Technical Job Interview Tactic: Show and Tell
One tactic that lends itself to job interview for technical posts is the present to and tell strategy. In this article we will go through how you could use this specific strategy in your own job interview
The cornerstone of this tactic lies in the finding that interview panels are more affected by candidate showing them what they have done – which thereby exhibits the possession and use of the essential and desirable skills – than by simply telling the job interview panel that “I am a good team player” and “I am have good time management skills”, etc
Your goal is to create the setting for you to exhibit to off your skills and then be ready to pounce, with relevant examples of your work, to exploit that opportunity to sell the notion that you have the skills that the interview panel are looking for. To pull this off you need to focus on two tasks:
1. Get them to ask You for Your Work
2. Display Your Deeds
To get them to ask for your work, look at using some of the following words to create your opportunity:
* If you’re interested I could present to you…
* If you wanted to know more, I have the (report) with me right here…
* If it would be appropriate, you could have a look at…
* I have a written precis of the project here, if you wanted to see it…
* If it would help…
You also need to be ready to show your work whenever the time comes, right at the interview. In order to do this, pick out one or two projects that you could use for this strategy. Choose the projects that * have work already in a written or electronic form * which sell the most amount of skills, which are relevant for the post that you are being interviewed for * that would be most likely brought up in the job interview
Be ready to respond to the questions that will naturally follow from the job interview panel, when they scan this report for the first time. Remember, that the points that they bring up when they meet your work “cold” are probably going to be different to those that you expect. You might want to ask a family member to go over your work and suggest what a “first timer” might ask you.
My advice would be to produce a professional copy of your project that you would be happy to leave with the interview panel. It will provide them with a visible and kinaesthetic reminder of you when they go through their post job interview discussions