My key takeaway from this lecture was the fact that by the point if attending an interview for a role the company are already confident that you meet the requirements to get the job. Through the CV and portfolio they can see your qualifications and creative skills, and if they did not feel you were up to the job they wouldn’t even invite you to interview. Hearing this and thinking about it in detail has made me change the way I will look at interviews, I can now concentrate on showing a employer what they want to see from me, will I fit within their team and my creative process. This knowledge definitely makes me feel more confident about interviews.
As well as the lecture on interview skills this week, I was also lucky enough to have got some advice from the Employability and Careers team at Ulster University, during the Placement and Internship Ready workshop. This offered some solid advice around interviews in general and some useful tips to prepare for interview.
It was advised that what employers want to see in an interview is your ability to show transferrable skills under pressure. An interview is a pressurised environment, and you will be faced with all sorts of different questions your ability to react, and answer will be a marker of your ability to work under pressure and this is something employers are looking for. Alongside this they are also looking to answer three key questions:
The first question as likely been answered through your CV, butt they will want to check what you have said is factual, so are likely to ask questions relating to what you have stated. The second question is much more about your desire and motivation for the role and career path which I don’t see as an issue for me as I am confident, I have made the right decision for me in choosing design and Interaction Design in particular. I also know I won’t be applying for roles that do not interest and excite me as applications take a lot of work to personalise and prepare so, to do one for a job I don’t want seems pointless to me. The third question an employer wants to answer is the most challenging as a candidate, you can’t really know if you are going to fit in to a team you have likely never met. For this you just simply must be yourself and let the employer decide, for me I find this is the best way as I don’t want to work for a company that doesn’t want me.
Interviewers will likely use three main types of questions to figure out what they want to know:
Technical Questions are job specific so for me they will most likely surround my design knowledge and software skills. They may also form part of me talking about some of my project work or a design task.
“Strength-based interview questions are all about predicting your future potential, what you are particularly good at and what inspires you.”
Source: https://targetjobs.co.uk/careers-advice/interviews-and-assessment-centres/strength-based-interviews-jobs-and-grad-schemes (Last Accessed 19/12/23)
Examples can include questions like: