Congratulations. You’ve landed the golden opportunity to sell yourself to the employer of your choice. But wait; have you prepared yourself for this big day? Are you aware of the importance of this first encounter? Your well-structured resume has shown you in a good light to deserve some the employer’s precious time, so make sure you capitalize on every moment you are granted. 

Although the resume is an extremely important element in the job search process, it will only get you as far as the interview. From then on, it’s just you and the interviewer, and no matter how good you look on paper, you will have to look as good in person. And you will never look as good as you would like unless you’ve prepared. This preparatory phase is well worth the time and effort invested in it, because a lot of your preliminary research can be used every time you go to an interview, with only small additions, depending on the position and company.

It is also important to approach the interview with a focused mind - this meeting is really a two-way evaluation process. Of course the interviewer will try and decide whether you are fit for the job and the organization. You too are evaluating the interviewer, who is a company image-maker. You will also be in a position to decide whether you want to work for this company or not. How will you make this decision? Just like the interviewer will make his decision of you: you will observe, analyze, and ask questions. And although this is an added plus of an interview, it comes with it slight drawbacks - you just added even more to your preparation task. Now that we’ve established the 2-way motives of any interview, let’s look at some of the different styles of interviews under which this evaluation process takes place.

The most common kind available - one interviewer, one interviewee. Most of the interviews you go through in your professional life will fall under this category. Pros? You only have to concentrate with one person, who is actually at a disadvantage - he has to ask questions, evaluate the responses, observe your body language, and think of the next question all at the same time! Cons- it’s just you and him. You make a bad first impression and there’s no one else to make a good impression on.

A well-established method of interviewing in the some of the larger multinationals, panel interviewing is quickly gaining vogue in the Middle East. Why? Because it is one of the most effective ways of cutting down on time wasted in interviewing candidates: 2 or 3 people interview one candidate simultaneously. The result? Three opinions of one person in a third of the time, and division of labor amongst the interviewers allows for careful scrutiny of body language as well as deep analysis of candidate’s answers. The only drawback? More work for YOU! You need to work on acknowledging the presence of three people, although maybe only one may be talking to you, and work on handling the pressure of being under three microscopes instead of one.

Ever thought of applying to a company overseas and wondered how they would bear the cost of flying so many people to the interview location? Well, they don’t have to worry about this. Phone interviews are becoming increasingly popular as more and more companies seek expertise outside their geographic boundaries. Extremely time and cost effective, more and more corporations are choosing to conduct first and second round interviews by phone, and opting to fly in only selected candidates towards the later stages of the interviewing/hiring process. For some candidates, this is a dream come true: you don’t have to worry about showing up for the interview on time; you don’t have to dress up, you don’t have to worry about feeling uncomfortable under the scrutinizing eyes of the interviewer, and you can get away with your answers because they can’t see your face. Right? No, not really. Actually, looking at the phone interview from a bird’s eye view, we see a lot of extra work coming the way of both interviewer and interviewee. The interviewer no longer has the luxury of seeing facial expressions that tell a lot more than the actual answers; they don’t have the chance to evaluate the interviewee’s grooming, and they can’t even see whether he’s using cheat sheets or not. As for the interviewee, he is no longer comforted by the encouraging nods of the interviewer he cannot see; the few seconds he takes to formulate an answer seem like an eternity, and he cannot even establish rapport and make eye contact with his evaluators. He must rely solely on his tone of voice and the words he chooses, since he has no helpers here. 

This is another method of interviewing quickly gaining popularity in the competitive world of multinationals. This interview is usually a second-stage method, after the initial group of candidates has been filtered. Candidates are given a case to study in solitude or as part of a group. They are then called in by the interviewer, and a discussion concerning the case at hand takes place. While the output of the study is definitely of importance, a lot of weight is also placed on how the candidate utilizes the information given, the level of analysis employed, and how it is all presented. The hiring company sometimes integrates case interviews as part of an assessment center - a whole day of tests, interviews, and case studies organized. 

Most interviewers work with the assumption that the past is the best indication of the future, and how a candidate has performed in previous work or situations will probably say a lot about how they will perform in the future. Of course people change and develop, but some basic things will still be there. So, questions probing past happenings and hypothetical situations are very common in most interviews because they give this kind of insight. Such questions are “Tell me about a time when you assumed leadership of a particular group of people, and the outcome that resulted from your leadership”, or “tell me about a situation where you worked effectively as part of a team towards achieving a common goal”. If you can show the interviewer that you’ve done these things in the past, he’ll know you’ll be able to do it again should the need arise.

These are the most straightforward of questions. Here the interviewer uses your resume as the primary basis of his questions, and asks for clarifications and a lot of “why” questions. So make sure you know your resume inside out - you won’t be able to look at it then, or claim that you can’t talk about an item you’ve supposedly done! Actually, they are the easiest of interview questions, because you know all the answers. The trick here is to be able to make a significant addition than what to what is on your resume, in terms of details, rather than simply parroting what is already there. 

“What would you do if you were heading a team of 4 people, 3 of whom did not perform?” “What is the first thing you would do if I were to hire you as a Marketing Manager of this company?” Questions like these are becoming favorites of some interviewers, who like to put their candidates on the spot and watch their reaction. Sometimes the actual answer is not as important as the line of thought in which they go, since the interviewer is checking out the candidate’s mindset more than anything. Not to mention that some of the situations they choose can be highly unlikely!! This type of questioning is ideal for spotting out ingenious people whose minds are alert and constantly on the go, and who can quickly adapt to situations, however odd they may be. Of course, some of the situations cited could be normal ones the candidate is to expect, should he get the job. Any interview is almost always a combination of all the above questions, so the safest way is to train yourself to answer all kinds, to avoid as many surprises as possible.

Since we’ve looked at the framework of the interview, and the inner structuring, let’s look at the style the interviewer himself adopts. Although the idea that the interviewer is in THE power position no longer holds as strongly as before (since you’re also evaluating him), some interviewers like to project this image, and this usually translates to what is commonly known as the stress interview. The interviewer here chooses to pressure the candidate in a number of ways: difficult questions, unpleasant countenance, rude interruptions, stark aggression and challenges to the answers given. Some very easy questions become heavy when this attitude is adopted. The pressure can start from the minute you walk into the room, or can build up from one question to the next, or can just come and go with every few questions. However you experience it, make sure you maintain your composure - you’re still under careful scrutiny.

Of course, you might be lucky to encounter a very pleasant interviewer who will exchange pleasantries, smile and nod his head from the minute you walk in to the minute you walk out. Does that mean you’re in luck? Maybe - maybe not! An interviewer that makes you feel too much at ease is probably going to be able to get a lot more from you than he who stresses you out. And a lot of the things he gets you to say might be things you would rather keep to yourself! Did you really plan to tell him that you only applied for this position because of the high pay, or that you’re just planning to be there for a year at the most and then plan to move to the family business with all you’ve learnt? I don’t think so! His smiles and nods might also lead you to believe that you are on the right track and that they might as well have given you the offer on your way out. And what a nasty shock when they don’t even call you back for a second interview!

Now that you know what to expect from an interview and the interviewer, it should be easier to prepare for those important meetings, and focus on preparing for actual questions that you may encounter.