Tag: interview

Tips on Handling Interview Nerves

Posted on by Naomi Marshall

How do you handle nerves before an interview?   We get asked this a lot from our candidates and truthfully, it is not so much how you stop those nerves but how you manage them. Here are our top tips for prepping for an interview & not letting those nerves get in the way:

  1. Take Control of what you can

Nothing gives your nerves an adrenalin kick like running late or being disorganised for an interview. Make sure you control what you can and be as organised as humanely possible. This means:

  • Do you research a few days before your interview (no cramming on the bus on your way in).
  • Know where you are going, who you are meeting, what time you have to be there and allow extra time for any delays out of your control.
  • Have your outfit picked, ironed and ready to go to avoid any wardrobe malfunctions.
  • Have a good nights sleep the night before (no big nights or hangovers before the Big Day).
  1. Take Care of the Physical Nerve Reactions

If sweaty palms are a side effect of your nerves – be prepared and have a hanky in your bag or pocket (we know – you might have to borrow one from your Nanna – but they are so handy & don’t disintegrate after the first use). There really is nothing worse than shaking hands with a candidate and feeling the balmy squelch as you connect…YUK!

  1. Own your Nerves!

We get it. The Hiring Manager gets it. Everyone is human and nerves are natural. Own them!! Let your interviewer know you are feeling a little nervous and be honest. It will not only help diffuse the situation & let everyone know how you are feeling, it also demonstrates that you are a good communicator who is able to articulate what you are feeling and not being too shy or embarrassed to say so! Also, nerves mean you are keen on the job & want to make a good impression! That never hurts for the interviewer to know!!

  1. Deep Breaths and Take your Time

Your voice is shaky, or perhaps you are talking really fast, maybe you have sweat dripping off your brow as you try to listen to the questions. Sound like you??
STOP. Take a deep breath. Have a drink of water (wipe your brow if necessary). Slow everything down.
Focus on the question you are being asked and answer the question. Don’t waffle. Stop and take a breath whenever you feel like you are starting to nervously waffle, wobble or lose concentration.

Interviews are not easy. They are not mean to be. They are as much as about seeing how you perform under pressure as they are about your experience & getting to know you better. Take control of what you can, do your best to manage the nerves with all the components you can control. Practice deep breaths, have a laugh and run with it. Now is your time to SHINE!

If you want to talk more about how you can prepare for an interview, feel free to get in touch with the Sprint Team.

What do I bring to my interview with Sprint People?

Posted on by Naomi Marshall

Congratulations! You’ve been asked in to meet with the recruiter for an interview. This is the first step to securing that dream job you applied for. Now is the time to shine. Please don’t get complacent about this recruiter interview and fall into the trap of thinking “it’s just the recruiter, it’s not a real interview”.

Meeting with your recruiter is as important as meeting a client. If we don’t love what we see and we can’t see you sitting in front of our client, answering the same questions with the same fabulous answers you are giving us…we won’t be sending you anywhere! Least of all, to our client who are expecting only the best from us. When we send a candidate to a client, you are representing us as well as yourself so we want you to *Shine*.

Which brings us to our question in the title. What do you need to bring to your interview, to demonstrate not only your skills and how right you are for that job, but also to make sure you are a bonafide, registered candidate on our books?

Come prepared
Know how you want to present yourself and your experience. Know your strengths, weaknesses and accomplishments. A job interview is not the time to wing it!

Arrive on time
Early or late – neither looks good. Arrive on time (maybe 2 or 3 minutes early) and announce yourself. Remember how you speak to the reception staff – they will taking in the first impressions and are often called on for insight.

TEMPS – Bring your Paperwork
If you would like to be considered for temp work (now or in the not too distant future), you will need to bring your paperwork so we can pay you!! This includes:
* Tax file number
* Bank details
* Superannuation information
* Any appropriate visa documentation

Bring your Testing
If you have done prior testing with another agency, bring a copy of these results for your file.

Know your Referees
We may need to do a reference check. It is a good idea to have a couple of referees up your sleeve that you can call on if need be. We won’t be calling them without your prior consent (and time for you to give them a heads up), but come prepared with their details.

Bring your Best You!
We want to see you at your best. That way – we know that we are recommending our client hire the right candidate and the best person for the job.

If you would like to know more about how you can prepare for an interview. Please refer to Sprint Coach on our website or get in touch with us directly.

Employers Remember…The Candidate is Interviewing YOU Too!

Posted on by Naomi Marshall

At Sprint we are fortunate enough to recruit for some of the best businesses in the market (not that we’re bias at all). However, though we know they’re great and we tell our candidates that they are great, we always remind our clients to remember that in an interview situation, the candidate is interviewing them as well!

It is important for business owners and line managers to remember that as an interviewer, it is also your responsibility to get the candidate excited about the role/company etc. You can’t always rely on your brand to attract the right potential employees to your business. The way that you engage with the candidate and the level of interest that you show in them as a person could determine whether they choose another role over the one you’re offering when it comes to the crunch!

Clients often say that an hour interview is such a short period of time to try and decipher if a candidate is going to be right for their business, but remember, it’s the same for the candidate too! They want to know that you will care about them, foster learning and development and provide them with opportunities to create a true career path for themselves.

Often employers are so focused on “testing” a candidate that they forget to engage with them. I can’t tell you how many times we have had clients come back to us telling us how they really “put the candidate under pressure” or “threw the candidate a curve ball”, or “had their interview poker face on”. When the employer then comes back wishing to offer the candidate, they are often miffed that candidate declines the role because they didn’t get a good vibe from their interviewer and they felt disengaged with the process.

Yes – it’s true that there are a lot of candidates on the market at the moment, but the top quality, hard working, loyal candidates, that most employers seek are still hard to find! If a candidate is sitting in front of you, ticking all the boxes, then it would be such a shame to miss out on them simply because you were trying to trip them up, rather than engaging with them.

Chances are, if you think they are fantastic, other employers will too! So don’t miss the opportunity to tell them how amazing their life is going to be if they choose you. At the end of day, given multiple options, candidates will most likely choose the employer that;

  • Was friendly in the interview and made them feel comfortable
  • Showed genuine interest in them and their development
  • Moved quickly
  • Gave the impression that they would really add value to their business and that they were excited to have them on board.

Yes, it may very well be your brand that made a candidate apply in the first place, but as they sit in front of you in an interview situation… all nervous and excited… subconsciously (or sometimes even consciously) they are waiting for you to sell your company back to them.

Put your best voice forward… you don’t even need to wear a suit!

Posted on by Naomi Marshall

As companies look to streamline systems and find more efficient ways to not only recruit staff but manage interviewing we have seen a rise in the old ‘phone interview’. They can be fraught with danger if you don’t know how to handle one or have never done one before.

Personally I’m not a fan of the phone interview in a professional recruitment process for a whole variety of reasons, the main one being that neither party can see each other and when you take out the sense of sight you must rely purely on the voice and communication skills.

Some people are very gifted in this area. They have a fantastic phone voice, are articulate and can tell a story well without the assistance of non-verbal communication tools such as hand gestures or facial expressions.

However, the vast majority of people need to apply a little bit of effort here to really nail it!

Here are a few quick tips to help you in the future:

  • You MUST ensure you are in a quiet place and be certain you won’t have any interruptions. Nothing kills the mood of the interview if the interviewer has to raise their voice constantly, needs to ask you repeatedly “can you hear me” or needs to speak over buses going past. Try to speak off a landline as opposed to a mobile if you have access to one.
  • First and foremost speak clearly and if you are a naturally fast talker, slow down a little.
  • Try smiling when you speak – it can help you sound more upbeat. Try it, your tone raises just that little bit doesn’t it?  Now I don’t recommend talking through the whole interview with a cheesy smile or you might end up sounding a little bit odd, but use it as a technique to emphasise key things or emphasise a skill or experience you are proud of.
  • Remember that you only have your voice to show your energy levels. No-one will see how quickly you walked in the door, or how firmly you shook hands, that you are wearing the most sharp looking outfit of all time or how eager you are coming across as you sit on the edge of your chair. They will only feel your energy through your tone and overall communications style so push yourself out of your comfort zone and speak up!
  • Speak with confidence but choose your words carefully as you don’t want to waffle.
  • In terms of answering questions, it can help to jot down a few words of the question as the interviewer is speaking to you. That way you stay focused on that question as you speak.
  • With your words, create a very clear picture for the interviewer so they can ‘feel’ you performing the role. Give more than a one word or one sentence answer, paint the picture and engage them by emphasising key words about your experience and outstanding skills.
  • Control your breathing, stay calm and if at any time you are a little nervous just ask for a quick break (although that isn’t ideal as you really want to show you’re on your game and can think on your feet so only do so if you really think you need it).
  • The positives are that you can have key words about yourself and your strengths right in front of you for quick reference in case you are put on the spot. You can also have notes about the company handy and scan over them if required.
  • The other plus is that don’t have to do your hair, iron your outfit, put on a tie or travel anywhere to the interview.

Phone interviews have their place e.g. for interstate or international interviews, to speed up a recruitment process when the two parties can’t meet quickly and for bulk recruitment processes when it’s just not possible to bring in a vast number of people.

However, in my opinion nothing beats the old fashioned face to face interview between two people where you can truly build a lasting relationship. You can both speak, both listen and you can also pick up on all the incredibly valuable non-verbal communication signs that help make up a person in total.

At the end of the day, a person is more than just a voice.

Negative Nancy’s rarely get the job!

Posted on by Naomi Marshall

As a recruiter I have met HUNDREDS of people!!! While everyone is different i.e. different skills, appearances and backgrounds, what do you think is the one quality that makes a candidate stand out from the masses???…………………………..POSITIVITY!!!

As an interviewer, no matter if you are an agency recruiter or an internal hiring manager, the most frustrating interviews are held with those that have a negative view on life. The ability to turn negatives into positives is a rare skill, but something that I think everybody should strive towards!

When I ask “Why did you leave your last job”? I am really not looking for any of the following answers;

  1. “My boss was really negative all the time, and I didn’t like him/her”
  2. “I had no friends in the company”
  3. “I haven’t been promoted”

While these things may be true, sometimes it’s all in the delivery of the answer that can make or break your chances at interview. Therefore before you answer, put yourself in the interviewer’s shoes. What are they likely to think of the above answers?

  1. Why was the manager negative towards this candidate? Was it because they were a poor performer?
  2. Why did she have no friends? Concerning.
  3. Were they not promoted because they were a poor performer?

Even if the last company you worked for was the worst company on the face of the earth, it is important to explain to the interviewer the positives that you got out of working there. Honestly, try to avoid even mentioning the negatives if you can help it because when you leave an interview, you want that interviewer to think positive things about you and your experience. You want them to be excited about the possibility of offering you (or helping you to find) a job. I can guarantee you that if you make even one negative comment without turning it into a positive; you will be remembered by the negative -even if you gave 10 other very positive answers.

You don’t want to be remembered as the candidate “that hated their boss”, you want to be the candidate that “was so positive and engaging that I want to hire him/her!”

You may think that you can rely on your skills and experience to get you over the line… however I cannot even count the number of times that I have chosen to put a person forward to a client with a positive, friendly attitude that is lacking the right experience, OVER that negative Nancy with the perfect resume!

Some food for thought…