Now we come on to the interview itself. Most accountancy or consultancy based interviews will be by panel, there'll be usually two or three interviewers plus a representative from human resources. And the Human Resources person is there to ensure fairness that all candidates are asked equal the types of question that there's no bias or favoritism shown towards any particular candidates. If there are more than four people on the interview panel, then it's a presentation. And you need to be told that in advance so that you can prepare differently. One to One interviews are rare nowadays, mainly for the HR issue that they need to ensure fairness between candidates.
And you should be told in advance who you will then be interviewed by and if you're not asked the person that you liaising with. And then of course, as I said earlier, look them up in LinkedIn. Check out their roles and their qualifications, find what interests them, and see if you can tap into any of your own experience. Have your own interests that will build a link with them when you're in the interview. And you should also pay attention to everyone on the interview panel. Throughout the interview, make eye contact.
And if you feel that you're not winning somebody over during the interview, suddenly work harder on them, smile at them make the eye contact, answer questions directly to them. Now I realized that eye contact is different in different cultures. So of course you should be appropriate to the culture that you're working in. But generally, I believe is good to cycle around the interview panel and make eye contact with them all in turn, throughout the interview, not for too long not so that it becomes a staring contest, but just to make and build that rapport. So again, started with the interview. First thing to say is be pleasant to receptionists and assistants who greet you as you come into the the location or the office.
Often receptionists and the person taking you to the interview room will be asked what they thought of you. So greet everyone warmly and smile. Don't be arrogant, that will get reported back to the interview panel. Make positive and friendly eye contact. But without becoming too intense, of course, shake hands if possible, or if that's not culturally appropriate, nod, smile. And again, make eye contact with each member of the panel as they introduce themselves.
Be confident and self assured, but not overly confident, not too arrogant. And present yourself well communicate clearly and at a measured pace as I'm trying to do just now. And listen and observe to what's going on. In the interview itself, create a positive first impression, as I said, make some sort of opening statement about the building about the organization about a relative that you have that's work there something like that worked build rapport with everyone on the panel. The person that you think is the chairperson may not be the deciding person when it comes to the role for example, present yourself well communicate clearly. Speak in a measured tone, calm, confident, but not overly arrogant.
Seek first to understand what they're asking what they want from you. And then seek to be understood that your your responses are understood. Stay sharp throughout and keen smile and treat every aspect of the interview with a positive attitude and create a lasting final impression. And interview panel might be seeing 10 people 12 people during the day, so you want to somehow stand out so that they remember you in some way. And I don't mean by standing on your head or juggling swords. I mean by somehow making a lasting positive impression, through your demeanor through your presentation or through your answers.
Through the way that you build rapport with them. At the beginning of the interview, you should sit comfortably and attentively observe the body language of the panel and subtly begin to mirror it to build rapport with each member of the panel. Cycle your eye contact around everyone on the panel. Avoid staring, as I said, be culturally appropriate. And as I said, Remember that the chair person may not be the decision maker. Make an interesting brief opening comment to kind of break the ice and start building that rapport with the panel.
What a wonderful building that is. I noticed the artwork that you have in reception. I see that the sports team the company is sponsoring we're playing yesterday. Do you have many staff that attend the matches? If you have a family connection with the organization, however old is make it and then there'll be one or two icebreaker questions to get started here in the UK. is usually going to be one about the weather, what weather we're having.
Probably be one about your journey, you should give a competent and relax dancer. So rehearse your answer even before you go into the interview room. Then the interview gets into the nitty gritty. So listen to each question. And it may be useful to reflect the question back to the panel to show that you've understood it, and to perhaps open up other angles on the question that will also buy you time to think about a good response. Check your understanding that's often useful as well.
Do you mean in terms of dealing with clients or with internal staff? Even if you already know the answer, it shows you're alert to the other possible angles on the question. And as I say, it buys you thinking time and shows that you're actively engaging with the question. Answer clearly and calmly and continue to cycle your eye contact and your body language amongst the panel below positive and enthusiastic without being over the top or desperate. And now we come on to the two types of interview question. So the first type of interview question is the motivational question.
Essentially, a question about why you want the job and how your skills and experience fit with the job requirements. Tell us about yourself and your work experience. What interests you about this role? What skills do you have that would be of benefit to this role? Have you had a similar role? How would you approach this role?
What is your experience with x system? method of regulation, technique, etc. Have you ever worked in an environment with legacy systems that don't talk to each other? What are your strengths? What are your weaknesses? What do you think is important in dealing with other teams and departments?
So these are questions about why you want the job and how your skills and experience would be a good fit for the job. The second type of interview question is a situational question kind of scenario question. How would you deal with certain scenarios? For example, give an example of where you've worked as part of a team to achieve a difficult goal or task. You're running a project that's not meeting its goals or objectives or running over budget. What would you do?
Give an example of where you've provided excellent customer service. Have you ever had negative feedback in a meeting or a review? What did you do? Have you ever had to give negative feedback? What did you do? How did you manage it?
Give an example of where you've carried out a task under pressure. Tell us about any difficult decisions you've been involved in. How would you get people on board with a project and deal with resistance to change all that sort of thing, and this is where you can bring your project experience in and say While I was working on this project, and it wasn't running to plan, and this is what we did, or we had some resistance to change, and this is how we facilitated the way through it and made an agreement, and so on. In an interview, you may also get what I call the curveball question. This is kind of the out of the blue, left field type question, a question that's completely unexpected, or that you're asked to comment on in a situation that you've never faced, never experienced. Some interviewers like to throw these in, and you should just roll with it.
They're probably looking for creativity, and adaptability, and how you deal with you know, a bit of stress a bit of unexpectedness. If it's clearly a deliberately wacky question, then it's permissible to laugh, but not hilarious, I would think. And that also gives you thinking time before you would address the question in the best way that you can. I'm not sure this is the first place that aliens would choose to land but The issue of disaster recovery and data protection is certainly one where I have some experience for example, sometimes a difficult question is asked to distinguish the eighth grade candidates from the rest. So be ready to deal with the unexpected. When you are asked a curveball type question, smile brief that will buy you some time.
Give the sort of response that buys you a bit of time as well. That's an interesting question. And I haven't thought of it from that point of view, or I haven't seen that situation before. If you don't have any experience of dealing with this situation, then you should say so and then theorize how you would apply your skills and experience in the situation. You might gain bonus points by commenting that you would hope that you never got into that challenging situation in the first place, because of your ability to build strong relationships with others because of your experience with facilitation or coaching and so on. And with that, we begin to draw towards the end of the interview.
Typically, most interviews will last 45 to 60 minutes. And at the end, you'll be asked if you have any questions, be prepared. And don't ask a question about salary. So example questions that you might ask are things like, I'm very interested in the organization's activities in x. And as part of my development plan, would it be possible to get some time with those teams to learn more? I'd really like to develop my international experience.
Might there be opportunities in the future to spend time in offices and other countries? I'd like to develop my skills in such an area. Does a company have a training and development plan in that specialism or what are the next steps in the selection process? You should leave the panel with a warm feeling. And it's worthwhile making a positive closing statement something along the lines of thank you for your time today that was demanding but enjoyable. This seems a really interesting company to work for.
Rosso sounds great. I believe I could do a good job and look forward to hearing from you. Make them like you as you leave the room.