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Interview success
Disciplines >
Job-finding > Interview success
Practice | In
the interview | So what?
Here are some practical tips on succeeding in interviews that are supported
by academic research:
Practice
Being good in interviews comes with practice, and you don't have to wait
until you are in an actual interview before you try out and start improving your
interview skills.
Research shows that practice:
- Is positively related to candidate success.
- Gives you important insights into preparation, presentation and
persistence.
- Should emphasize research into target organization.
- Should give you space for reflection.
- Should include both rehearsal and feedback.
- Should include practice and coaching in how to answer difficult questions
(including how to identify equal-opportunities questions not to
answer).
In interview
Research has shown that:
- Successful candidates spend less time responding to questions and more
time talking outside preset questions (implying a flawed interview process
that gives weight to non-target data!).
- Successful candidates experienced fewer interrogative interactions
sequences (less grilling!) and more conversational sequences.
- The opening sequence (4-7 mins) is important for shaping power balance in
interview.
- Successful candidates experienced more push-pull, with balance of power
and turn-taking, whilst unsuccessful candidates had extremes of push or pull.
- Hostile environment are characterized by lack of eye contact, leaning
away, limited smiling, and not facing one another. Guess what: this is not a
good idea.
- Black/white interviewers gained more responses from black/white
candidates.
- Successful candidates
attributed events internally (not making excuses).
- Gender issues still arise: women can succeed more by wearing more
masculine clothes (eg. suits)
See also
Attribution
Theory, Using Body
Language
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