If you are a job seeker, you know the excitement of being called for an interview. Employers conduct interviews to better understand if the applicant is qualified for the job. As a potential employee, you need to prepare well, rehearse and find tips to ace the interview. On the other hand, the employer prepares with a certain type of interview that will enable them to get the most skilled, talented, and unique person to fill the open position. Regardless of the type of interview, you need to be well-prepared so you have a good shot at landing the job.
How Many Types of Interviews Are There?
There are many types of interviews, and they vary depending on the employer. Some employers may use traditional interviews, while others may prefer structured interviews, panel interviews, case studies or competency-based job interviews. Traditional interviews involve the employer asking a set of predetermined questions with the goal of learning more about the candidate before making a hiring decision. Other interview formats include behavioral interviewing, phone or video conferencing and group job interviews.
Behavioral interviews are structured around job-specific scenarios that help recruiters discern how well a candidate can perform in certain situations. Additionally, case studies or programming tests may be required for certain technical positions to assess coding skills and problem-solving abilities. Lastly, group or panel interviews allow hiring managers to learn about candidates’ communication and social skills as they interact with other people in an interview setting. It’s important to be aware of which type of interview to expect in order to properly prepare for the job interview.
Here are some of the types of interviews you may encounter in detail, and how you could prepare and ace them.
Informal Interview
An informal interview is an introductory meeting between you and the employer. It seems like chit-chat and, through that, the employer gets to know about your interests, potential, abilities, and how you’ll fit into the work culture. It can be in the form of a lunch meeting or a coffee meeting. However, you’ll still need to keep it informational, purposeful, and professional. Most business organizations use informal interviews when hiring for positions in sales, business development, and sometimes even more senior roles. Through the informal interview, they will get to know how good your communication is.
There is not much preparation involved in an informal interview because it’s more of a natural interaction between two people. It’s nothing like what you would experience during a formal interview where it tends to feel like an interrogation – which is what many interviews can feel like to job applicants.
All you need to do is keep track of time and make sure you’re at the meeting before your interviewer arrives. As you both interact, try to be relaxed and focus on relevant topics. You should try to focus your attention and talking points on topics revolving around work. Make it a point to discuss and highlight your skills and abilities as they relate to the job. If the conversation slips in a different direction, then just go with the flow. However, don’t let it get off point. Steer the conversation back to work. You want to make a great first impression and show that you are both capable of performing the job and easy to work with.
Informational Interview
This type of interview is not necessarily a job interview. It’s whereby you interact with an employer or people who work in your field of interest in a company. Your main goal is to get more information about the career field you’re most interested in learning about. The information you get will make you more prepared for job interviews in the future. Also, through this type of interview, you can network and get contact information of the people who are in the same career field as you. As you can see, there are many benefits to an informational interview.
To ace an informational interview, go there with the list of questions you would like answered. Because you’re not actually interviewing for a job, you might feel less anxiety than you otherwise would on a formal interview. You’ll still want to make a good impression for a few reasons:
- you might interview with this company at some point in your job search
- the person conducting the informal interview could be an industry colleague down the road
- you could add them to your professional network such as Linkedin
- they might be able to be a reference for when you’re interviewing for a real job
Keeping these tips in mind, remember to keep the meeting professional. Lastly, focus on getting valuable information, not getting a job.
Group Interviews
A group interview is when you’re interviewed with other candidates applying for the same position as you. The company uses group interviews to test how well you can work as a group. This type of interview emphasizes teamwork. Also, the company will try to see who might be more likely to step up as a leader. They would like to see how well you can work when under pressure and who will take initiative during these moments.
When recruiting interns, salespersons, account executives, or any other position that requires people to collaborate as a group, companies may use this type of interview as a way to assess how each applicant performs within a group as a team working towards one goal. The company may also be open to filling more than one role, whether it’s the same one or another position. So keep that in mind as well. The company might see other traits or skill sets that you bring to the table that could qualify for that other role.
To ace these type of job interviews, you’ll need to be friendly and courageous and speak up with any thoughts or ideas that you may have. Additionally, you should position yourself as the leader within the group. The interviewer might give out a task to the group and ask someone to lead. You should be ready to volunteer as the group leader so you can stand out.
Behavioral Interview
In a behavioral interview, the assumption is that how you behaved in the past in a similar type of employment situation is how you’ll behave in the future. That is, past behavior may predict future behavior. For example, if the employer is looking for a cashier, they might ask you how you’ll handle a situation where the money you have doesn’t balance with what’s been recorded. How you answer will help the employer know if you can handle the challenges and pressure that come with the job you’re applying to. You can nail these types of interviews by first understanding the employer’s expectations and then by specifically preparing for a behavioral interview.
As you prepare for the interview, research the job, and list down the positive attributes that will help you perform well if given the job. These attributes can be team building, good communication skills, creativity, and/or organizational skills. In addition to bringing a hard copy of an updated resume, you should come prepared with documents that show your past achievements. Consider outlining your experiences and how you tackled challenges in the past to emerge as a winner. The experiences will outline your ability to solve problems and ability to make decisions on critical issues.
Competency-Based Interview
In this type of interview, the employer tries to determine if the employee is competent for a certain job. The employer focuses on your skills, knowledge, experience, and how you can carry out a certain task. Mostly, this interview is used when they are looking for someone to handle specific tasks. These types of job interviews are a more common style for the following:
- Digital Marketing Careers
- Technology Careers
- Digital Design Careers such as graphic design and game design
The trick to acing a competency interview is to be focused and ready with information about past work experiences to demonstrate that you’re competent. Be prepared to outline your skills, the type of tasks you’ve handled, how you handled it, and what the outcome was. Be confident and detailed when explaining your abilities, skillset, any challenges you may have faced and what you’ve learned. It’s important to stay clear-headed and ready to answer any question or perform any work task they ask you.
Conclusion
There are various types of interviews, and there is an excitement that comes along with an interview. You should be excited when you’re emailed or called for an interview. You may also feel a bit of anxiety about an upcoming interview. That’s a normal feeling. However, try not to let that anxiety take over to a point that you end up not doing well. As it may interfere with your ability to focus on the task at hand.
Interviews have changed over time, and there are possibilities that the type of job interview you attend will be different from what you’re used to. Double check your documents to ensure you have everything you need. And research the job requirements so that you’re fully prepared for the interview.
Remember that first impressions matter and sometimes that’s all employers will remember. Therefore, dress well, be calm, have a clear head and try and answer every question confidently and honestly.
