Interviewing

I have an interview tomorrow, for a good position at a top 10 international corporation. This is a huge opportunity for me and I am literally shitting bricks at the moment. If anyone has had any experience being interviewed by a huge successful corporation, please give your input! I am freaking anxious right now..

Thank you so much

:D

Wal-Mart

Royal Dutch Shell

Exxon Mobil

BP

Toyota

Japan Post Holdings

Sinopec

State Grid China

AXA

China National Petroleum

?

It's funny how the top 10 corporation list almost reads like a top 10 most evil list.

Also, I hear it's important to know why manhole covers are round.

poop

skip morning coffee

skip morning smoke

drink lots of water

i've no experience.

get drunk

talk like kevin spacey.

think of it as you interviewing them. look people in the eye when you speak to them. be confident but not arrogant. ask questions.

good luck!

  On 6/28/2011 at 4:55 AM, jules said:

think of it as you interviewing them. look people in the eye when you speak to them. be confident but not arrogant. ask questions.

 

good luck!

Thanks for the help, yeah I've come up with several questions to ask them.

Cheers

Having done an interview yesterday, to hire someone - not to be hired, there are a couple of key points where we looked at:

- what are his/hers motivations?

- what were his/hers previous working experiences. what went good/not good and why)? (people usually have some traits which they will bring with them (call it a personality). it's always interesting to see how they cope with these traits in the context of successes and/or failures).

- will he/she fit in the team?

- what will this person do in the long run? how will he/she develop?

The best thing what you can do, is to understand the point of view of the people doing the interview. Although having an interview feels very close and personal, for the people taking the interview it's very much a business "thing". They're shopping for new talent. What really helps is getting past the self-conscious phase. People who can't get past their self tend to not do very well in jobs. You're going to be part of a bigger whole.

As already said, big plusses are for you to ask questions.

Couple of examples:

- are you applying for a new function or an existing one?

- if it's new: what are the goals and how do they think of making it into a success?

- if it's an existing one: what was the reason the person before you left?

- are there any other developments in the organization? (like mergers, reorganizations, cutting costs, relocations...)

If you have the diplomatic skills you can ask right about anything. As said, for them is a business "thing", so it's fair game for you to treat it that way as well.

Personally, I think these interviews are mostly chemistry. Content shouldn't be an issue. They've seen your CV - and although they will be asking about it for most of the interview, it is mostly to keep the conversation going. Interviews are very social. So you might even land a job by just talking about the weather.

And to add a final point: depending on the experience of the interviewers you might have to work harder to keep the conversation going. So while being interviewed, try to get a feel for their experience with taking interviews. A big sign for whether or not they're experienced, apart from their ability to keep the conversation going, is their ability to explain the procedure to you. (are there going to be more interviews? if so, what will this specific interview be about?)

Good luck with landing the job.

and before i forget:

Be very aware not to give the politically correct answers that you think they want to hear. Be honest, and if you get the feeling you're giving answers which may not be the answers your interviewers might want to hear, try to express that in your answers. It's important for a new person to be able to have his own opinion and to be able to negotiate with conflicting point of views. You might not have the "right" ideas, but being able to negotiate in the context of opposing ideas is a huge plus.

  On 6/28/2011 at 2:34 AM, halisray said:

I am literally shitting bricks at the moment.

┌─┐

┴─┴

ಠ_ರೃ

I'm in a similar situation, got a massive interview for a Research Fellowship tomorrow morning. The interview panel has 20 people, and I have to give a 5 min presentation as an overview of 3 years planned work when most of them won't really have a clue what I'm on about

Be competent. That's the main thing. If you're actually good and can communicate it, you're half way there - and if not, you shouldn't be doing the job anyway.

There's good advice upthread. What I'd add is that you should do your research on the company you're applying to. Demonstrate your knowlege of the company, any of their major products or successes, what impressed you about them and how you feel you can contribute.

I've only interviewed for one position - got the job, and I'm still in it - but I reckon being able to tell the interviewers what I knew about their business and how I thought I cold bring something to it was a big advantage.

It's worth thinking through answers to those ‘name a time when you…’ questions because I always draw blanks when trying to think of them on the spot. You can just make the situation up but it’s better to have done that in advance.

The manhole cover question that Chaosmachine posted sounds daft but that page he linked had a good list of the five categories of question you get. I think it helps to know these and when you get a question you can categorise it and have a better feel for the kind of response you are going for.

And yeah some light-hearted banter is a good idea, if they don’t give you an icebreaker, or theirs doesn’t help much (‘How was your journey’ never seems to cut the tension much for me) it’s good to have a go, but you really need to be a good judge of the situation to know what to say so play it by ear. I had an interview where the guy tried to throw me a bone with a ‘Did you watch the football?’ and I just had to say ‘No’ and it wasn’t great for either of us but after that I knew he was looking to take the formality out of the situation a bit and I just said something about sport which he probably didn’t care about but was glad to chit chat about for a minute or two.

Always learn about the company, they may ask you what you like about the company (they may do charity work etc)

Don't wear a black suit or too many dark clothes, better to keep to lighter.

If you feel really tense during the interview you could always hand out, but not for too long or they'll think your weird.

  On 6/28/2011 at 2:34 AM, halisray said:

If anyone has had any experience being interviewed by a huge successful corporation, please give your input!

bend over.

  On 6/28/2011 at 12:44 PM, rixxx said:

Always learn about the company, they may ask you what you like about the company (they may do charity work etc)

This. And like someone else said, make sure to ask questions.

Also, check THIS out.

Thanks for all the advice. I'm going in tomorrow for it! I'll keep you guys posted.

I think I'll do well. It isn't the first time I interview for an important position but I just felt it necessary to ask you lot in order to acquire more information and help on the subject.

Cheers

  On 6/28/2011 at 2:34 AM, halisray said:

I have an interview tomorrow, for a good position at a top 10 international corporation. This is a huge opportunity for me and I am literally shitting bricks at the moment. If anyone has had any experience being interviewed by a huge successful corporation, please give your input! I am freaking anxious right now..

 

Thank you so much

 

:D

posture!

do not ramble. answers short but direct.

YOU GOT THIS.

dont breing a f***king I Pod

No idea, only been to few and I already hate those psych HR ppl and their weird questions, no idea what kind of answers they are really looking for. I guest just be honest even if it means telling them you think their question is stupid. I wish i did that.

  On 6/29/2011 at 12:05 AM, halisray said:

Thanks for all the advice. I'm going in tomorrow for it! I'll keep you guys posted.

 

I think I'll do well. It isn't the first time I interview for an important position but I just felt it necessary to ask you lot in order to acquire more information and help on the subject.

 

Cheers

Best of luck to you, hope all goes well.

After the interview you will probably get a little 'review how it all went' type phone interview, you have to be careful as they can catch you out, as you haven't got your guard up..

man, ive got an informal interview tomorrow for a part-time faculty position at a nearby college....i dont completely fill any of their requirements but three of the long term faculty there have told me i should go for it....they must be having trouble finding someone

Well I had the interview today and it went very well. It was a lot like a conversation rather than a question/answer type thing. Two people were interviewing me and they were both charming.

I await their phone call eagerly.

Right on, man!