Interview tips - from personal experience on either sides of the interview table (oral interview)

Interview tips - from personal experience on either sides of the interview table (oral interview)

These tips are for oral interviews.  There may be in initial written interview, after which the successful candidates progress to the oral interview.  The oral interview is the final stage towards securing the job or internship opportunity.  Tips of written interviews shall follow on a different blog.

Attending a job interview is a nerve recking experience.  It can bring out the worst in you, despite expecting to present your best side.  However, you shall get to the interview room with a big advantage and high chance of success against the competition if you prepare, anticipating the types of questions in advance and practicing how to respond to these QAs. 

I have been on both sides on the interview table and can give some tips for those preparing to be interviewed for a position, be it job or internship, as below.

Tips on preparing, grooming, projection and answering:

- dress neatly and decently for the interview

- no handshakes to the interview panel, just match in and do a say a general formal greeting to all

- project a good enough voice, that you believe is audible through the room

- keep the answers short, but not one-worded

- be forthright when you do not know, instead of attempting to guess

- ask a question when given the opportunity to ask e.g. whether they work weekends, what are their working hours, does the job have travels out of Nairobi etc.  Asking a question gives the interviewers an impression that you are interested in the job and you want to engage them

- tea, refreshments, water may be offered. Interview process is a nervous process, so take just water instead (if anything), if the choice if offered

- report early, never be late for an interview. Be there at least 1-hour before your time. Sometimes they skip those who are late, and you may just be called earlier than you planned

Tips on areas of enquiry:

You shall be asked on issues that are likely to touch on 3 areas, each broad area of query is likely to be followed by subsequent questions for clarification and elaboration:

(a) Personality

- Tell us about yourself

- What makes you believe you are the right person for the job

- Do you like working alone or in teams

- How to you resolve conflict with colleague/manager

- What are your strengths and weaknesses

- Do you have any questions for the panel

(b) The job

- How did you get to know about the job

- What is your expectation of the job

- What experience do you have to do the job

- Scenarios, if this was to happen how would you handle it

- Give examples of when you worked on a project that failed/project that worked

(c) Motivation

- Where do you see yourself in 3/ 5/ 10 years

- When can you start if given the opportunity

- What type of pay would you expect (this is what you specifically asked, so I will attempt to answer)

Tips on pay package queries:

- You need to research the organization, visit their website, see their balance sheets, ask an insider if possible, to gauge their pay grades

- You also need to search for similar positions elsewhere as advertised on the papers, and see how much they pay. Some newspaper adverts include the salary (most PSC, GOK jobs will indicate the work group and salary)

- Is it a government, private or NGO, there is some information on the public domain about the pay packages of these sectors

- Search the web for other similar adverts and offers that they give

- Ultimately, you are likely to end up with a range between x to y amount for that type of job

- Once you have considered all the above factors, and got the range, you can now answer that question

Tips of giving a final salary figure (after research above):

You have 2 options of answering:

(1) give a figure, say KShs.X

(2) tell them that you are ready to take their offer which you believe shall at least meet your basic needs to enable you do the work monthly such as rent, travel, subsistence which is currently a total of KShs.X 

(that is saying you expect 'at least X' without saying it directly)

Find the one that you are comfortable saying, out of the two, practice it in advance and say it when the time comes.

The interview is not about getting all the answers right, they are testing more than correct answers. 

They are testing other issues such as confidence, working under pressure, responding off the cuff without having rehearsed, your attitude, you temperament, your personality, weaknesses, motivations and then the suitability for the job based on training and experience.  

Those questions are not just for getting correct answers, but for many other things being tested.  

Send me a message in case you need tips to responding to any of the indicated or your own interview question.

WWB, the marathoner Engineer, Nov. 2023