Thursday, February 5, 2009

The Show and Tell Tactic For Technical Job Interviews

By Isabella Martins

One tactic that lends itself to job interview for technical posts is the present to and tell strategy. In this article we will go through how you could use this specific strategy in your own job interview

The grounding of this technique lies in the finding that interview boards are more moved by candidate showing them what they have done - which thereby demonstrates the ownership and use of the essential and desirable skills - than by just informing the job interview panel that "I am a good team player" and "I am have good counselling skills", etc

You have to be ready to display your work, if you are able to engineer the opportunity. Be prepared to show off what you have done in order to convey the notion that you do indeed possess the skill set that they seek. To make this happen, your two tasks are:

1. Introduce the Invitation

2. Produce Your Project

To introduce the invitation, there are a series of words that you could consider using were the opportunity to arise:

* If you're interested I could present to you...

* If you wanted to know more, I have the (report) with me right here...

* If it would be appropriate, you could have a look at...

* I have a written precis of the project here, if you wanted to see it...

* If it would help...

You also need to be ready to show your work whenever the time comes, right at the interview. In order to do this, pick out one or two projects that you could use for this strategy. Choose the projects that * have work already in a written or electronic form * which sell the most amount of skills, which are relevant for the post that you are being interviewed for * that would be most likely brought up in the job interview

Be ready to react to the questions that will naturally follow from the job interview panel, when they scan this report for the first time. Remember, that the points that they mention when they meet your work "cold" are probably going to be different to those that you expect. You may want to ask a family member to go over your work and suggest what a "first timer" might ask you.

You may also want to consider leaving a copy of this work with them to review at their leisure. Ensure that it is well presented and looks professional. It will help them remember you when they are going through their post job interview discussion of the versatile candidates

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