First Job Interview For 10 Years

[m3coupe]

As per the title, I have my first interview in 10 years in a fortnights time. It's a 3 person panel with a 10 minute presentation included. It's a training job so completely different role to what I'm currently doing. Does anyone have any tips on how to prepare for it and what possible questions I may get?

[StratosGirl]

Well, for a training role, I expect they will be looking for strong verbal and written communication skills as well as confidence in front of an audience.
Yes, you'll be nervous and I know this will sound strange, but try and enjoy the interview.
I quite like them because you get to meet new people and learn about interesting products. That sounds like I interview a lot - I don't

Definitely familiarize yourself with the company and their products. I would prepare some questions about anything that catches your eye on their website.
I like to ask an interviewer how they would measure success in the role but that's a bit cruel

I wouldn't discuss salary or benefits at this stage unless they bring up the subject first.
Essentially, you and the company are deciding whether you would be a good fit in their environment. It should be a two-way process.

[ChasW]

StratosGirl said:

Well, for a training role, I expect they will be looking for strong verbal and written communication skills as well as confidence in front of an audience.
Yes, you'll be nervous and I know this will sound strange, but try and enjoy the interview.
I quite like them because you get to meet new people and learn about interesting products. That sounds like I interview a lot - I don't

Definitely familiarize yourself with the company and their products. I would prepare some questions about anything that catches your eye on their website.
I like to ask an interviewer how they would measure success in the role but that's a bit cruel

I wouldn't discuss salary or benefits at this stage unless they bring up the subject first.
Essentially, you and the company are deciding whether you would be a good fit in their environment. It should be a two-way process.

Good points here.

Obviously practice/rehearse your presentation to the point where you are relying only on crib card/s. Given it's a training role I think you'll need to show greater composure and confidence than in most interviews as delivery is part of the skill set, I assume. Good eye contact is important and make sure the panel members feel you are addressing them individually. Decent amount of eye contact achieves this. Generally I advise people to avoid visual aids in 10m interview presentations because they can distract you and if a person can't get their messages across in words then it says something about their ability to communicate. However in this case, particularly if its a technical training role, they may be expecting see how comfortable you are using other tools. You need to judge this but I doubt it.

Sometimes panels are not well prepared. I'd avoid asking individual panellists specific questions in turn as it can look a bit contrived and you can embarrass people asking them a question they can't answer. Better to address questions to the person chairing the panel and let them judge who should answer.

Lastly I always ask "what does success in this role look like?" You can make two questions out of this. One is asking them about the company and then about the role. If they can't answer either satisfactorily it's not a good sign. Cop out answers are things like meeting the objectives etc. What I look for is that they have thought through the bigger contribution to the business the role should make. It can also give a clue as to how they see career progression unless you ask this question specifically. At this point they are beginning to sell you the job, hopefully. Good luck.

[m3coupe]

Thanks for the replies, some really good tips and ideas.

I am not afraid of public speaking, I do it every single day of my working life. It will just be a bit more nerve racking doing it for a panel as opposed to colleagues/members of the public. I'm in the process of compiling my presentation, they are expecting some sort of visual aid's so it'll be a short powerpoint presentation covering the topic, I won't be reading from it though.

The company have already asked about salary expectations, (not sure if it's a good sign or not) so shouldn't be any awkward conversations from that point of view.

As has already been said, I need to relax and enjoy it as much as posible. As much as I want the job, I have a secure job already so it isn't a life and death need to get it.

[StratosGirl]

It sounds like you are well prepared.

Good luck

[ChasW]

The salary expectations question can be tricky as you don't want to price to high or low. A useful uncontroversial benchmark is advertised salaries for similar roles with other employers, obviously assuming that it helps rather than hinders. Quote examples from the higher end of what you find. The other factor is that most people expect an uplift on base if they change employers anyway. Then there is working out the value of the full package if there are add-ons.

[m3coupe]

Just a quick update.

I thought the presentation and interview went pretty well, a week later I get the phone call offering me the job. Quite a nice surprise early on a Thursday morning. Just waiting for the contract to come through and I can officially resign.

Thanks to everyone for their help.

[StratosGirl]

Well done, very pleased for you