifically open to students and young professionals, and is designed to give industry insight and useful tools to breaking into the advertising and marketing industry.

I have been assured that this day will have a very good line up, and thus will be perfect for students that are currently seeking internships or a career. A huge bonus is that the event is completely free, so it's worth attending - what have you got to lose?

For more information visit:

http://www.iabuk.net/en/1/internetmarketingeventsbreakingintotheindustry.mxs

Snapshot Diary - London Confidential July-September 2011

London Confidential was my first work placement where I was able to try out a bit of journalism and writing. I’ve always had a passion for writing, which started during English Lit A-Level, where evitably I was writing a lot of essays.

I came across London Confidential, a relatively new online magazine company that is based in London, whilst searching for journalism based placements. Once I applied, I had to attend a short interview with the Listings Editor, at this point I was confirmed a placement shortly after. This placement was longer than others and instead of being full time; it was just 2 days a week. This suited me fine, as at the same time, I was working 3 days a week at OldCastle Books.

Anyway, I didn’t have any set tasks as such, except that that I had to be able to write articles – one article per day. Even though at first, it didn’t seem to be varied in terms of tasks, I found it varied in terms of the articles I wrote. I would do articles covering various sections of the magazine like, beauty, fashion, arts and entertainment. So, to say the least, I did enjoy my time at LC, going on this placement definitely reignited my passion for writing. Overall, during my time there, the office environment was comfortable and the Editors were quite helpful.

In addition, LC was very flexible about working from home, which would be great for students/graduates that can’t afford the expenses (such as travel). However, a major plus is, unlike some companies, LC do pay for all your expenses (lunch and travel) - as long as receipts are kept. I would recommend this placement for anyone who wants to do writing based work.

Website Pick of the Week

This week I have chosen a website that I came across via Twitter. The website is called careercake.com, which is a blog offering great advice, and tips for people on how to kick start their career. The Career Cake blog was created by Aimee Bateman, and features professional videos covering a range of careers. However, if you don’t have a specific one in mind, why not have a look at the more generic ones such as, ‘CV Advice – the personal profile’ or ‘What to ask the interviewer?’. It’s a very useful blog and it is particularly interactive - I highly recommend it.

Visit Career Cake @ http://careercake.com/

CV Workshop - 'Extracurricular Activities' heading

If this is the first time you are viewing this blog series, please refer back to the first summary post called ‘CV Workshop – Top 5 Headings for your CV’.

If you have done a lot of extracurricular activities at school or university, then this heading is definitely a good optional extra for you to have on your CV. For instance, I’ve worked on the University student newspaper, which is significant experience as it is part of my journalism experience. In particular, the student newspaper is well recognised in the publishing industry, so if that’s the direction you want to go in, then the student newspaper is a great starting point. Furthermore, it’s really important to detail all your activities, even if they don’t directly relate to the work you’re applying for. This is because these activities develop many skills e.g. team work, which all relate to the work place.

As I have emphasised before, make sure that all the extracurricular activities are detailed in chronological order starting from your most recent position at the top, and work your way down. Also, as an added thought, try to make sure that you’re consistent throughout your CV in terms of layout, font and sizes etc. If you’re following this blog series, an easy way to format the extracurricular section is to do so in the same way as the education section. So, you’ll be using a template that looks a little bit like this:

{Start date} – {End date/Present} NAME OF POSITION/ROLE, LOCATION, Brief DESCRIPTION

Please do remember that the above template is just a guideline of what you could do with your extracurricular activities section. I would strongly advise doing some of your own research and having a look at CV’s that are considered strong.

The next and final CV Workshop will be for the ‘Skills’ heading.

Website Pick of the Week

The Society of Young Publishers is a great starting place for young budding publishing professional. The main aim of SYP is to provide people with the industry services they need, to get their publishing careers off to a fantastic start. The society offers, regular monthly speaker meetings, a free subscription to the InPrint magazine, industry contacts, a comprehensive job database and more. The only snag is that you have to pay to be a member of SYP. Memberships for students are slightly cheaper though at £24 as opposed to £30 for adults. Nevertheless, this society is highly recommended and I’m definitely going to consider joining.

For more information visit: http://www.thesyp.org.uk/