Interviews are still the primary method of selecting candidates for jobs with the interviewer generally wanting to spend about an hour getting to know each candidate.
As well as filling job vacancies, interviews might be the chosen method to choose recipients of awards, grants or acceptance onto training schemes. Whatever the ‘prize’ on offer, the advice of how to prepare and make the best of the opportunity is much the same.
Increasingly, phone interviews and Skype are used after shortlisting to select the most appropriate applicants they would like to meet face-to-face.
Sarah Milburn, agricultural recruitment consultant with De Lacy Executive, says she uses phone interviews to get to know candidates before putting their CV forward to a client.
She says: “I am looking to get a picture of what the person is like – are they polite? Do they ask questions? Do they appear to be answering questions honestly or avoiding certain issues?”
Skype may then be used for preliminary interviews if, for example, the candidate lives a long way from the company, she explains.
“If you are using Skype, make sure you check your camera and microphone are working in advance and be ready five minutes before your appointment time in case someone dials in early.”
Larger companies may use personality tests and assessment days. Machinery companies particularly like to set candidates practical tasks as well as the straight-up one hour interview, says Sarah.
“I am increasingly seeing this for jobs in the food supply chain and grain sector too.”
Taking a test or shadowing an existing employee after the interview are likely too, depending on the role.
She says: “Most commercial jobs will involve a presentation – this is normally in a second interview.”
Agricultural Worker Job Interview Questions & Answers
During a job interview, the hiring manager wants to discuss several things. Think of your:
Below you find a list of commonly asked interview questions.
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Don’t let your body language let you down!
Candidates are often anxious about being scrutinised…
…particularly when interviewed by a panel, and can be worried about being able to sell themselves.
We all know what we say is just one small part of how we communicate with others.
We make judgements and inferences on others from their ‘non-verbal behaviour’ (body language), which can heavily influence who we choose to work with.
But social psychologist and professor and researcher at Harvard Business School Amy Cuddy says this non-verbal behaviour affects how we feel about ourselves which can alter our behaviour and success in situations such as job interviews.
She says: “Our bodies change our minds, our minds can change our behaviour and our behaviour can change our outcomes.”
In her talk given at a TED global conference in 2012, which has since been viewed online more than 27 million times, she says adopting more ‘powerful’ body language triggers hormonal changes which make us feel and act more confident.
A ‘high power pose’ is one where the body is opened up, made bigger and takes up more space, for example standing with hands on your waist.
The opposite is also true – a ‘low power pose’ (for example, shoulders hunched, legs crossed and arms folded) will trigger hormonal responses in the body which makes us feel powerless.
Just two minutes of holding a ‘high power pose’ could result in a 20 per cent increase in the dominance hormone testosterone and a 25 per cent decrease in the stress hormone cortisol, she says.
“Tiny tweaks can lead to big changes.”
She advises spending two minutes before stressful situations in a power pose – out of sight of others if need be.
She says: “Configure your brain to allow it to cope the best in the situation. Do not leave the situation feeling like, you didn’t show them who you are. Leave the situation feeling like, ‘I really feel I got to say who I am and show who I am’.”
Fake it till you make it. Do it enough until you actually become it and internalise the process.
In stressful situations such as interviews, we can easily find ourselves making mistakes. Richard Maun, Norfolk-based career coach and author of Job Hunting 3.0 shares his advice on how to avoid some common interview pitfalls: