BEST CANDIDATE PROFILE

The Best-Prepared Candidate. The applicant who invested most preinterview time in learning about the employer has a big advantage
over the rest. It is useful to know which business issues (e.g. aging
client base, lack of infra-structure, or global competition) the company
is up against, so as to be ready to talk about personal input in those
areas.
The Most Self-Aware Candidate is frank about his areas of proficiency
and equally frank about subjects where he lacks knowledge, but is
eager to learn. He is the opposite of the annoying candidate who is an
expert in all possible subjects.
The Most Intellectually Curious Candidate. Interviewers want to answer
smart, insightful business questions on current trends in the
industry and the competition's impact on next quarter's sales. The
hireable applicant asks thoughtful questions about the job and the
organization.
The candidate who has prepared professional references, who expresses
a positive attitude, adapts the speech to the audience, gives specific
examples for illustrating personal professional background, and is
prepared to transform his strengths in benefits for the company he is
applying for.
Techniques of addressing others, of expressing personal points of
view, strategies for solving problems, displaying work experience and
conducting dialogues can be learnt and prac-tised, therefore the success
of an interview lies in preparation, in constructive self criticism and in
constantly monitoring the personal progress. Interlocutors generally tend
to be tolerant towards certain foreign language errors but when it comes
to mistakes in meaning, in addressing the others, or in complying with
the culture-bound traditions and standards of politeness, the dialogue
ceases.
There are as many different possible interview questions as there
are interviewers, so here is a list of 100 more potential interview
questions.

KEY INTERVIEW ANSWERS

EMPLOYERS NEED TO HEAR

Most inexperienced candidates tend to think that the job interview

is a competition to outwit the interviewer. The reality is that employers
have neither the time nor inclination to play games, especially when
hiring.
The interviewer is not trying to outguess the applicant; he is trying
to assess the answers to six key questions:
1. Do you have the skills to do the job?
The employer must first determine whether the candidate has the
necessary hard skills for the position, e.g., the program-ming knowledge
for a database administration job. By really probing into what the
candidate has done in the past, an inter-viewer can tap into the hard
skills. The interviewer is also looking for key soft skills to succeed in the
job and in the organization, such as the ability to work well on teams and
the requisite common sense to figure things out with some basic
training.
2. Do you fit?
The organization's first thought is about fitting and potentially fitting in a
certain department. That means the interviewer is trying to pinpoint not
only whether the candidate matches up well with both the company's
and department's activities but also whether s/he will complement the
talents of the potential co-workers.
3. Do you understand the company and its purpose?
If the organization fits well with your career aspirations, you will
naturally be motivated to do good work there and stay longer with the
firm.
4. How do you stack up against the competition?
You are being evaluated in relation to other candidates for the job, so the
interviewer will constantly be comparing your performance with that of
the other candidates'.
5. Do you have the right mind-set for the job and the firm?
The interviewer is always looking for someone who has a can-do type of
attitude, someone who wants to be challenged and is internally motivated
to do well. An employer cannot train for this essential trait. Without this
quality, the employee will end up being a lower-performing employee.

6. Do you want the job?

Most employers know better than to believe everyone they interview
actually wants the position being offered. They understand some
candidates are exploring their options, while others are using an
interview with a company they don not care about to perfect their
interview skills. So you have to prove you really want the job.

TOP QUALITIES EMPLOYERS SEEK

Employers say they are impressed by job candidates who have
excellent communication skills, good self management and grooming
habits, and relevant work experience. They also need trustworthy new
hires that can move right in, get along with their co-workers, and get the
job done without having to be instructed and guided through it at each
step.
1. Communication skills (verbal and written)
2. Honesty and integrity
3. Teamwork skills (works well with others)
4. Interpersonal skills (relates well to others)
5. Motivation and initiative
6. Strong work ethic
7. Analytical skills
8. Flexibility and adaptability
9. Computer skills
10. Organizational skills
In the interview, you should be prepared to
give information (personal and non-personal)
give your opinion and justify it
explain and/or suggest something
express preference, compare and/or contrast issues
summarise and analyse
describe something or narrate an event
speculate
check on comprehension
repair, maintain and extend a conversation.

Impress the interviewer and increase your impact by:

effectively communicating in English with your peers.
using complex grammatical structures accurately (tenses,
conditionals, the passive voice).
inserting discourse markers and linking words
expressing ideas without new lexis from the dictionary.
making complex sentences to explain&extend your ideas.
understanding a variety of English accents (British, American,
Canadian, Australian, etc).
use appropriate conversational and cultural interaction in a variety of
situations. A positive, confident attitude will help.
Practise using different sentence structures.
Practise paraphrasing - if you do not know a par-ticular
word, try to explain what you mean using different words.
Get some strategies: to repair the conversation if things go
wrong.
If you cannot think of a real situation to discus,
hypothesize; you need to be fluent
It is important to understand that your speaking cannot
improve without intense practice.