Interview Advice

How you perform in an interview will ultimately decide whether you secure a role or not. As such it’s important to understand the basics of interview preparation and to prepare well for each interview you attend. Indeed, good preparation is the key to securing job offers and therefore important in getting the most out of your career.

Acre Career Coaching offers bespoke coaching for interview preparation training. For more information, contact Acre’s career coach Shannon Houde at shannon@acre-resources.com

Basics

  • Chemistry is crucial in interviews. Be yourself and be positive
  • Where there is more than one interviewer share eye contact – think about body language and posture
  • Dress smartly and sensibly regardless of the dress culture at the company
  • Be organised – take a pad and pen, take a copy of your CV and any examples of work which you think may be relevant (not essential)

 

Research the company

  • Key activities
  • History
  • Recent news
  • Performance past and present
  • Company structure
  • Key individuals in the company – especially those who will be interviewing you.
  • Their values and mission statement

Understand how you fit the requirement

Understand the key duties and competencies of the role. In your preparation work through them one by one and write down examples of where you have had involvement with each.

Challenges and achievements

Think about your three key challenges that you have had in your recent professional career and how you overcame them – what positive outcome did this have for the company?
 
Understand your three most impressive work achievements. Make them tangible – how did they support the business? (e.g. save the company money / time / avoid penalties / make money /motivate staff, expand the business etc.)

Review the key duties of the role and assess which of your achievements are most relevant to each.

Strengths and weaknesses

What are your strengths? When have you demonstrated these (think hard about this; they can be technical or non-technical but must be impressive and relevant to the role).
 
What are your weaknesses? All humans have weaknesses. Identify yours and describe how you have overcome, or are seeking to overcome it.

What would your current employers say about you in a reference? How are you perceived by others?

Development

What do you want out of your career? Where do you want to be in three years? How are you going to get there? What have you done so far to demonstrate that you have developed in your career?

Questions

What questions can you ask them? Ask questions which really show an interest in the company and the role. Avoid questions about package and salary at this point. This is your chance to demonstrate that you are interested in them and to find out more about what the job might look like.
 
Don’t be afraid to ask about next steps at the end of the interview and confirm your interest.
 

General

Prepare but don’t over prepare. The key point above is to be yourself. We recommend making notes around the questions above and any others that you might think of. Run through them a few times prior to the interview; by doing this, your key achievements and competencies should spring to mind – ultimately however an interview shouldn’t be scripted - employers want to see the real you.

Switching to a Greener Career

We regularly receive enquiries from professionals looking to switch to a greener career. This growing market attracts individuals from a range of backgrounds such as business development, marketing, engineering, finance and management (up to CEO level).

As a growing sector there are an increasing number and range of job opportunities which allow individuals to combine their previous professional skills, experience and qualifications with their passion for issues linked to sustainability.

Acre has compiled advice and tools to help professionals looking to move into the green market place.

Advice

  • Start by researching the sector you want to work within and identifying where your skills fit
  • Investigate what green initiatives are being run within your own company – is there an opportunity for you to get involved and get some experience? Could you set up an initiative?
  • Tailor your CV to the market you are looking to move into – highlight any relevant experience or transferable skills – show your passion and interest in the sector.
  • Contact Acre to register your CV and we will keep you updated with suitable opportunities we may have.
  • Remain proactive with your job hunting. Build a network of contacts within the sector, and ask them for referrals in to the market.
  • Use social media and networks (of which there are a growing number) to keep up to date with changes and news in the sector and to help grow your network of contacts.

Acre Career Coaching offers bespoke career coaching for individuals looking to transfer their skills into the sustainability and green job markets. For more information, contact Acre’s career coach Shannon Houde at shannon@acre-resources.com