Interview tips - Abroad Experience

As part of an ongoing blog series, we will be taking potentially tricky questions you might encounter in an interview and dissecting it to help you formulate a thorough, satisfying (and always honest!) response. If you have an interview question that has you stumped, leave a comment and let us know!

Five years ago, did you see yourself being where you are now? Probably not. It’s tough to even know what you’re going to do six months from now, let alone 5 whole years. You’ve probably been asked this question in a variety of ways, making it no less difficult to answer. However, it’s something that we should all be asking ourselves every once in a while, and this week, we’re delving into it with you.

So why is this question asked?

Interviewers are interested to see if the job at hand is something that will interest you long term, help you reach personal goals and, ultimately, whether it’s worth your while… and the company’s. So hearing about your dedication will be very important to the company, as it will demonstrate that both parties will only gain from you being hired.

So how should you go about answering this question?

At the end of the day, think about responsibilities and achievements, not items, promotions or perks, as well as show the impact you could have on the company and the kind of positive growth the company could benefit from by hiring you. It’s also best to concentrate on your career goals rather than personal ones unless specifically asked.

Don’t say: “I see myself in an F015 Luxury in Motion Mercedes, driving to work as the CEO of XYZ enterprises with a salary indication of X amount per year.”

What that sounds like: “I expect rapid promotion and an increased salary from the current position I’m interviewing for without specifying how I plan to earn it. I am shallow and don’t seem particularly interested or passionate about the actual job or industry.”

Instead say: “In five years, I hope to know all there is and more about your company’s values, products and services while expanding my skills and responsibilities to become an even greater asset to the company.”

What this sounds like: “I am ambitious, eager to learn and put down roots rather than branches in order to become increasingly valuable to the organization by taking on new responsibilities within the XYZ department/ team.”

This response makes no mention of promotions (vertical growth) by rather the addition of responsibilities on a team or in a department (horizontal growth). You’re expressing a desire to remain with the company for several years and build up your value to them, something all companies are eager to find in their new hires.

Practice makes perfect

Unfortunately, no DeLorean can bring you back to make a second first impression. Before any interview, come prepared with answers to these sorts of open questions. Not only are they looking at who you are now and what you have done, but they also want to see the person you expect to become and if that person is the right fit for their company. Make sure that you prepare your answer enough that it sounds natural and not like a recitation.

For our previous question series article on “How would your friends and colleagues describe you?”, please click here.

Abroad Experience International Recruitment wishes you the best of luck for your next intake interview!

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As part of an ongoing blog series, we will be taking potentially tricky questions you might encounter in an interview and dissecting them to help you formulate a thorough, satisfying (and always honest!) response. If you have an interview question that has you stumped, leave a comment and let us know!

When you’re playing the competitive game of applying for jobs and going forward for interviews, you find yourself triple-checking the tasks and requirements of the job description and preparing for any questions that may come your way. But truthfully, you can never be 100% prepared for every curveball a clever interviewer could throw at you. Take, for example, this tricky question:

“How would your friends and/or colleagues describe you?”

Sounds easy, doesn’t it? Think about it now… What do those people think of you? And how are you really able to speak for them without sounding conceited? It’s not very often that you sit down with anyone to talk about how they feel about you. Most days we can only guess what other people think about us. Everyone just has their own thing going on and probably doesn’t have time to think about how much they adore you.

So, how best to approach this question?

Get some honest feedback from friends and colleagues. Different relationships involved different sides of your personality that most likely result from the levels of comfort and professionalism that we have with each person; feedback from different kinds of relationships will give you a well-rounded response.

Ultimately, the interviewer wants to know if you are bearable or fun to work with and they’re trying to figure out what type of person you are from the opinion of others. They want to be able to picture you in their team and how it would play out. But perhaps they should be asking a different question – how do you see yourself? In life, we are always searching for who we are, what we like and who we like, and all of these features are what make you, you.

A good way to transform this into a concrete addition to your response would be through a removed perspective, such as a reputed personality test based on psychological criteria. This test, for instance, is based on the Big Five personality trait model, which measures Openness, Consciousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness and Neuroticism. In the end, it will tell you the context of the terms, and what your score in that dimension is. This way you can formulate an honest, yet positive spin on how you may view as an “Introvert” rather than “shy” or “timid” and so on.

Can you think of any other curveball questions that you’ve been asked in an interview? Did they feel irrelevant or out of context, and how did you respond?

For more detailed information look at our other blogs on interview tips and tricks, and how to present yourself on social media…

Abroad Experience International Recruitment wishes you the best of luck with your next interview!