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Body Language that will make you look Confident in a Job Interview

The employer’s decision-making process is influenced by the applicant’s perceived level of knowledge and experience vs their level of confidence – the candidate’s interview identity.

Confidence is presumed by the interviewee’s body language, posture, walk, handshake, eye contact, and communication skills.

Therefore the initial impression, when the employer first meets the interviewee, is a key moment.

If the applicant exudes confidence, the impression of the candidate will be positive as humans like and are drawn to, confident people. In fact, most people are attracted to people who they believe are confident.

A confident first impression based on the appearance of an applicant, prior to answering any job interview questions, is an unconscious bias.

Biases act as an initial filter. At a basic level, the bias creates a likeability filter. If an employer has a positive opinion of the applicant, based on their confident initial impression, the interviewer will subconsciously search for evidence to back up their belief.

In short, utilizing confident body language encourages the interviewer to see the applicant as a potential team member.

A second gain to having confident body language is the body-mind cycle.

The mind-body cycle works by a person’s stance, confident or nervous, sends signals to the mind – I am feeling confident or nervous, which creates positive or negative thoughts: “I am going to ace this job interview” or “I am going to fail!”

The negative or positive thoughts, cycle back to the body reinforcing the confident or nervous posture – the applicant will stand more confident; head held high, should backs, good eye contact. Or more nervous; head hung low, arms crossed across the body, shaking legs.

The new reinforced body language sends a reinforced message to the mind, starting the cycle all over again.

Research shows how a confident interviewee will:

  • Actively promote themselves
  • Use positive and enthusiastic language
  • Give longer and more descriptive interview answers

Confident Body Language

The body can be broken down into four parts; the head, arms, torso, and legs.

Actors look confident when on stage.

One technique used in the acting world, to help people with poor posture, is the Alexandra technique:

  1. Stand up
  2. Imagine a piece of string going through your body and coming out the top of your head
  3. Imagine someone pulling the string, so it pulls your body up until you are on stood on your tiptoes
  4. Allow the string to relax, so you land on the balls of your feet
  5. This ends with a straight back and an assertive posture

Head confidence

Microfacial expressions give away internal emotions. In the book, Emotions Revealed, Paul Ekman explains the 7 universal micro facial expressions:

1. Sadness – narrowed eyes, eyebrows together, down-pointed mouth, and a pulling up of the chin

2. Anger – lowered eyebrows, tense lips and eyelids, and wrinkled forehead

3.  Contempt – single raised corner of the mouth, a slight tightening of the eyelids (sneer)

4. Disgust – raising of the upper lip, narrowed eyes, wrinkled nose, and narrowed eyebrows

5. Surprise – dropped jaw, relaxed lips and mouth, widened eyes, and slightly raised eyelids and eyebrows

6.  Fear – eyes and mouth open rather widely, eyebrows raised and nostrils flared

7. Happiness – raising the corner of lips and cheeks, narrowing eyes to produce “crow’s feet” on the outside of each eye

An interviewer meeting the applicant for the first time will subconsciously register the interviewee’s emotions via fleeting micro-expressions.

Some research explains how a judgment of an applicant’s intelligence is based on the candidate’s face and expressions, with a narrow face, with a prominent nose being viewed as an intelligent face.

At a more basic level, a candidate with low self-esteem will often break eye contact quickly and look towards the floor, as they feel under pressure. In addition, nervous candidates are known to frown or scowl.

The lack of eye contact and the frowning and scrawling of an anxious person is an invisible wall to building rapport.

On the other hand, confident career professionals create likeability through smiling, direct eye contact, and holding their chin up.

Arm confidence.

Fidgeting is a sign of worry.

Nervous candidates will disclose their anxiety by:

  • Putting their hands in and out of their pockets
  • Pulling at invisible pieces of cotton on their shirt
  • Tapping their fingers on the desk
  • Twirling their hair around their fingers
  • Covering their mouth with their hands
  • Shaking hands
  • Itching

Hands communicate.

When speaking confidently, a comfortable communicator will express themselves with gestures.

“Speech and gesture are integrated not only at a speaker’s thought conception, but also in perception; listeners integrate information from speech and gesture into a single mental representation.”

The Role of Gesture in Communication and Cognition: Implications for Understanding and Treating Neurogenic Communication Disorders

Hand gestures affect how the interviewer perceives the applicant. Interviewers aren’t trained to understand each gesture. Communication is subconscious.

  • Open hands are viewed as being open and honest
  • Hand over the heart is viewed as sincerity
  • Fist shows anger or frustration

When talking, people communicate with their hands. The gestures reinforce the words they are saying.

The emphasising of words with the hands helps the interviewer to picture the point of the communication, the story, or the message.

Gesturing unlocks tension, helping the mind-body cycle, and shows energy, passion, and enthusiasm.

The advice is simple; relax and allow natural gestures to communicate your communication.

Torso confidence.

The body speaks.

The torso is the main factor when it comes to body language, The central piece of the structure.

  1. Stand up as straight as possible
  2. Put your feet shoulder width apart
  3. Put your arms down and relax
  4. Keep your shoulders back – push your shoulderbaldes slightly together
  5. Pull your stomach in
  6. Place the weight on the balls of your feet

This type of stance increases the lung’s capacity for oxygen, a confident stance creates deep breathing.

In an article on uchealth, they say: “Deep breaths are more efficient: they allow your body to fully exchange incoming oxygen with outgoing carbon dioxide. They have also been shown to slow the heartbeat, lower or stabilize blood pressure and lower stress.”

Nervous people will often sit with a hunched-up body, which can be viewed as the nervous applicant being bored or indifferent.

When anxious, the candidate is in fight or flight mode. The shortness of breath is the body’s natural response to help save your life – the original design behind the evolutionary fight or flight process.

The feeling of a tightening of chest muscles, shortness of breath, and short rapid breathing from the top of the chest is how the body prepares your body to run or attack – oxygen is sent to the muscles.

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Leg confidence.

As with arm fidgeting, leg fidgeting is a visible sign of feeling uncomfortable with the situation.

Leg fidgeting can include:

  • Tapping the foot
  • Swinging a leg (corssed over the second leg) up and down
  • Shaking legs

Famously, crossed arms across the chest, creating a physical barrier between the interviewee and interviewer, is known to be one way to protect oneself when feeling vulnerable.

Cross legs are the same. Nervous applicants will put one foot behind the other, crossing their legs for protection. With highly anxious candidates constantly changing which leg is on top – a secondary nervous gesture.

The direction of the feet, towards someone or away from them (and towards an exit) is a telltale sign of interest. We point the feet to where we want to go. If confident and interested in the interviewer, an applicant’s feet will point towards the interviewing person.

When nervous, the applicant will point towards the door or exit. Unless the seating area for the interview doesn’t a fontal exit area. In this case, the feet will point away from the interviewer.

Job applicants can use this knowledge, by checking the recruiter’s feet direction – towards them the applicant, or away from them, to get an insight into whether or not the employer has an interest in them.

To be viewed as confident, and to feel more confident, stand with legs together (a natural stance) with a straight back. To feel more dominant, spread the legs apart a little. When sitting, lean back in the chair, hold the head high with strong eye contact.

Overley confident applicants, the egocentric interview identity, will sit in a ‘figure of four’ with one leg on the floor, and the second leg crossed over the first at knee level creating the figure of four.

Whereas a nervous interviewee will ‘ankle lock’ placing one foot behind the other.

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How to Answer the Interview Question ‘Why this company?’

The ‘why this company?’ job interview question can be a turning point in the job interview, leading to a potential offer of employment or a rejection.

This article will explain:

  • Why employers ask the ‘why this company?’ interview question
  • How you shouldn’t respond to the question
  • Best interview answer examples

The ‘why this company?’ question can be challenging if the job applicant hasn’t prepared a solid response.

There are two types of job interviews that ask this question. The first is in a structured job interview, where the question is asked to all job applicants as part of sequential process.

In a structured job interview, all questions are scored against the job interview score card.

A second interview style, is the informal job interview where all job interview questions are asked off the cuff. In an unstructured job interview, the employer will generally ask the ‘why this company?’ as they build rapport with the job applicant.

Why is the ‘why this company?’ interview question so important?

The ‘why this company?’ question comes in various forms;

  • “Why did you apply for this role?”
  • “What do you like about our organization?”
  • “Why do you want to work here?”
  • “Tell me, what made you apply for this position?”
  • “Do you think you will be a good fit here?”

The goal of the job interview, from the employers perspective is to predict the job performance of each interviewee.

High performing employees perform well when employed in an organisation that has company values and a vision that match that of the employee. In addition, performance and outcomes often improve if the employee works naturally well under the management and leadership styles of company.

It makes sense then, for employers to ask a job interview questions to understand the motivations of each job candidate.

A second reason whey hiring managers ask ‘why do you want to work for this organisation?’ type questions to predict staff retention.

Some research shows that employees, on average, stay in an organization for an average of 4.5 years. Hiring cost for businesses can add up, with the average cost per new recruit being between £2000-£3000.

For large organisations who take on hundreds of new staff each year to replace job hopping employees can see their profits dwindle by the migration of staff.

Due to the barrier of staff turnover, employers now more than ever before are asking recruitment questions to help predict if a new employee is likely to stay for a longer than average duration.

This is why the ‘why this company?’ interview question is frequently featured during recruitment events.

How not to respond to the ‘why this company?’ question.

As mentioned previously, the ‘why this company’ question can be a turning point in the job interview.

This is because the applicants answer will hit a ‘turn on’ or ‘turn off’ button in the recruiters mind.

Business owners are proud of their company. If an applicant has applied because they love the company culture, the visions and values an affinity can be created – you like me (my company) so I will like you.

And the opposite affect can be created when the candidate doesn’t show a real interest in the company itself, they just need a job.

5 ways not to answer the ‘why us’ question.

  1. I applied for so many jobs that I cant remember why I choose this one
  2. I’m desperate for a job
  3. This will be a good experience for my career
  4. The salary is very competitive
  5. I’m keen to develop my skills in this job sector

Employers are looking to employ an applicant who want to work with the organisation to help create a success. Answers that talk about salary and professional-development are one-sided, the answer is seen as selfish.

Answers that focus solely on the candidate themselves, what they want to get out of the job, are viewed as negative. With employers believing that once the employee has taken what they can, they will simple up sticks and leave.

Offence is given when interviewees state they are applying for the advertised job role purely because they are desperate, in need, or struggling to find their ‘ideal’ position. As noted before, employers are proud of their organisation and dislike anyone who disrespects their company.

The best way to answer ‘why do you want to work here?’ question.

5 quick tips to start of the reply to ‘why us’ interview question

  1. Focus on the company not solely on your qualifications, experiences and skills as other interview questions will request this information.
  2. Be enthusiastic about the company. Know the company values, mission and culture.
  3. Link your personal values to that of the companies.
  4. Be specific in your answers
  5. Focus on collaboration

3 Styles of answers that employers love

Specific Company Information.

The first style of interview answer requires research.

In years gone by, job applicants would answer the why would you like to work here interview question by stating the duration the company had been in business, the products the company created and how they (the applicant) would like to progress internally.

This answer is no longer acceptable.

Employers were previously impressed by a candidates knowledge of their organization prior to all company information being readily available on the internet. Previously, to know company insights took research, where todays job hunters gain the same information at the touch of a button.

Instead, interviewees can convince employers that they are the right fit for the organisation by presenting hard to find information, data or statistics.

At a basic level this information can include the company values, mission and vision statement, often found on the ‘about us’ website page. But really, every job seeker should review this information prior to a job interview.

To impress an interview panel, research more specific information which can include:

  • Newly won contracts and tenders
  • Understanding the company income structure: government contracts, investors, selling products
  • Parent companies that the organisation sits under
  • Duration of the interviewers time in the organisation (easily accessed via LinkedIn)
  • Information on community activities, sustainability programs, diversity and inclusion polices and other social enterprises
  • Future proposals – think Tesla creating cars, and now building rockets (sources for this information include: press releases, social media channels and company website)
  • Positive feedback; this can include being known for being a good employer, or being know for the company green policy
  • Timeline – how a company started, how the company built up, problems it faced and how it overcame these, and finally the current situation (presented as a positive). Information to support with this can be found in news articles and on the ‘about us’ webpage.

To answer the interview question, use the following formula:

“I liked to work for organisations that (add positive). What I like about (company name) is that you (add researched information) I personally am also (add trait that links nicely to the researched information) which is why I applied for this role.”

Ahead of the game.

The second approach to be future thinking.

Companies are constantly looking at three things:

  1. Cutting overhead cost/increasing profit
  2. New markets to enter or how their products needs to evolve to be kept current
  3. Competition and customer demand

The savvy career professional, using their industry insight can focus the ‘why us?’ interview answer on adding value.

Imagine an applicant who explains how an additional income can be made from a waste product? Or how demand for one of the company products is high in a particular country. Or how automation, AI and robotics data is showing that a certain product/business may be obsolete in the near future.

Giving researched opinions and ideas creates authority. Employers employ people with additional insights, information and advice, as long as they see the suggestions as valuable.

Because of this, the interviewee must state the source of the information to give the answer credit.

To answer the interview question, use the following formula:

“When I was researching the organisation, I saw that you are involved in (add niche/product). For the past X number of years I have been involved in this (niche/product) and seen many changes. One of my reasons for applying for this is that I know that the company are forward thinking, always looking for continued success. I like that. I was recently reading (research) in (source) that explained how (add data) which could effect this company (positively/negatively). To use this to our advantage, one idea would to (add actions that could be taken).”

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The outsiders perspective.

Everyone likes being praised, including companies.

A good way to answer the ‘why do you want to work for this organisation?’ is by giving a personal perspective. This technique is useful when applying for low to medium size business, and a must when applying for a role in a family run organisation.

Making it personal can include referencing:

  • Personally enjoying the service/product – this can be viewed as a live review
  • Recommendation from a friend who does or has worked for the company
  • The publics reputation – everyone praises this particular business
  • An article in a newspaper that talked about (the companies values, green policy, etc)
  • The leadership style or culture of the company

To answer the interview question, use the following formula:

“When looking for a job I don’t just look at the salary or number of annual leave days, instead I want to work for a company that (add reason). This is why I applied for a position here, because (explain experience, recommendation or source).”

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16 Job Interview Identities

To increase job interview success, career professionals need be aware of their own interview identity – how the applicant is perceived by the interview panel during the recruitment process.

The 16 interview identities sit within 4 overarching identity categories, based on the candidates perceived level of knowledge and experiences vs the applicants level of confidence.

The two axes, knowledge/experience and confidence, have a low to high scale. The 4 interview identity categories create a generic opinion.

  1. Low level of knowledge/experience and a low level of confidence
  2. Low level of knowledge/experience and a high level of confidence
  3. High level of knowledge/experience and a low level of confidence
  4. High level of knowledge/experience and a high level of confidence

It is important to remember that the interview identities have no relation to a career professionals ability to perform tasks in the real world or work, instead they are the employers perception of the applicants predicted job performance.

“A skilled worker who fails to communicate their competencies confidently can be seen as less skilled then they actually are”.

Chris Delaney author of ‘what is your interview identity’

The four characteristics of an interviewee.

The interview prediction grid model states that there are 16 interview identities that fit into four categories:

  • Incompetent (low/low)
  • Deceitful (low/high)
  • Uninterested (high/low)
  • Employable (high/high)

Incompetent

Incompetent job applicants have a lack of job experience and confidence, resulting in a nervous display during the recruitment process and a misunderstanding of the job interview questions.

Deceitful

The deceitful characteristic comes from a high level of confidence with a low level of industry knowledge and experience. They talk the talk, but cant walk the walk, resulting in an increase in destruct.

Uninterested

Career professionals with a high level of knowledge and experience, but who lack the confidence to express their competencies during the interview, can be seen as uninterested in job position – why else would a highly skilled applicant give short snappy answers?

Employable

Being skilled at communicating competencies confidently creates a persona of being employable, or highly employable. Descriptive and detailed answers, delivered well using a number of non-verbal communication skills, creates likability and desire from the interview start.

Take the interview prediction grid test:

16 Interview Identities.

As each of the interview identities is the employers perception of the applicants ability to complete business-as-usual tasks, the generic opinion can easily change if the interviewee can improve either their perceived level of knowledge/experience or their level of confidence during the recruitment process.

By understanding the sixteen interview identities, job applicants can tweak how they confidently communicate their competencies to create one of the more positive identities’ that often results in job offers.

A detailed description of each interview identity can be found by taking the interview prediction grid test.

  • Comes across as lacking the required skills and experiences for the role
  • Has a low opinion on self
  • Struggles to give detailed interview answers
  • Struggles with challenging or technical interview questions
  • Lacks industry related knowledge and experiences
  • Gives short snappy answers
  • May possess the required soft skills for the advertised role, but cant communicate any relevant experience in a way to gain a high-scoring answer
  • Doesn’t always understand the meaning behind the interview question
  • Gives answers that not relate to the job criteria
  • Can be seen as suitable for low-skilled roles or for positions where the employer can support the employee, a level 2 apprenticeship as an example
  • Answers are more detailed when talking about a personal experience, compared to answers for situational job interview questions
  • Not as self-assured as some of the other interview identities
  • A very confident communicator who will express themselves well, but who may hint to having skills and experiences that they don’t possess
  • Struggles to answer technical interview questions due to a lack of industry experience/knowledge
  • Doesn’t understand industry jargon and acronyms which can lead to answers that are irrelevant to the job interview question
  • A highly confident interviewee who believes they are more suitable for the role than they actually are
  • Skilled at self-promotion, but lacks the industry insights that is required to produce high-scoring interview answers
  • Answers questions quickly, assertively and confidently, even when they don’t have the required criteria mention in the interview question
  • Possesses enough sector-related experience to give detailed interview answers, but not enough prior experience for this to be consistent throughout the recruitment process
  • Employers are often impressed with answers relating to personal skills and qualities, as the applicant is a self-promoter
  • Struggles to recognise the job criteria for high-skilled roles
  • A self-assured applicant who is consistent with their own self-promotion
  • Lacks a deeper understanding of sector related models and theories that highlights, to the employer, their lack industry experience
  • May argue a point with an employer, even when lacking industry knowhow
  • Has a good level of industry knowledge, which is hidden away by their lack of ability to share their experiences
  • Interview answers are often short and snappy, filled with filler words
  • Employers initial opinions are negative due to the applicants lack of rapport
  • The quality of interview answers is sporadic, with the applicant able to talk more in-depth about business-as-usual tasks, but struggles when the employer challenges them
  • Some answers will promote a unique selling point, but others may self-disclose weaknesses
  • Potentially, a highly-skilled worker, who may struggle from imposture syndrome
  • A highly employable applicant, due to the a large amount of industry experience and academic qualifications, but struggles with their own self-esteem and confidence
  • Interview answer’s are short , snappy and fast-paced in delivery with the applicant keen to get the interview over with
  • Employers will recognize the wealth of industry expertise, but on the other the interviewer will be concerned about the candidates confidence levels and how that may effect the team once employed
  • Answers are mixed, with some being technical and in-depth, while others lacking any real substance
  • The candidate can come across as standoffish when the applicant doesn’t respond to follow up questions with a detailed reply. But can give enough evidence to show their range of job related skills
  • A highly-skilled individual who will open up to a ‘warm’ interviewer, but can shut down when interviewed by a ‘cold’ employer
  • Applicants are aware of their own abilities and expresses these well throughout the job interview
  • Rapport is easy to build and employers often have an instant liking towards the self-assured interviewee
  • Cam debate subjects, but cant persuade as well as some of the other high/high interview identities
  • Able to communicate their competencies confidently throughout the recruitment process, with employers seeing potential from the interview start
  • Can be argumentative when challenged on a particular subject or knowledge, which can be their undoing
  • Has a strong presence, with the employer having a positive ‘gut’ feeling about the obviously highly-skilled applicant
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  • A high number of years in the industry and the easy to recognise specialist skills results in consistent job offers
  • Consistently delivers strong interview answers with examples while stating industry models and sector processes
  • A very confident applicant, but not being a the over top of the confident scale can, sometimes, effect the impact of their interview answers
  • The highest level of knowledge/experience and highest level of confidence, out of all the 16 interview identities, does create regular job offers but not as consistently as the egocentric applicant would like
  • A self-promote who can easily showcase their value while impressing the employer with their personality traits
  • The self-absorbed characteristic and their inflated view of self can place seeds of doubt in the employer minds

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How to Answer the Interview Question ‘What are your greatest strengths?’

The ‘greatest strengths’ interview question is one of the most commonly quoted job interview questions, used across all job sectors.

Why is the ‘strengths’ question utilized so often? Because of the open nature of question.

Employers pick specific interview questions to help gained an understanding of the applicants knowledge, experience and potential.

Specific interview question will be directed at a key competencies:

  • “Give me an example of doing X?”
  • “How would you handle Y situation?”
  • “Have you ever used Z?”

Competency based interview questions are easy to cross-reference against the job criteria, which is why employers favor the structured job interview.

The barrier, when asking very specific job duty related questions, is that the applicant doesn’t have the opportunity to promote their additional skills, knowledge and experiences.

This is one of the reasons why employers ask more open-ended interview questions such as the famed ‘tell me about yourself’ or the ‘strengths’ interview question.

The article will explain how to approach the ‘what are your greatest strengths?’ job interview question. How to create a high-scoring answer, and how to make the high-scoring answer relevant to the job role.

Preparing for the Job Interview.

The key to answering the ‘greatest achievement’ interview question is in the applicants pre-interview preparation.

The barrier with an open question is the high probability of the applicant going off topic.

In a structured job interview, all interview answers receive points based on the number of job criteria referenced in the job interview answer.

Research shows that the higher number of words per interview answer, equates to a higher number of job offers. But, the answers have to be relevant to the job position.

When preparing for a ‘strengths’ interview question, applicants need to plan to talk about strengths required for the advertised position: an eye for detail, for a quality control officer, or calculations expertise, for a civil engineer.

A good exercise is to list of the essential duties for the advertised position, and in a second column write down a list of strengths, that the applicant possesses, that are required for each duty.

This exercise is to generate ideas, so details aren’t required at this stage. Applicants may list skills, qualities or experiences.

Example – Project Manager Job

Essential DutiesStrengths
Stakeholder managementCommunication
Able to influence and persuade
Relationship building
Having industry related connections
Collaborative working
Project planningExperienced in achieving project outcomes
Analytical and logical approach
Report writing
Collaborative working
Cost projection
Risk assessments
etc

Next, look at the common skills, qualities and experiences that have been repeated throughout the list technique, in our example this is ‘collaborative working’.

Breakdown the reason why the quality, skill, or experience is a strength:

  • What do you specifically do?
  • What is your approach?
  • How is what you do better the a general approach?
  • What is the common result from your actions?
  • Does your attitude/work ethic part of the strength?
  • Do you plan or use intuition?
  • Is this a team effort or is the strength a personal achievement?
  • If a team effort, what is your role within the team?

Finally, think about a real-life (work) example, that will be used during the interview answer.

Make the Strength question strong.

To summarise the post so far.

Employers are likely to ask the ‘greatest strength’ interview question as it is documented as one of the most commonly asked job interview questions.

The interview question may be phrased as:

  • “Tell about one of your greatest successes?”
  • “What can you bring to the team?”
  • “How would you have an impact on the team/project?”

The ‘strengths’ interview question is open to interpretation, which requires the candidate to focus the interview answer on the essential criteria of the job role, to ensure the answer scores high.

The strength question needs to state strengths!

The applicant must talk about their unique selling point, relevant to the job role. The answer should show added value, high achieving examples, and the applicants work ethic, motivation as well as a high level of sector related knowledge and experiences.

Mistakes and mishaps.

There are three common mistakes that career professionals make when answering the ‘strengths’ question.

The wrong path.

Taking the wrong path, often comes from a lack of pre-interview preparation.

The unprepared interviewee is nervous and anxious, coming across as having an ‘incompetent’ interview identity.

When asked a question, the lack of confidence leaves the applicant pleading for an idea – anything to create an answer. Whatever random idea pops into their mind becomes the talking point, the main message of the interview answer.

In many cases, the unprepared interview answer lacks detail, is short, and most importantly doesn’t relate to the job criteria. This results in a low-scoring interview answer.

Self-disclosed weaknesses.

Consistently successful job applicants, in the main, aware of their skill set and possess a good level of confidence.

Being confident increases self-promotion.

Whereas, a lack of self-esteem, or having imposture syndrome increases the number of unprompted self-disclosed weaknesses.

When asked a question, the low self-esteem interviewee will initially list weaknesses before picking a ‘strength’. This self-disclosure, is often outside the awareness of the applicant. It is like they are externalizing their thought process:

Interviewer: “What are you greatest strengths?”

Low self-esteem interviewee: “What are my greatest strengths? Well..urm..im not vey good at IT…urm…I don’t work well under pressure…urm, my greatest strength is my ability to (strength)”.

Bragging.

Some applicants are highly confident, but lack industry experiences.

Highly confident applicants feel comfortable with communication. A high level of self-esteem increases self-promotion.

Confidence without knowledge can create a pretender interview identity, where the interviewee attempts to manipulate the employer by exaggerating their skill set.

Self-promotion is expected in the job interview, but when the applicant lacks experience and sector knowledge they rarely know what examples would meet the job criteria.

Instead of giving specific industry related examples, the candidate will self-praise using generalisations:

Interviewer: “What are your greatest strengths?”

Interviewee: “Everything!”

Other examples include:

  • “My passion, my attitude, my work ethic”
  • “I’m a good team player, I finish tasks and I am loyal.”
  • “In all my roles I put on 100% of effort. My previous managers often tell me that I am an excellent member of staff and that I have a positive impact on the team.”

Some of the examples sound positive, and indeed they are, but they lack the specific data the employer requires to cross-reference the interview answer against the criteria on the interview scorecard.

How to answer the what is your greatest strength interview question.

A simple structure to answer the ‘strengths’ interview question is:

Barriers + strengths + summary

Relevance is key here.

Employers working in the same sector will face similar barriers. By stating the industry barriers at the start of the interview questions creates relevance. It also helps to build intrigue, as the employer will presume you are going to state a solution, which you will do by highlighting your strengths.

“As we all know, one of the biggest barriers we face in this industry is X. This barrier can lead to (add additional negative consequences)…”

The body of the interview answer will state the applicants strengths. The exercise above has resulted in a list of relevant strengths relating to the job criteria.

Don’t fall into the trap of just listing strengths, as this technique doesn’t result in a high-scoring answer.

Instead, give an example of using the listed strengths in a workplace setting.

Initially start the body of the interview answer, by stating a generic selling point. This could include the duration in the industry, a high-level sector related qualification or having worked on a well-known project that may impress the interview panel.

“…My (duration, qualification, experience on project) has taught me that (give the solution to the stated problem or an indication that you have the solution)…”

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The example follow the opening statement.

Examples must include the situation, actions taken (highlighting strengths, positive outcome).

“…To give you an example of this, when working (at company/on X project) we faced (problem relating to the initial stated barrier)…

…my ability to (add first strength) allowed me to (state outcome). I achieved this by utilizing my (add second strength) which allowed me to (outcome). Throughout the task I faced (add additional barrier) but I was always able to overcome this by (state third strength)….”

“..the end result was (add positive outcome)….”

Conclude the interview answer by summarizing your key strengths.

A summary reinforces the applicants strengths, and clarifies any ambiguity from the example given.

“…To answer the question, my key strengths include (strength one, two and three).”

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How to Handle Different Types of Interviewers

There are three main types of job interviewers:

  • A cold interviewer
  • A warm interviewer
  • An expert interviewer

To have regular interview success, applicants need to be able to identify the type of hiring manager in front of them and know how to respond to the interviewer’s behavior.

By understanding the various types of interviewers creates confidence, helping to win over the interviewer and gain more job offers.

In addition to knowing the three interviewer types, career professionals must be aware of their own interview identity – how the applicant is perceived by the interview panel during the recruitment process, and how their interview identity naturally responds to each of the three types of interviewers.

It is these two things, identifying the type of interviewer and understanding how one is perceived in the job interview, that can create a more successful job interview outcome.

The fair interview process.

The goal of any recruitment process is to predict the job performance of each job applicant.

The highest scoring interviewee will, in most cases, be offered the advertised vacancy.

The interview process, therefore, is a logical process. The employer creates a list of essential job criteria, and the applicants interview answers are cross-referenced against the criteria, with each answer being allocated a score or point.

Detailed answers that evidence a high level of knowledge and experience, especially when communicated confidently, will receive the highest possible points.

Not all interviews are equal.

Most recruitment processes aren’t equal, as the interviewer themselves affect the behavior of the interviewee.

Research shows, how an employer that has a natural liking towards a certain applicant will, at the subconscious level, subtly change their behavior that encourages the interviewee to be more open, confident, to give higher-scoring interview answers.

An interviewers opinion of someone, which in turn affects their decision-making process, can be manipulated by any number of things, including:

An interviewee, who is being interviewed by a hiring manager they have a rapport with, will behave differently during the question and answer session than they would when interviewed by an employer they believe doesn’t ‘like’ them.

Applicants in rapport with the employer will:

  • Be more willing to share personal opinions, ideas and suggestions
  • Give longer and more detailed interview answers
  • Share stories and anecdotes
  • Feel more relaxed and calm
  • Ask more questions, creating a conversation

The four characteristics of an interviewee.

The interview prediction grid model states that there are 16 interview identities that fit into four categories:

  • Incompetent
  • Deceitful
  • Uninterested
  • Employable

Incompetent

Incompetent job applicants have a lack of job experience and confidence, resulting in a nervous display during the recruitment process and a misunderstanding of the job interview questions.

Deceitful

The deceitful characteristic comes from a high level of confidence with a low level of industry knowledge and experience. They talk the talk, but can’t walk the walk, resulting in an increase in deceit.

Uninterested

Career professionals with a high level of knowledge and experience, but who lack the confidence to express their competencies during the interview, can be seen as uninterested in the job position – why else would a highly-skilled applicant give short snappy answers?

Employable

Being skilled at communicating competencies confidently creates a persona of being employable, or highly employable. Descriptive and detailed answers, delivered well using a number of non-verbal communication skills, creates likability and desire from the interview start.

Take the interview prediction grid test:

Three Types of Interviewers.

Initially, interviewers can be put into two categories:

  • Trained
  • Untrained

Generally speaking, high-skilled professionals applying for high-salaried roles in large organisations will be interviewed by a trained HR or hiring manager.

Trained interviewers, often, will have undertaken unconscious bias training, understand the research behind a structured job interview, and will interview with a panel of job interviewers to help create a fairer recruitment process.

In addition, the recruitment process is likely to consist of 3-6 rounds of interviews, with applications being ‘blind’ – removing the candidate’s name, age, higher educational institute, to help remove any pre-interview unconscious biases.

For low to medium-skilled roles, or in small organisations, the applicant is likely to be interviewed by their potential new line manager.

In this situation, the line manager is unlikely to have undertaken any in-depth interview training and may not be aware of the effects of unconscious bias.

The interview will consist of, on average, one or two interview rounds by one or two interviewers.

In this case, it is likely that the interviewer(s) will be just as nervous as the applicant.

The three interviewer types; cold, warm and expert, can each be either a trained or untrained interviewer.

There has been much research conducted on the impact of the interviewer’s behavior, including verbal and non-verbal communication.

To spot the type of interviewer requires observation. The three types will give their identity away with telltale signs:

A cold interviewer will:

  • Frown
  • Sigh
  • Avoid eye contact or stare
  • Clock watch
  • Ask closed questions
  • Doesn’t smile
  • Doesn’t ask follow up questions
  • Be dismissive

A warm interviewer will:

  • Smile
  • Nod along with the applicant
  • Have strong eye contact
  • Be more personable
  • Ask follow up questions
  • Be re-assuring
  • Creates a conversation
  • Put the applicant at ease
  • Encourage with gestures and open body language

An expert interviewer will:

  • Naturally use industry jargon and acronyms
  • State sector related theories and models
  • Have a strong opinion
  • Challenge generalizations or data/information they believe is incorrect
  • Request specific examples and evidence
  • Ask for the applicants opinions
  • Come across as an authority/expert which they are

The four different interview identities will respond differently to each of the three job interviewer types.

The natural response to a cold, warm or expert interviewer.

Awareness creates change.

By understanding the interviewer types and the applicant’s own interview identity creates awareness. With awareness comes change.

A cold interviewer.

A cold interviewer increases the anxiety of a low confident interviewee, the incompetent and uninterested applicant.

This is because a lack of self-esteem creates an internal focus, leading to job candidates questioning whether the interviewer’s negative behavior is due to how they are acting in the job interview.

Whereas high-confident individuals have an external focus. In an article on scientific America, they say “If the interviewer is cold, highly confident candidates are able to externalize the behavior and not believe that it directly reflects on them.”

The more confident an applicant is, the more consistent their (confident) interview performance is.

A warm interviewer.

The encouraging nature of a warm interviewer, research shows, gets the ‘best’ out of the interviewees, which in turn allows the employer to predict the job performance of applicants.

Even an anxious applicant, an incompetent or uninterested interview identity, will perform much better – give higher-scoring interview answers when interviewed by a warm interviewer.

In fact, the more personable approach of a warm interviewer, prior to the question and answer stage of the interview IE the asking of non-job-related questions “did you find us OK?” or “how was your weekend?”, can help some applicants evolve their interview identity to the most successful quadrant, the employable interview identity.

The interview identity, as we have said, is the perceived level of knowledge and experience vs the level of confidence of the applicant in the job interview.

Therefore, the friendly nature of the warm interviewer can increase an experienced applicant’s confidence level, which in turn improves how that candidate answers the interview questions- giving more descriptive and detailed interview answers.

A warm interviewer encourages confident interviewees – the deceitful and employable interview identity, to be more self-assured leading to an increase in self-promotion.

The deceitful interview identity candidate will have conviction in their own statements, and even argue points with an interviewer. When interviewed by an ‘expert’ interviewer, the interviewer will challenge anything they view as inaccurate which creates the ‘deceitful’ identity.

But, if the warm interviewer isn’t an expert and/or lacks confidence themselves, the deceitful applicant can instead be viewed as having an ’employable’ interview identity.

An expert interviewer.

An expert interviewer can be ‘warm’ or ‘cold’. The difference is the expert has a wide range of sector-related knowledge and expertise, and the confidence to challenge an interviewee’s answers/knowledge to better to predict the job performance of each applicant.

Low levels of knowledge and experience applicants, the incompetent and the deceitful interview identities, are quickly recognized as not having the required level of competencies by the expert interviewer.

The expert interviewer is often interested in evidence-based interview answers, they preference data and use logic to help make hiring decisions. This analytical process becomes the barrier to anyone but the most experienced and knowledgeable career professionals,

Confidence is an important factor when interviewed by an expert. Confidence creates self-promotion. The employable interview identity, compared to the uninterested interview identity, will deliver descriptive, self-promoting and evidence-based answers that can be easily cross-referenced against the interview scorecard.

Uninterested interview identity candidates have the same level of experience and knowledge as an employable identity but lack that all-important ingredient – confidence.

It is the lack of confidence, that decreases communication. At the worst, the uninterested applicant has imposture syndrome and will self-declare a high number of weaknesses, at best their answers are positive but lack detail.

The expert interviewer may be aware of the higher level of knowledge and experience and even ask follow-up questions. But, if an applicant doesn’t state the required criteria on the interview scorecard it is unlikely they will be in the top 3 high-scoring applicants.

It is the lack of sharing information, being aloof and presenting short snappy interview answers that creates the identity of being uninterested in the job role/interview.

The structured job interview is designed to be a logical process, with answers being cross-referenced against the job criteria before being given a score.

Employers want to hire the most suitable applicant. This is the goal of every recruitment process. The ‘interview identity’ is created during the answers to the first interview answer. It is a generalisation of the suitability or unsuitability of an applicant for the advertised position.

Evolve the mind book on Amazon

If the interview identity is a negative identity, most employers will simply want the interview to end as quickly as possible. This can lead to a ‘warm’ interviewer, acting more ‘cold’ than they normally would do.

If an interview is going badly, the applicant needs to change their approach to win the interviewer around. The ‘what is your interview identity’ book explains actions the interviewee can take during the recruitment process.

5 signs that an employer likes the interviewee.

  1. The interviewer will ask a more specific follow up questions to gain a more detailed answer
  2. A cold interviewer will act more warm; smiling, nodding, eye contact
  3. The interview panel will discuss how (the interviewers answer/knowledge) would help them solve a particular barrier
  4. Employer will disclose how they like the applicant
  5. Additional questions about the applicants situation will be asked; notice period, if the applicant has other job interviews

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Job Interview Questions for a Care Manager

How to pass a care manager job interview.

Data is showing how people at living longer then they did 30 years ago.

As more people live longer, more care managers are needed, with some research stating that over 67 million people over the age of 60 will need caring support.

Each residential home, and there are over 15,000 residential care homes in the UK, require a care manager.

A care manager is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the care home: managing the care assistants, budgets, health and safety, recruitment, and the quality of service (to meet national care standards).

Type of Care Homes that interview care managers.

  • Nursing homes for the elderly
  • Supported housing for young people or adults
  • Children’s homes, often run by social workers
  • Hospice care homes run by NHS nurses

Each specialist care home will look to hire a care manager with relevant experience. During the job interview, questions will be asked about the specific needs to the residents IE a elderly care home manager, may be asked situational questions about end of life, whereas a children’s home care manager is likely to be asked interview questions around child exploitation.

But, all care manager roles have generic duties, requiring specific skills and knowledge. It is this crossover of duties that allow care managers to work in various care home positions.

The interview questions asked, for a care manager position, will be common across all types of care manager job roles.

Care Manager main duties.

Interview questions are created based upon the job duties of the advertised position.

Job interview questions will vary depending on each individual job role, but as there are common duties across all care manager positions, a number of commonly asked job interview questions can be predicted.

Being able to identity the job criteria, is the first of the three rules of a successful job interview outcome.

With a list of potential care manger job interview questions, applicants can spend time crafting a high-scoring interview answer.

To help, below is a list of commonly asked care manager interview questions and an outline of how to answer each question.

Commonly Asked Care Manager Job Interview Questions.

99% of care manager interviews come in the form of a structured job interview. Each interview answer must reference the job criteria to ensure a high-scoring outcome.

Managers are encouraged to read the Interview Questions for Managers post, as this outlines a selection of managerial interview questions and answers.

Talk me through your care manager experience?

The opening care manager interview question, is designed to get an in-depth look at the candidates suitability:

  • Are they an experienced or new care manager?
  • Is the experience relevant to the specific needs of the care home?
  • Does the applicant have the skills and knowledge to overcome the problems the care home is currently facing?
  • How would the applicant fit within the company culture of the care home?

In short, a care manager when answering the first interview question will need to communicate their competences confidently.

Answer the interview question by stating a specialism. A specialism could include:

  • Duration in the industry or a sought after qualification
  • A unique skill, as an example being able to prepare care homes to pass OFSTED inspections
  • Won awards

Next, give specific care manager skills, knowledge and duties for business-as-usual task. Then, state any relevant qualifications before summarizing.

To answer the interview question use the following template:

“First, thank you for inviting me to interview for this position. I applied for this role as I very passionate about caring for (add specific group). I know that if I was employed I would be able to add value to the company because (add unique selling point). I am also highly experienced in (list business-as-usual tasks). I have a (add qualification) as well as (add any relevant care home related certificates). In short, I am highly experience care manager who is able to (repeat one of the unique selling points).”

How would you manage the care home finances?

Each care home, depending of the care home size, will have varying budgets.

Care managers need to have an organised approach the budget management as well as being able to manage budget risks and hiring managers need to be reassured that the candidate has an organised approach, with an eye for detail.

To answer the finance interview question, detail of how the care manager manages the budget short and long term needs to be stated.

Budget management tasks:

  • Using finance spreadsheets
  • Forecasting spend including salaries, utilities
  • Reviewing spend vs income
  • Completing financial risk assessments
  • Managing cash-flow
  • Raising purchase orders and Invoicing
  • Recording daily transactions

To answer the interview question use the following template:

“I enjoy the financial aspect of the role. In all my previous roles, I have been responsible for the finances in the care home. The reason why I have a goof eye for finances, is because I have a good eye for detail, I’m very good at seeing errors. My organised approach also helps to ensure accuracy.

When given a budget I first project the care home spend which includes staff salaries, building cost (add anything specific to the type of care home you work in). I also create a risk budget for unexpected cost (you can add an example here). This allows me to breakdown the budget by month. During the financial year, I complete daily/weekly/monthly booking keeping tasks, including (add specifics) to stay on top of the finances and I complete regular quality checks to ensure accuracy before sending the ‘books’ to the finance team.

Give an example of creating a person-centered care home?

The Care Act 2014 set the terms for the development of social care for the foreseeable future. The act, for the first time, puts personalisation on a legal footing. For the recruitment process, this means hiring managers will be asking more person-centered questions.

In the interview answer the candidate needs to cover:

  • What personalisation means to them
  • How person-centered is about identifying the individuals – their personal history, needs and strengths. Also their hopes and ambitions
  • Experienced of person-centered approach

To answer the interview question use the following template:

“My experience has shown how a regimented non person-centered care home isn’t as effective as a person-centered care home. In my previous care home, I created a person-centered environment putting the residents at the center of all decisions. In fact, we would actively involved them in the planning of the care home, an example of this was (add example). This resulted in (add outcome).

To create a person-centered care home you have to start by understanding the residents, their past, their strengths, their ambitions. You need to ask the residents what they need and respect who they are. One way I use person-centered planning is to (add person-centered planning technique)”

How would you maintain the required quality standards?

With numerous inspects and legislations, care homes need to remain at the adequate quality standards. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) regulates all care homes, and provides guidance to help support care homes to adhere by the regulations it enforces.

According to CareHome.uk, a care homes must:

  • Provide person-centred care
  • Treat residents with dignity and respect
  • Acquire consent before giving any care or treatment
  • Ensure they do not give unsafe care or treatment, and that staff have the qualifications and skills to keep residents safe
  • Safeguard residents from any form of abuse or improper treatment
  • Provide food and drink which keep residents in good health
  • Keep premises and equipment clean, suitable and looked after
  • Offer a complaints system, investigate incidents thoroughly and take action
  • Have plans in place to ensure they can meet above standards and systems to check quality and safety of care
  • Have enough suitably qualified, competent and experienced staff to meet standards
  • Only employ staff who can provide care and treatment appropriate to their role
  • Be open and transparent about care and treatment
  • Display their CQC rating clearly and make their latest report available to you

Employers are looking for a care home manager who knows and can enforce the legislation into business-as-usual tasks.

To answer the interview question use the following template:

“Quality for me is my first priority. As a care manager I ensure that all staff know and adhere to the quality standards set by the CQC, which include (name 3). To embed quality standards into business-as-usual tasks I (talk about staff recruitment and training), In addition I (explain how you create and embed processes and procedures) and (explain your internal quality check process).”

What is your approach for recruiting care assistants?

Care homes need staff to run them.

Staffing is a real issue in the care industry. Blue leaf care stated that “There are numerous social and economic reasons why staff shortages in care homes are at an all-time high. However, most of the vacancies can be linked to three key causes: an ageing population, the stigma in the care industry and the uncertainty of Brexit.”

Employers know that a string recruitment process can improve staff retention.

In the interview answer, explain recruitment, staff training and staff retention.

To answer the interview question use the following template:

“Overall I have a good track record with staff recruitment and retention, which has a direct impact on expenditure and time. The reason why I have had so much success in recruitment and retention is due to (add interviewing, staff CPD, or creating a positive working environment).

To ensure I gain a high number of applicants, on the interview advert I explain (the duties, available training, expectations, salary). In the interview I use a structured job interview process as this, research shows, is the best tool for predicating applicants job performance.

Once employed a create a positive working environment by (add details) and ensure staff retention by (explaining management styles; CPD, setting up processes and procedures, door-open policy)”

How do you manage your time?

Each day brings its own challenges in a care home, as no one week is the same.

Employers are looking for managers who can manage time, priorities tasks, delegate duties and respond to unforeseen incidents, while not forgetting business-as-usual tasks.

In the above manager job interview questions link, there is a section on discussing the time management matrix model when answering the ‘time management’ interview question. Read this now.

To answer the interview question use the following template:

“As an experienced care manager, I know the importance of time management. Working with (add specific group) no two days are the same, and urgent tasks can present themselves daily.

To manage my own time I (add organized approach: diary management, to-do list, automated reminders, etc) When an unexpected emergency happens, I prioritize the most urgent and important tasks first. For lesser urgent tasks, I may delegate this to the care supervisors or even create an automated process such as (add example).

To ensure that all tasks have been completed I (explain end of day checks you complete)”

Evolve the mind book on Amazon

Give an example of working with residents families?

As discussed previously, care homes are moving to a more person-centered approach. Working with resident families is part of the person-centered approach.

One way to answer this question is to focus on person-centered approach theory.

Families are a vital part of a residents life. Being able to work with family members can improve the experience and life of a resident. This interview question, therefore, is best answered with a real-life example.

To answer the interview question use the following template:

“To improve the life of a resident I take a person-centered approach and work collaboratively with the resident, their families and friends, often creating a personalized plan for each resident.

An example of this was when I worked at X. There was a resident who needed (adds support needs). His family and friends included (add details). To create a person centered approach I (explain who you were able to agree a meeting) to discuss the residents needs and wants. In the meeting (explain how you chaired the meeting to get everyone involved, to hear opinions of the resident and to challenge assumptions). The outcome was (give learning points and outcome)”.

Do you have any questions for us?

  • How many residents do you have in the care home?
  • What is the priority of the care home over the next 12 months?
  • What score did you get in the last inspection?
  • Is the care part of a larger group?
  • What would my first 3 months look like?

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Job Interviews in the Metaverse

The recruitment process is evolving.

Job interviews have a new science fiction feel to them.

Not only are robots interviewing candidates, the future of a job interview will be the Metaverse.

Facebooks CEO Mark Zuckerberg in June of this year told the Facebook team about the future of the company, and that they would build a world known as the metaverse.

The word ‘metaverse’ was first coined in the 1992 sci-fi novel Snow Crash, by Neal Stephenson’s . The metaverse refers to a convergence of physical, augmented, and virtual reality in a shared online space.

The metaverse will be a mix of a physical and virtual world, with its own economy and users will be able to take their avatars and goods throughout the metaverse.

The metaverse wouldn’t be owned by Zuckerberge, instead it will be a collaboration where different companies and individuals add to it, just as they do with the internet.

In an interview with The Verge, Zuckerberg said, “This is a big topic. The metaverse is a vision that spans many companies — the whole industry. You can think about it as the successor to the mobile internet.

And it’s certainly not something that any one company is going to build, but I think a big part of our next chapter is going to hopefully be contributing to building that, in partnership with a lot of other companies and creators and developers. But you can think about the metaverse as an embodied internet, where instead of just viewing content — you are in it”

Artificial Intelligence and Job Interviews.

Lets take a step back to the present day.

Currently we are seeing a move away from human job interviewers, especially for the initial recruitment stage.

In an article on Slate about AI stressing out job candidates, they said: “A growing number of real-life recruiters are turning to A.I.-led job interviews, using programs that interview and assess candidates before a human recruiter even lays eyes on them.”

Why would an employer turn to AI led interviewing processes?

Well, why not? In the past 20 years businesses have seen an huge increase in the number of applications for every advertised job role.

On one HR statics website, a statistic stated that “On average, each corporate job offer attracts 250 resumes. Of those candidates, 4 to 6 will get called for an interview, and only one will get the job.”

Other organisations, especially sector leaders, have quoted applicant numbers in their thousands. In short, employers simply don’t have the time to check each individual job application form.

Currently the increase for AI job interviews is showing an indication of the future of recruitment processes.

AI robot interviewers are mainly used to decline unsuitable applicants, reducing the number of hirable interviewees, before a human interview panel takes over.

The ways AI interviews Work.

Do robotic interviewers seem like a strange idea?

Well, AI have been employed for a long time to create job adverts, to post vacancies and to scan CVs and Application forms – yes robots, not humans are declining applicants or offering job interview slots.

In a new report by Jobscan they explain how just under 99% of Fortune 500 companies use applicant tracking systems to scan resumes with a view to streamline the recruiting process.

Robotic interviews are becoming so popular that LinkedIn has a free A.I. video interview practice tool to help applicants prepare for the online job interview.

Currently in a virtual video job interview, applicants get access to a private interview video platform. Once registered, the applicant will be introduced to the interview process. The AI robotic interviewer will ask, on average, 4 questions and each applicant has a minute (or maybe two minutes for some companies) to deliver their answer.

  • There is no way to stop and repeat the recording
  • If the applicant talks for over the allocated time, the video recording simply stops
  • No preparation time is given to adjust the interview video framing

Successful interviewee’s are then invited to the next round of job interview, often conducted by a real person.

Are AI Job Interview’s Effective?

There are some standout benefits to the AI interviewer:

  • Robots aren’t effected by charismatic characteristics of some interviewees (this could be a negative if the personality is one of the job criteria)
  • AI interviewers don’t get distracted but they do have bias (as the data given is from human data sets)
  • Robots aren’t effected by tiredness, the time of day or if they haven’t had breakfast
  • AI hiring managers will deliver a structured job interview without going off script (but can they ask follow up questions or encourage a skilled but nervous applicant to say more?)
  • There is a more consistent approach with a AI recruiter but robots would struggle with an informal interview process
  • 20,000 plus candidates a day can be interviewed and assessed by a AI interviewing programme

Metaverse and Job Interviews.

The metaverse is coming.

Big tech companies have been working on 3D and interactive technology for some time. Currently, tech like VR googles are big and clunky, but as technology companies make these gadgets more commercial the like hood of a metaverse lifestyle is highly likely.

This means that two people, an employer and candidate, can meet for a job interview in the metaverse rather then the company head office.

The metaverse job interview isn’t just way to save time on travelling, instead the interactive features of the metaverse can help both the applicant and interviewer to see if they are the right fit for each other.

How the metaverse will work as a recruitment tool?

As part of the metaverse recruitment process , the employer will ask a number of behavioral and situational job interview questions.

In addition, the employer could view how an applicant works by setting them a business-as-usual task under conditions that often appear in their sector – this could be a time pressured situation for a broker, or a structural engineer having to produce calculations for a complex structural design.

The metaverse will bring enormous opportunity to individuals who want to work from homes and employers will be able to test how the employee would work remotely (and in the metaverse) and collaboratively on projects.

Applicants will be able to show work, data, videos and statistics in 3D during the metaverse job interview, providing evidence to back up their claims of suitability.

Employers can check applicants online social media feeds live in the interview questioning the candidates on their motivations for posting about a certain topic.

Zuckerberg, in his interview with The Verge explained power of metaverse interactions “The interactions that we have will be a lot richer, they’ll feel real. In the future, instead of just doing this over a phone call, you’ll be able to sit as a hologram on my couch, or I’ll be able to sit as a hologram on your couch, and it’ll actually feel like we’re in the same place, even if we’re in different states or hundreds of miles apart. So I think that that is really powerful.”

Evolve the mind book on Amazon

In the metaverse, applicants will be able to choose their on avatar – could this help with unconscious bias? And their might even be a need for metaverse only job roles.

We don’t currently know how the metaverse will evolve the job interview process, but as evidence points to an increase in AI recruitment managers and remote working, it is highly likely that a metaverse recruitment process is on the cards.

Chris Delaney

Chris Delaney is one of the leading job interview coaches in the country, helping career professionals to successfully pass job interviews. Delaney is the author of several job interview reference books including ‘what is your interview identity’
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Deliveroo Driver and Cyclist Job Interview Questions

Many people become Deliveroo drivers or cyclist as the job allows the delivery driver flexibility in their workings hours (as the delivery driver or cyclist is officially self-employed) while having 24hr support from the Deliveroo team.

This article will help you understand the Deliveroo recruitment process and how to answer the commonly asked job interview questions for a Deliveroo driver or cyclist.

Eligibility to Work for Deliveroo.

On the Deliveroo ‘apply‘ page, they state that drivers need:

  • Scooter, bike or car (with license and insurance)
  • Safety equipment (e.g. helmet)
  • Smartphone with iOS 12 / Android 6 or above
  • Proof of your right to work self-employed in the UK
  • Age 18+

Deliveroo provide insurance for their drivers/cyclist.

When applying for a Deliveroo position, applicants need to complete the Deliveroo Rider Application form. You will need your driving license if you will be a car/motorcycle delivery driver.

Deliveroo Job Interview.

Once an application form has been accepted, the applicant will be invited to an job interview.

Depending on the area applicants apply for, the interview maybe virtual, via telephone or face to face.

Generally speaking, the interview is an informal interview to check if the applicant has the right attitude and work ethic for the role.

This is due to the position being self-employed. Deliveroo riders pick their own working hours and can as earn as much or as little as they wont to.

Deliveroo also focus on their brand and hire riders who will help enhance their brand with speed and customer service.

Because Deliveroo complete mass recruitment process, rather then several applicants applying for one single position, interviewees aren’t up against other candidates, instead they only need to be seen as suitable to gain the job role.

If the interviewer likes you, you will be offered the position.

Deliveroo Interview Questions and Answers.

Compared to a structured job interview, the Deliveroo recruitment process is fairly tame. But this doesn’t mean that an applicant shouldn’t prepare for the interview.

In fact, a lack of preparation is one of the reasons why some people fail to receive a Deliveroo rider job offer.

To prepare for the recruitment process:

  1. Read the potential job interview questions
  2. Plan answers embedding your own experience and stories into the formulas below
  3. Smile, be friendly and answer questions confidently and assertively

The interview questions below have come from Deliveroo riders. Remember that questions do change depending on what part of the country you will be working in.

In other areas, Deliveroo will give you a trail once you pass the job interview.

What do you know about Deliveroo?

One of the first interview questions to be asked is – what do you know about Deliveroo or why do you want to work for Deliveroo?

This is the time to sing Deliveroos praises, state everything that is good about the company, and how they are better then there competitors.

Stand out by conducting some research on the history of Deliveroo – it makes interesting reading. And state facts in this section of the recruitment process.

The interviewer will think ‘wow they actually know more about the company then I do!’

Also, end by stating why you want to work for Deliveroo and not, as an example, Just Eats.

Interview Answer:

‘While deciding what company I wanted to work for I undertook some research. I really like how Deliveroo started out (add some well researched historic facts) and (add second fact). I know that Deliveroo (add fact about the number of employees, or the number of businesses Deliveroo partner with, or the financial situation at the the of the interview)

I personally like the customer service you get from Deliveroo. As i am customer focused i thought this would be a good fit for me. In addition I posses (add skills) which suit this job role.

To summaries, I like X about Deliveroo and I have A, B and C skills that make me an ideal candidate for the role.”

How did you hear about the Deliveroo?

Again, the applicant can praise the company achievements: “Deliveroo is the most famous…” “Deliveroo’s marketing strategy ensures that everyone knows about Deliveroo..” “I’m a Deliveroo customer and I love…”

To help pass the interview, candidates can build on the initial praise by (if true) explaining how a friend of theirs works for Deliveroo and how they said that (add additional praise relating to working for Deliveroo IE training, support, working conditions)


How would you handle the pace of the work?

Deliveroo drivers are busy. Orders come in throughout the day/night and customer expect a quick delivery.

In short, time-management is key here. When answering the ‘pace’ question first show an understanding of the role before explaining how you would manage the workload.

Open with something along the lines off:

“As a Deliveroo rider I know there will be a large amount of orders coming through, especially during busy periods such as weekends and evenings. I would only except the deliver jobs if I was confident that I could collect the order and deliver it to the customer in a timely fashion….”

Next, explain local knowledge. As an example, delivering in rural areas may make order deliveries a longer process due to the distance between residential homes. In addition the applicant could explain their extensive knowledge of the area which will speed up delivery times.

Or, an experienced delivery drive/rider could reference their experience. Or cycle rider may explain how they can quickly repair punctures to ensure the food is delivered hot.

End with a summary: “To summaries, I know how busy a shift can be, and that orders need to be delivered on time with food being hot. My organized and sensible approach, will ensure I only pick jobs I can complete in a timely fashion. And I have local knowledge that will help me fulfil the orders.”

Do you have a clean driving license/Do you have a bike?

This answer can be short: “Yes I have a clean driving license, I have been driving for X number of years” or “Yes I have my own bike. I really enjoy biking which is why I have applied for a cycle delivery role”

Additional selling points can be embedded to the interview answer: I also have experience of delivering food on time, I normally use (add technology) to find the correct and quickest route”.


Why do you want this job role?

The best way to answer this question is to focus on how the applicant likes the day-to-day tasks and environment: “I enjoy working outside..” “I love the idea of exercising as part of my job..” “As an introvert I work really well on my own…”

Deliveroo know, for most people, this isn’t a job for life. Many Deliveroo riders are students, part-time workers or use the extra income as a side huzzel – as the riders are self-employed.

The interviewer isn’t looking for someone to say how they want to work their way up through the organisation to one day be the CEO, instead the recruitment process is designed to check that you would enjoy the business-as-usual tasks and make a good Deliveroo rider.

Are there skills or tasks you did at previous jobs that are valuable experiences for this job?

Open job interview questions allow the applicant to talk about anything they feel would help them stand out, and be offered the position.

To answer the questions state: “Yes, when working at X company I was responsible for (task) which gave me (skill) which would be useful when (Add Deliveroo task)”

Deliveroo riders required skills:

  • Communication
  • Working alone
  • Speed
  • Able to use apps/technology
  • Driving or cycling skills
  • Additional driving/cycling skills IE change a tyre
  • Map reading
  • Eye for detail
  • Working outdoors
  • Polite and friendliness
  • Professionalism
  • Advocate for the organsiation


If you were out on a delivery, and you punctured your tyre, what would you do?

Situational job interview questions are when an employer state the applicant to respond to a future scenario.

To answer the situational interview question, the applicant can list a step by step process of what they would do: “In this situation I would first do X, because of Y, Next I would do X, then X, and finally X”

To add to the answer, the interviewee can back up the stated process with an example: “When working as a X, this same thing happened, what I did was….”

Give me an example of customer service?

Deliveroo riders are communication kings.

As a Deliveroo driver, you have to communicate face-to-face, via an app, and on the phone. Communicating to customers, restaurants and the Deliveroo support team.

When giving an example use SAP – Situation, Actions and Positive Outcome:

“Last month (situation) happened. Immediately I (add three actions) which ended with (positive outcome)”

Evolve the mind book on Amazon

Can you work unsupervised?

In most Deliveroo job interviews the interviewee will be asked if they can work alone.

The initial answer is “Yes..”

Follow this up with why “Yes, in all my previous roles I have had to work alone…”

End with an example: “An example of this was when I worked at X. In this role I was responsible for (tasks when working alone) As a sole worker I would (explain how you completed tasks and stayed motivated)”

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Hypnotherapist Explains How To Be Confident in a Job Interview

According to the National Institutes of Mental Health, the number one fear in the world is public speaking,

Public speaking includes speaking on stage in front of large crowds, communicating in team meetings, and job interviews. Any situation where a person is the center of attention.

Hypnotherapist and author, Chris Delaney, will explain how to be confident in a job interview and the reason why most applicants have a deep rooted fear of the recruitment process.

Why are people afraid of the job interview?

The fear is linked to the human need to accepted. Humans, instinctively, band together, forming groups and teams, anything to create the feeling of belonging.

In these groups the leaders, the alphas, and confident members speak out. While others agree (with the leaders) to fit in, to belong.

Conformity Bias is when your views are swayed or influenced by the views of others.

Delaney says: “When being the center of attention, your ideas, opinions and self-worth are in the firing line.”

Humans fear rejection.

Rejection leads to being outcast from the group. For people with low self-esteem, they would prefer to stay quiet then to chance being rejected.

It is the fear of rejection that can stop people accepting a job interview offer.

The Brains Reaction to a Job Interview.

Confident people have an external focus. When offered a job interview there thought process is in the real world – ‘What actions shall I take to prepare for the job interview?’

Anxious individuals have an internal focus. The focus is on ‘How can I stay safe?’ This, in fact, is the positive side of anxiety, the brain is better prepared for dealing with threats.

The basic response to a threat is flight or fight. Your heartbeat quickens, providing the body with an increase in oxygen to better respond to the danger. Muscles tense (priming for action) which increase trembling and your body’s digestive system closes down as this is non-essential during a life or death situation.

But, a job interview isn’t ‘life or death‘. A job interview is a conversation about an applicants skills, qualities and experiences.

This circles back round to the fear of rejection. Prior to the job interview, the anxious applicant will have an increase in negative self-talk:

  • “No-one will want to hear what I have to say”
  • “I don’t think I have the skills/experience for this job”
  • “The interviewer wont like me”
  • “What if my mind goes blank”
  • “I’m not suitable for this role”

Imposture syndrome is the belief that you are not as competent or skilled as others perceive you to be IE you wont be able to answer the interview questions and/or do the job once hired.

“The limiting beliefs we tell ourselves become our reality”

Chris Delaney Author of: What is your interview identity

It is the negative self-talk, the stories we tell ourselves, that increase job interview anxiety.

A picture is worth a thousand words. Self-talk often evolves into a visualization. An nervous interviewee, repeatedly says they are terrible in job interviews. The words turn into a movie in the minds eye – the applicant see’s themselves failing in the job interview.

Delaney says : What you see, you feel. If you visualize yourself as a nervous wreck, mumbling answers that don’t make any sense, the image creates a negative emotion – fear or anxiety.

The mind-body process, imagining a situation that creates an emotional reaction, reinforces itself. If the thought creates anxiety, the anxiety will make the thought seem more anxious.

The association between the image and emotion can become so strong that it creates a phobia.

How to Overcome Job Interview Anxiety.

Job interview fears and phobias are easy to overcome.

One way, that works well for the fear of job interviews, is exposure therapy.

Job interview anxiety is created because humans can fear the unknown. We are comfortable with routine. Most people don’t attend weekly job interviews, or even monthly interviews for that matter.

Reputation is the key to mastering any skill. The more you do something the better you will become at that activity.

Exposure therapy allows you to face the fear but in a safe environment.

3 ways to practice speaking:

  1. Mock interviews with a career coach
  2. Public speaking workshops
  3. Improv classes

This first piece of advice is common enough but it is still highly relevant. Predicting job interview questions, preparing answers and practicing out loud creates muscle memory.

As we said the job interview, for most people, is a rare situation, so everyone will feel a little nervous. When asked a question, muscle memory kicks in and the answers pops out of the candidates mouth before they know what they are saying.

The candidate, now realizing, they have given a high-scoring interview answer (due to their preparation and practice) now feels more confident during the recruitment process. Its similar to when a school pupil is asked an unexpected question, and they give the correct answer – they feel all fuzzy and warm inside.

Hypnotherapy Techniques for Job Interview Fears.

Chris has helped thousands of people overcome job interview anxiety and to increase interview confidence.

Chris says, when using hypnotherapy to cure interview phobias, he breaks the session down into three key segments:

  1. Create a deep sense of relaxation
  2. Removing the negative associated emotion
  3. Create excitement for the job interview

Job Interview Relaxation.

Chris explains how the easiest way to get into a state of relaxation is through controlling your breath.

The type of breath can change your heart rate, your heart rate effects the flight or fight response, the flight or fight response effects the job interview outcome.

A long deep breath in from the stomach, and a slow breath out reduces the heart rate.

Rapid breaths from the chest speed up the heart rate creating the feeling of anxiety.

Delany uses rhythmic breathing with anxious clients:

  1. Breath in deeply from the stomach for 4 long seconds
  2. Hold the breath for another 4 seconds (if this is comfortable for you)
  3. Force the breath out (exhale powerfully) for 4 more seconds
  4. Repeat this pattern 5-6 times

Once in a state of relaxation, an anxious client can visualize their fear without having the same negative effect. If the visualization is still emotionally strong, move the thought away and repeat the breathing exercise.

Evolve the mind book on Amazon

Remove the Negative Emotion.

Once, in a calm and relaxed state you can focus on a fear without it having the same negative effect. But the fear, or the object of fear is still there.

Better to remove this completely.

Once a negative thought is vanished, the associated emotion is also removed.

To remove job interview anxiety, first think about attending a job interview.

Make the thought big, bright and vivid.

Next, push the thought outside of your head, so you can imagine the thought floating in front of you.

Shrink the thought of a negative job interview down into a small ball. and flick it on and off until the colour of the picture disappears and you are left with a black and white small image.

Finally, push the thought further and further way until it is just a dot on the horizon. Then let it go.

Repeat this technique several times. Then, think about a job interview and if the negative association has gone or is weaker.

Create Excitement.

An interview opportunity is an exciting event.

Finding the right job, in the right sector, in the right company can help to create satisfaction.

Job interview excitement is created by two elements:

1) Understanding you possess the skills and experiences for the job role (knowing you are a suitable candidate)

2) Believing that you will communicate confidently in job interview

First, right a list of all your job related skills, qualities and experiences:

  • Work ethic
  • Creative problem solving
  • Specialist skill/knowledge
  • Natural leader
  • Highest earner
  • Proactive
  • Any number of sector related duties/skills

Next, imagine you were your manager or colleague. Write a list of all the positive skills and experiences they believe you have.

Write a third list of the added value you can bring to a new organisation.

These list are designed to help an applicant reflect on their ability to complete the new job duties.

In the recruitment process, interview questions are always based on the main job duties, and required skills, for each position. These list, therefore, can help the candidate predict the job criteria and the job interview questions, helping them to prepare high-scoring interview answers.

Craft perfection from practice, The more an interviewee practices delivering the job interview answers, the more skilled they will become at delivering answers that score high.

To believe in your own job interview ability you can create a new, positive, association to the recruitment process.

  1. Imagine yourself in a job interview performing well. See yourself smiling, enjoying yourself, sense the strong rapport between you and the employer. Hear yourself giving detailed answers to any job interview question. Notice your positive body language, gestures and tone of voice. Become aware of everything that makes you a strong and professional interviewee.
  2. Design this film anyway you want to. Make it big, bright and vivid.
  3. Imagine being there in the moment, seeing the film from your own eyes.
  4. Focus on the positive emotions, the feeling of job interview excitement. make these feeling stronger, double and triple it, until the positive feeling of you in a job interview is at its optimum.
  5. Take a deep breath and repeat 4-5 times.

A strong emotional visualization is recorded in our memory. When you next think about a forthcoming job interview, the mind will trigger the new positive association, helping a candidate feel more excited for the job interview.

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How do you know if an Interviewer likes you?

Job hunters ask ‘how do you know if an interviewer likes me?’ because they are anxious about the recruitment process.

What the applicant is really asking is, ‘how likely is it that I will be offered the position after the job interview?’

But, likeability does effect the job interview outcome. This article will break down the impact of likeability in the job interview and how an interviewee can increase job offers by being liked by an interview panel.

Is the interview a fair process?

The goal of any recruitment process is to predict the job performance of each interviewee.

The predicted job performance is the main factor in the offering of the advertised position to one applicant over another.

The second factor, that influences the ‘main’ factor, the predicting of the job performance, is likeability.

To improve likeability, applicants must understand the psychology behind liking.

Humans like:

Likeability starts before the interview starts.

Unconscious bias is the process of an opinion being made at the subconscious level, instantaneously, about a person (or group) base on any number of stimuli.

In recruitment processes, where the employers task is to make a conscious, logical, opinion on the applicants suitability for the job role, unconscious bias can be created by a persons:

  • Perceived age
  • Gender
  • Ethnicity
  • Body mass
  • Accent
  • Body language
  • Any number of things

The truth is, that an interviewer, when meeting the applicant for the first time, will make an opinion about that person prior to asking them an interview question. The opinion, which is an unconscious bias, as the employer doesn’t know the applicant, is made in milliseconds.

This is the initial likeability factor.

You meet someone and you like or dislike them, but you don’t know why. Or your gut feeling makes you cautious or open, or you feel drawn towards someone or you want to get away from them 9running from a potential threat).

The initial likeability is created based on a persons own experiences including the culture they grew up in.

If for example, the environment a person grew up in, generalized that a person/group with X characteristic was lazy, the interviewer with this limiting belief would search for evidence to back up their prejudice.

Research shows, that characteristics on the applicants application form, social media feed or from the opinions of others can create a pre-interview opinion.

Not all opinions are negative.

If an employer read on the candidates application form that they had a degree from a leading university, Oxford or Cambridge, as an example, a positive pre-interview opinion can be created.

In fact, if the candidate attended the same university as the interviewer, the interviewer, due to affinity bias, will have rapport with the applicant.

Having a published industry related book, or having been quoted in sector magazines, or even possessing a social media feed filled with industry updates can create authority prior to the job interview.

Strong eye contact, positive body language and being physically attractive all shape the initial opinion, as the employer meets the applicant for the very first time.

In short, the employer prior to meeting an applicant will make a positive or negative generalization (I like or don’t like this person) at the subconscious level, due to a number of different factors.

“Unconscious bias creates a likeability factor that acts as a filter during the forthcoming job interview”

Chris Delaney Author of What is Your Interview Identity.

Challenging the Initial Impression.

Most interviewers aren’t consciously aware of the reason behind their initial likeability impression.

A racist, sexist or ageist interviewer, as an example, is aware (and doesn’t care) that they dislike a certain group.

In this case it will be hard to challenge the limiting belief. But, in the main, the initial feeling about a stranger is subconscious.

For an employer who has an initial reaction, as an example, to a female applying for a traditionally masculine role, they become aware (and they care that this initial filter wont effect the interview process) making an effort to override the unconscious bias.

For many people, the unconscious bias reaction, isn’t a reflection of the values they hold true to themselves. Imagine, for example, an obese applicant applies for a job in your team.

Is the obese applicant male or female?

It doesn’t matter which gender you choose, what matters is that you automatically choose a gender – this is unconscious bias in play.

The job interview environment is designed to be a logical place, with answers being cross-reference against the job criteria. Employers, apart from the ‘aware and don’t care’ interviewers, want to hire the most suitable applicant no matter what the persons age, gender, ethnicity, etc.

One barrier to a fair interview process is that the duration of the job interview is long for one person to remain totally focused. Again, like with unconcise bias, the mind will create short cuts.

The initial short-cut the brain makes is ‘likeability’ created by the initial impression. The second short-cut, or snap decision, is the applicants ‘interview identity’.

The ‘interview identity’ is created in the first, and possibly second job interview question. Or more specific the applicants answers to each question.

If the interviewee states their sector related competencies confidently, showing added value, worth and skillset (knowledge, experience and unique selling points) the interview identity will be positive.

But, an answer that lacks specifics and filled with self-declared weaknesses and excessive use of filler words is likely to create a negative identity.

The interview identity, to generalize, is the applicant being suitable or unsuitable for the advertised position.

Check your interview identity by taking the interview prediction grid test.

An ‘aware and care’ employer, with an initial negative impression (likeability factor) can easily be swayed if the initial interview answers highlight a high level of industry knowledge and experience (suitability).

Suitability is a logical choice and likeability is emotional. The new filter created by the ‘suability’ factor, the applicants interview identity, becomes the main focus. The mind, then searches for evidence to back up their belief ‘this interviewee is suitable/not suitable for the role’.

***the initial likeability factor can effect the suitability short-cut.

In fact, some high-scoring answers can create a ‘charismatic’ or ‘optimistic’ interview identity.

Evolve the mind book on Amazon

Signs that an Interviewer likes you?

It is easy to spot an interested interviewer.

If an employer doesn’t believe the candidate is suitable for the role, they will want to end the interview process as quickly as possible.

For an interested interviewer, they will show signs of desire by:

  • Asking additional questions to help the applicant mention the required criteria relevant for that job question
  • Positive non-verbal communication to encourage more descriptive answers from the candidate
  • Sharing personal stories to build rapport with the applicant with a view to help them take the offered role
  • Stating their high opinion of the applicant
  • Discussing future projects that the candidate would be suited for
  • Checks competition by asking about the interviewees other job interviews

Remember that just because the interviewer is interested in an applicant, this doesn’t always lead to a job offer, as the next applicant may have a stronger interview identity.