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How to Answer The Interview Question Do You Consider Yourself Successful

A number of employers ask interview questions based on ‘success.’

Success is ambiguous, as each person views success differently. A young career professional may feel successful as they were the first in their family to attend higher education, but a second candidate who grew up in a household where education was deemed as the norm, may not view attending university as a success.

The underpinning objective for the ‘do you consider yourself successful? interview question is more about achievement and the journey to that achievement.

The frame of the interview answer should be one of a hardship the candidate has overcome.

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Therefore, the interviewee, to score a high scoring interview answer needs to set out a problem, show planning and how they overcome difficulties and what it was they achieved.

A single parent, as an example, may talk about balancing a family, and a job while studying for a master’s with an open university course.  The parent could then go on to discuss additional difficulties; maybe the child became ill or the employer had to make staff cuts.

The ‘difficulties’ is one way to show personality, work ethic and determination. Did the difficulties allow the parent to give up? Or did they grit their teeth determined to be a success?

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How to answer the ‘success’ job interview question.

As everyone succeeded in something, this could be finishing school to climbing Everest, the initial answer should be a responding ‘Yes I have been successful….’

Next, state ‘…one example is…’ The ‘one’ example infers there are many other successes.

To answer the question follow these 4 steps:

  • Set the goal – to finish a master’s, become a world champion, to set up a part-time business.
  • Explain the current barriers; being a single parent, stating a disability, how everyone said you current achieve this goal
  • Through in additional difficulties – talk about the journey, how you were on track to be successful and then…a ‘difficulty’ happened.
  • Conclude. End the story by stating the success, but more importantly, what you learned about yourself along the way

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Example Interview Answer.

“Yes, I would say I am successful. One example of being successful was when I set myself a goal to move into this job sector.

I had left school with no GCSEs and came from a family that didn’t encourage attending higher education – they believed that instead of spending money on education, everyone should find work. 

Once I had committed to this career goal I created a careers plan, stating what qualification I needed to gain and enrolled in nigh school, initially gaining my GCSEs and then an access course for nursing.

It was half-way through my access to the nursing course when my father became ill. As an only child whose mother had passed away many years previously, it came down to me to be the carer for my father.

This took up a large amount of time, and my initial thought was that I should quit the course. But, because I am passionate about the profession I knew I had to plan better and manage my time to ensure I could be there for my father while having enough time to spend on my course.

Some of my friends were nurses and they use to tell me how busy they always were, having to do extra shifts and work long hours. So I imagine that caring for my father while studying was my job. This helped me frame it in the right way to stay motivated. 

What I learned about myself is that I have self-determination. even when there is a problem I can knuckle down and get the job done.”

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Management Accounting Interview Questions

Management accounting interview questions are very competitive positions, in the job interview you need to stand out by highlighting to the employer how you can add value to the organisation.

To do this first, you need to predict the interview questions and then you can prepare your amazing interview answers.

A list of Management Accounting job interview questions:

  • What is your understanding of our organisation?
  • Tell us about your accounting experience with the previous organisations
  • What do you understand of the various functions of management accountancy?
  • Which ITC packages such as Oracle or Sage are you proficient in using, what are the advantages and disadvantages
  • What is your understanding of value-added analysis
  • Describe a time when you had to build a collaborative relationship either internally or externally in order to achieve a particular goal.
  • Define a shadow balance sheet and its advantages
  • What criteria do you use for evaluating the reliability of the financial information you receive and how do you control errors in your work
  • Give me an example of the different approaches you have used when persuading your team, colleagues or manager to agree with your views
  • What is your knowledge of current accounting standards
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Ten Stupid Ways to Fail Your Job Interview

Ten Stupid Ways to Fail Your Job Interview

After weeks of job hunting and searching through thousands of job vacancies, editing your CV for each individual job and writing targeted covering letters you finally land the all-important interview for your dream job. Don’t mess up your job interview by making these 10 stupid mistakes that will ensure you fail your job interview.

1. Farting During the Interview

We all get nervous during job interviews including celebrities and even the wife of ex-presidents. Hilary Clinton during an interview didn’t realise how sensitive her microphone was when she accidentally farted during her TV interview – we don’t know if this embarrassing mistake was due to a bad diet or bad nerves

2. Telling Big Fat Lies

Job hunters often stretch the truth during job interviews to gain the upper hand over other job applicants, but Callie Armstrong took it one step too far when she lied at about being Jewish and being able to speak Hebrew! It paid off though as she was not only offered a job but a year later married one of the Jewish graduates from the school where she secured work, which meant she had to convert to Judaism. But when did she tell the groom about the lie, before or after the wedding?

3. Agreeing with everything the interview says even the Lie’s on your CV

Jen from the IT Crowd got stuck after lying on her CV about her IT skills and was offered the IT management job. Explaining later during to the interviewer “I’ve got a lot of experience with the computer…thing, you know e-mails…, sending e-mails, receiving e-mails,…deleting e-mails, I could go on…”

4. Using an Over Creative Video CV

You need your CV or Resume to stand out from the crowd, but Barny from How I Met Your Mother took this a little to far as you see him flying airplanes, driving monster trucks and parachuting off cliffs to the soundtrack “I’m so Awesome”

5. Arriving to the Job Interview with a Cockatoo on Your Shoulder

Some job hunters really don’t understand the importance of the first impression, especially one guy who attended a job interview with a cockatoo on his shoulder. Robert Half completed a recent survey on outstanding interview mistakes and outrageous interview blunders

6. Wearing your PJ’s to the Interview

According to a recent survey of more than 670 HR managers, many job hunters don’t understand the importance of wearing smart attire during the interview, with some interviewees arriving at the interview dressed in their nightwear, thankfully this was PJs and slippers and not boxer shorts and socks

 

7. Giving Joke Answers to Serious Questions

Some interviewers want to stand out from the crowd, instead of asking about your experience, qualifications or what can you bring to the organisation? They will ask dumb questions such as “if you were a cookie what cookie would you be?” don’t get caught out by thinking this is a joke question responding with a joke answer such as a “A smart cookie” read more about dumb interview questions and answers on the link below

8. Not Thinking About your Interview Answers

I love hearing funny responses to interview questions, some interviewees are so nervous during the Q&A section of the interview that they respond to interview questions with the first thought that pops into their head; one guy was asked “why do you want to work here” and responded with “because I fancy the girl in reception” another applicant in a sales interview was asked how he would handle a difficult client? He told the interviewer he had the perfect solution – wrestle his clients to the ground instead of trying to work out any differences.

9. Don’t Go To an Interview Drunk

No matter what you do wrong to prepare for an interview don’t go out drinking until 5 in the morning before your job interview as “the speakman” can confirm that no matter how many cups of coffee you drink you will still feel absolutely hammered. This unlucky guy not only had to attend a face to face interview while drunk, but had to complete a number of IQ and maths test that lasted all day. With an oncoming hangover, the interviewee was secretly hoping he would fail each stage of the interview process so he could grab a quick taxi home and straight to bed, but luckily or unluckily he passed each stage of the interview process even though his breath smelt of kebab and his stomach felt like it was ready to explode

10. Don’t get Arrested During the Job Interview

One sure way to guarantee you don’t receive a job offer during a job interview is when you get arrested for murder between answering questions. An unnamed girl accused of murdering two young men, was wanted by police who could not locate her, but they knew that the girl had a job interview due and waited for the girl to attend the job interview before arresting her – to the surprise of the interviewees

You can fail your job interview in many stupid ways with most popular way being, interviewees not practicing the interview questions. You can now learn the Killer Answers to Tricky Questions.

If you enjoyed reading this article you will also enjoy reading:

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Structuring Your Interview Answers

Once you receive your Interview Invitation, you still have work to do, the first being to practice answering tricky interview questions. T

o do this you need to know what type of interview questions you will be asked, you can read 101 Interview Questions and I would add what is even more important  then knowing the interview questions is knowing how to structure your interview answer.

To gain an insight into the specific question you will be asked, re-read the job specification that came with your job application pack.

All the Essential Skills, Knowledge and Experiences on the job specification will be turn into interview questions this is because the employer feels that their new employee needs the required knowledge or experiences to fit in at the level the company is operating at.

The key to passing job interviews is Communication, the employer needs to understand what you are trying to communicate to them; communication is not about what you are saying, it’s about what the other person interprets what you are saying which means you need to structure you interview answer in such a way that employer has no doubt you can do the specific part of the job that the interview question related to.

Answering Interview Questions

You may be asked direct interview questions; what, where, why, who or competency-based questions; give me an example, describe a time when you, summaries your previous role and duties

It’s not about the type of question you are asked it’s about how you structure your answer which means you need to know how to answer interview questions.

I would add you need your answer to come across loud and clear by delivering 3 key pieces of information per answer, any more then this can confuse the interviewers mind, as the brain can find it hard to remember a large amount of information in one go.

Start by answering the question in the first sentence                      

Q: Are you a good team player?

A: Yes I am a good team player, in my last position I worked in team environment throughout the project…

Q: What is your knowledge of diversity and equal opportunities regulations?

A: I possess a deep understanding of diversity and equal opportunity regulations; I find it really important to keep unto date with changes to regulations…

Q: Where do you see yourself in 5 years’ time?

A: I am really keen to turn this position into a career, in 5 years time I will have a full understanding of the job sector and will be applying for a promotion within this organisation.

Q: Describe a situation where you dealt with an angry customer.

A: In my last position I would work on the complaints department every Monday and would often come across “angry” customers; I was always able to quickly calm customers down and resolve their issues by…

Next, add a little more detail – this should intrigue the employer and hit several of the job specifications essential criteria

  • Give an overview of the situation – In many cases this is done when you answer the question in your first sentence.
  • Explain any “problems” or “barriers” you had to face and overcome “the company had never had a contract like this before” “sales had started to drop, so the manger asked me to join the team..”
  • Explain what YOU did “I was responsible for..” “I took initiative..” “it was my idea to…”
  • Explain the positive outcome from your actions; where possible quote figures and percentages or give third-person feedback “this led to an increase in sales by 35%” “the team manager fed back that this resulted in an increase in company shares”

Finally, summaries by referring back to the question (this can also come across as you thinking of your answer on the spot, not using a prepared answer)

  • “Does that example highlight the team player skills you are looking for?”
  • “I have a wide range of knowledge of diversity and equal opportunity regulations, would you like me to quote any more?”
  • “Overall I am happy to stay in this company and work my way up the career ladder”
  • “To summaries, I have come across a wide range of angry customers, but once you know how to calm and resolve their issues you increase your customer retention”

As you can see from the 4 examples above, some of the summaries end with a question; this is a great additional trick to check if you have hit the interviewer’s required points to their question.

If you have you often hear “Yes that was a nice answer” or “I think we have covered everything” if you haven’t you will often be told “I was looking for an example when you X” you can then give a new example covering X or the interviewer may ask you a second but more specific question.

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Are you one of these 10 people who will never pass a job interview?

10 People Who Will Never Pass a Job Interview

Employers often feedback that time and time again the same type of person is refused a job offer, even though job hunters now have access to a wide range of interview techniques through Employment E-Books, Interview Articles and Career Coaches.

Don’t make the same mistake as others and come across at the job interview as one of these 10 people who will never secure a job offer:

  • Someone with poor personal appearance – no effort made with their appearance, interviewees have been known to turn up in jeans and t-shirts
  • Showing a lack of interest and enthusiasm – Yawning during interviews and answering questions with “yes” and “no” answers shows a lack of interest – you need to sound passionate and answer all interview questions with examples
  • Being late to the interview – again employers see this as a lack of interest and commitment
  • Discussing money throughout the interview – employers agree that people who over-emphasis on money are more likely to leave the job in the first couple of months leaving the employer with the job of re-recruiting
  • Criticising past employer – this is often seen as passing the blame onto someone else – you need to discuss what you did for self-development: Interview Questions and Answers
  • Lack of confidence, lack of eye contact and showing nervousness – there are several techniques to help you prepare for an interview and to increase your interview confidence; a common mistake many interviewees make is failing to practice their interview questions  
  • Being a ‘Know-it’ all – the opposite to having a lack of confidence is being overconfident which can lead to you coming across as aggressive, employers look at which interviewee will fit in with the team and company environment
  • Asking no questions about the job – employers are looking for someone who is interested in their company and the job sector, this is because someone who is not interested will not work at the same level as someone who wants to make this job sector their career.
  • Unable to sell themselves; poor voice (often to quite or to loud), poor diction, poor grammar on CV and Cover Letter and no evidence-based interview answers: employers look and recruit people who have a career plan, job goals and can prove with evidence that they are the best person for the role. Interviewees need to understand what the employer’s essential criteria are and to discuss these points throughout the interview.
  • Having strong prejudices and opinions; you can often recognise when someone has a strong opinion or prejudice and I would add these strong opinions often come out during a job interview. When your opinions do not match that of the interviewer you will quickly lose rapport and any possibility of a job offer.
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I can’t get an interview

Struggling to get an interview?

Many job hunters become frustrated after applying for large numbers of job advertisements, only never to receive an interview.

As a careers advisor, I would always check how the job hunter had applied for these vacancies.

As an example you may in the main, be applying for jobs using your CV, if your CV does not gain you interviews it will either be because:

  • Your CV is not targeted to the industry you are applying for
  • The CV you use is more then 2 pages, so the employer is not reading the whole of your CV
  • You have not sent a Cover Letter with your CV; in some cases, employers see this as essential, while other employers don’t.

If you’re unsure how good your CV is, have your CV reviewed for free.

If you have a good 2 page targeted CV, with the text split up by headings and bullet points and you always send an individual tailored covering letter. Basically, your CV is great and sell’s your strengths to the fullest.

If this is the case you may need to re-look at the job positions you are applying for, as some job hunters apply for jobs out of their ability.

• Are you applying for job you feel has a large salary, compared to your ability to fulfill the role?
• Do the job roles you apply for ask for skills and experiences you do not have?

It is always good to aim high and follow your dream, as I always believe everyone can achieve their goal-sometimes you first need to overcome a couple of small barriers.

If you don’t have a career goal, you can use a career coach to help you move forward.

If your job goal is set high, you need to ask yourself if you first need to apply for a vacancy a level below your career goal? And use this as a stepping stone towards your dream career.

How to check if you are applying for job at the right level.

Pick 4-5 job adverts you have applied for and highlight with a highlighter the common skills, experiences and qualifications needed for all the job adverts. you now need to be honest with yourself, you may already know you would be a dedicated worker but if the advert is asking for a certain qualification or a certain number of years experience as an essential requirement – do you have what the employers are asking for? Be honest, as we want to increase the amount of interview you receive.

If the answer is yes, you do have the essential requirements, then you need to re-look at your CV or application forms review them.

If you answered no:

You can apply for any job and hope that your other strengths will out way the criteria you do not have, but if you have already applied for a large number of similar vacancies with a good CV or application form and you do not make it through to the interview round, if you want a different result, do something different, you may now need to re-look at the positions or salary you are applying for (the higher the salary the more strict the employer will be when it comes to flexibility around the essential criteria)

Still apply for jobs in the same industry, jobs that suit your skills and abilities and use this experience to make you more employable for future industry job roles on a higher scale.

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Preparing for Interviews

Job Interview Preperation Techniques 

Before the interview you need make several preparations to ensure you make the most positive impression during the interview.

Travel.

Plan your travel, ensure you know where your interview is being held and complete a mock run; there is nothing worse than arriving late for an interview. Ensure you have set your alarm clock.

Clothing.

Plan what you are going to wear, your interviews clothes should be smart and need ironing the night before, this will give you time in the morning to relax and re-read your CV.

Always ensure you shower and shave before each interview, most of us will sweat during the interview and there is nothing more off-putting to an employer then a smelly candidate.

Practice Interviews.

Practice the interview questions and answers, think about the job you are applying for and the skills and qualities needed for this job role, the interviewer will ask questions based on these.

Re-read your CV or application form and ensure you are familiar with the information you recorded.

Ask a friend to interview you; give them a list of questions to ask you as this will help you plan timings and the delivery of your answers.

Plan questions to ask the interviewer; ask about the company, the workforce, opportunities for promotion and training.

During the Interview.

Shake hands with the interviewer and introduce yourself.

Waited until you have been asked to be seated.

Answer all questions with a detailed sentence, never give just a “Yes” or “no” answers. If you use a “yes” or “no” answers, add the reason why; “yes, because….”

Ensure all your questions mention at least one skill and quality that is needed for the job role you are applying for. You can find this information on the job advert and job specification.

Be positive with all your answers, this is not the time to be shy.

Always be polite, friendly and smile.

Have questions prepared to ask the interviewer and ask the interviewer to repeat any questions you did not understand.

Keep eye contact with the interviewer.

At the end of the interview, shake hands and thank the interviewer for their time.

After the Interview.

Take a deep breath the interview is over.

Think back to the interview, review your interview questions and answers-which questions did you answer well? Which answer need improving?

Write down any questions you didn’t expect to be asked and think of positive answers, as you may be asked this question again at your next interview.

Continue to job search until you receive a job offer in writing.