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You're Hired! Practical Tips And Techniques For The Confident Interview

Next in our series of blog posts interviewing presenters at the BIALL Conference is Keri Gray from Weekes Gray. Her session is called "You're Hired! Practical Tips And Techniques For The Confident Interview"

BB - First up, why should BIALL members attend your session?

KG - This will be an informal and interactive session. Useful for all levels of industry professionals, we will explore practical tips and techniques to make the most of you before and during interviews. If time allows I will conclude the session with a yoga breathing exercise, so at the very least people should leave feeling relaxed. I have also gone to town on my Powerpoint slides ... more to be revealed on the day!

BB - Difficult question this one, how does the job market look right now? Are you seeing increasing numbers of jobs that BIALL members could apply for or are we still in a period of uncertainty?

KG - The past year has been challenging for everyone. However when new vacancies do arise strong legal knowledge and information skills are always in demand and law remains our strongest sector. Understandably last year many candidates had been ?passively? looking for new roles but following 2009 we have seen an increased commitment and confidence from people to actively seek and commit to new opportunities. This in turn, results in the market place refreshing and new roles becoming available. We all need to be optimistic about our skills and the future of our industry. It?s my role to boost the confidence and self esteem of our candidates not to report bad news, which the media seems to do so well anyway!

BB - Confidence isn't something that comes easily to a lot of people. Without revealing too much now, what are your top tips for appearing confident?

KG - We could all benefit from a small increase in self-confidence whatever the situation, no matter where you start from, everyone can grow in confidence. Make an effort to look after yourself and your image and you will project a professional and confident image to others, as well as feel better about yourself. Take the ?con? out of confidence. Our beliefs don?t have to be true to be powerful. If we believe we aren?t good at something or we think we won?t perform well at interview, more often than not we start to influence the outcome of that situation with negative self beliefs. Start to work at changing your thought patterns or ?conning? how your mind works. Write down 5 positive things about yourself and think about what you could achieve with more confidence and start thinking positively every day. Make an effort to surround yourself with other confident friends or family. Spend time with those who have a positive outlook on life and who help to boost your self confidence and not those who don?t.

BB - Is it true that someone makes their mind up about an individual within the first 30 seconds of meeting you? that's not very long to make a good impression?

KG - First impressions do matter, particularly in an interview situation, and in recruitment we use the terminology ?the horns or halo effect?. Has the candidate arrived on time? Are they calm or flustered, smartly presented or scruffy? What is their body language like, do they make eye contact and have the ability to immediately engage with the interviewer? We live in a society where we are pre-judged and conclusions are jumped at before facts are gathered. It?s important to make a great first impression and I will explore how to work towards achieving this as part of my talk.

BB - I'm guessing you must be fairly confident as you're presenting, are there any work situations where you feel less confident that you'd be happy to share with our readers? and as follow up to that how do you deal with those situations?

KG - Whilst I was growing up my mum always encouraged me to engage with adults and to make new friends. I am an only child and I think she worried that I would be lonely. My job demands that I regularly engage with and present to candidates and clients, most of whom I have never met, so on that basis I have my mum to thank that I am confident in new situations and accustomed to speaking with and meeting new people. If only she would stop making me speak to new people now I am 36!

Running my own business and looking after accounts and IT is a new experience and has been a learning curve for me. There are times when I feel less confident and in those situations I know when I need to ask for help. I regularly attend events where I can network with and learn from other business people. I try to work with a life and/or business coach once a year or when I want to progress and work towards new goals or improve upon certain areas. I think it?s important to break down goals into more manageable tasks and to retain some perspective.

If you hadn?t guessed already I am also a dedicated devotee of personal development books and gurus and if they are Paul Mckenna or American then even better! So I read lots and listen to regular podcasts about confidence and self development.

BB - I've been to a few disastrous interviews myself as an interviewee, have you been to any as an interviewer or interviewee that have been particularly interesting?!

KG - I am certainly more comfortable as an interviewer than an interviewee. I would like to tempt the Delegates to my talk and would like to keep a few stories for the Conference but I did have one ?interesting? interview before setting up on my own. It involved snow and being faced with a panel of SIX interviewers...

BB - Finally, are you looking forward to presenting and have you attended a BIALL Conference before?

I am looking forward to the new opportunity of attending BIALL as a Speaker this year and have enjoyed many previous Conferences as an Exhibitor as well as regular on the dance floor.

Many thanks to Keri for agreeing to answer the questions posed by the BIALL Blogger. The yoga breathing exercise certainly sounds interesting!

Full post as published by The BIALL Blog on May 28, 2010 (boomark / email).