What Employers look for In the Interview

These are the 6 key skills and competencies looked for by employers today

Teamwork
The ability to work as part of a team, often referred to as being a ‘team player’, is a trait commonly referred to in many different types of job descriptions. There can be various reasons why an employer would choose to place specific emphasis on this quality, but as a general rule, being able to work as part of a team shows an employer you are able to integrate well into that organisation. As such, it goes a long way towards reassuring them that you have the right qualities needed for that role. That’s why whenever evidence of this is exhibited in an interview, it always tends to have the effect of putting an employer at ease and reassuring them about your abilities

Giving strong verbal examples of times where you have helped fellow colleagues, or just speaking enthusiastically about memorable times where you’ve worked well together alongside your colleagues, is particularly effective

Example
‘An example of one of the many times I’ve exhibited great teamwork was when I helped a close colleague manage an account while they were away on annual leave. By reading over the notes and bringing myself fully up to speed in the first instance, and by effectively communicating with my colleague and following up with them regarding the questions I had pertaining to agreed action dates in the second, I was able to quickly familiarise myself fully with the account. By judiciously following through with the actions that needed to be taken to resolve this, including several phone calls to the client, as well as numerous emails to back-office teams, I was able to resolve this account by the time my colleague got back from holiday. For me, all the hard work I put in was really worth it, and it was a really rewarding feeling to give my colleague the good news upon their return’.

Communicative Ability
This is valued as a fundamental competency by most employers, and as such, is commonly seen on many different types of job descriptions. The ability to communicate effectively gives an employer the reassurance that you will be able to engage meaningfully with both customers and fellow work colleagues alike. In this respect, if you can successfully exhibit this trait by giving strong verbal examples of great times where you’ve utilised strong communicative abilities in your role, it will be taken not only as an indication that you’ll be able to perform your duties well, but in today’s job market, it will also be seen as a sign that you’ll have no trouble fitting into your new team as well as into the culture of the company itself.
As a competency, communicative ability is most effectively emphasised where specifically mentioned in a job description

Example
‘In my job at the collection depot, I regularly processed requests for the collection and disposal of unwanted bulky items. In this role, I was responsible for assessing the scope of the requests that were communicated to us by our customers. This not only enabled me to quote bespoke prices for our collection services, but also allowed for me to assess the practicality of each removal request, including the safety and cost implications for the proper disposal of these items too. I dealt with varying types of requests on a daily basis, and as I was unable to inspect these items in person, effective communication was essential in order to run a safe and cost-effective service.
In this role, I found that simple, straightforward communication was the most effective means of doing this. I can recall one such instance where a customer had contacted us to have a number of cardboard boxes removed. It was a matter of priority as the council had ordered them to be removed within the next 2 weeks or they faced being fined. A colleague had been corresponding with the customer, and had asked them for pictures of the boxes. Upon receiving these, they’d noted there were some nondescript items in the boxes that hadn’t been listed on the initial removal request. They’d corresponded back with the customer, requesting additional pictures and asking for more information about these contents, but the customers response had been very vague and no additional pictures had been provided. As I was really effective at dealing with customers and getting information from them, I picked this request up on my colleagues behalf. Having this information was very important because we needed it to determine how much approximate extra weight these items would add to the order, and what, if any, health and safety risks they posed. We also needed to determine what, if any, additional measures would need to be taken to safely dispose of these items too. All this information was needed before we could issue a quote and offer our services. Instead of simply asking the same questions my colleague had, I made sure the first thing I did was convey the importance of having this information so we could offer a quote for our services. I also communicated the exact information that I needed to progress this forward for them; which was the additional pictures of items inside the boxes, along with a detailed description of what the items actually where. I finished by reiterating that without this information, we wouldn’t be able to progress their removal request for them. By explaining why I needed this information, and by making it implicitly clear that without it we would not be able to proceed, I was able to get the what we needed from the customer. This allowed us to send on a quote which they accepted, and we were able to provide a great service by removing the items for them the following day’.

Leadership Ability
Employers need a workplace that operates efficiently. Even when not actively hiring for a leadership role, often times, employers will associate those who can lead others with the type go-to person in the workplace that can make a difference, someone who can motivate others and be relied upon to execute important tasks when required. What’s more, there are usually a myriad of other important skills an employer will often associate this trait with too including teamwork, strong communication skills, and initiative. The ability to lead others indicates that you are a strong and capable person, that’s why employers will often associate strong leadership qualities with the type of person that has the necessary skills needed to undertake the types of duties required for that role. Leadership qualities can be expressed in many different ways depending on the role in question. For example, you can do this through great verbal examples of times where you have motivated and supported fellow co-workers, or of times where you have taken charge during workplace emergencies and helped your colleagues through challenging situations when things like systems down issues have occurred. Or, you can even emphasize pivotal times where you’ve taken charge during important group projects or workplace assignments. On top of this, leadership ability also leads into other important qualities too, such as ambition, reliability, and persuasive ability. That’s why, where leadership qualities are highlighted in an interview, whether they are specified as part of that roles core job duties or not, they always tend to be highly impactful on any employer when hiring decisions are made

Example
‘An example I can give you of a time where I exhibited great leadership ability was when I had a 3-week window to get a small but important construction project completed. Due to incoming inclement weather conditions and projected cost overruns, this schedule was moved up by a full week. We all knew this would be really difficult to do, and would mean working longer hours. But by giving it 110%, leading by example, and by offering my team constant praise and encouragement, as well as being on hand to provide guidance and support whenever someone in my team needed it, I’m really proud to say we got the project completed on time’.

OR, another example could go something like this
‘I noticed growing lines in the supermarket where I worked. Sensing the urgency, I decide to step up. Even though it wasn’t my designated role, I came off of shelf stacking duties and moved quickly move to assist the checkout team by helping to bag items for our customers. I directed my nearby colleagues who where performing similar duties to do the same. This helped speed up the process and the lines started to go back down again. It gave time for one of the floor managers to come over and direct things further, and from there we were able to go back to resuming our regular duties again’.

Problem – Solving Ability
Another one of the most common traits employers look for today is problem solving ability. Employers have a set amount of resources allocated for processes in the workplace. Employees have to work within the confines of these processes to deliver the most effective solutions possible. As such, an employer is usually highly impressed if you can provide striking verbal examples of times where you have worked within the confines of company guidelines and found effective ways to overcome problems. This is also a competency that can lead into many other interrelated areas too such as resourcefulness, resilience, and teamwork, and as such, it gives you a lot of leeway with the types of examples you can put across. Everyone will encounter problems in their place of work, that’s why employers will always be impressed with any candidate who can provide verbal evidence that they can deal with these effectively!

Example
‘As a manager, I had to come up with a quick solution to a problem when several of our staff went off sick during the last pandemic. I solved the problem by taking quick action to amend our staff rota. By amending the shift patterns and swiftly communicating these changes to each of my team members, we were able to maintain the staffing resources needed to help us through this exceptionally difficult time’.

Initiative
It’s been proven that employers associate initiative with someone who anticipates situations and takes proactive actions to solve them before they become problems. When polled, employers said this was one of the things they needed from their staff. You’ll score even more points with this competency too though, because initiative is also commonly associated with employees who are able to work under minimal supervision. It’s this later trait that resonates most with employers, because they also want candidates who can be relied upon to get on with the job and that won’t have to be constantly supervised and told what to do, so if you can convince an employer you can do this, its guaranteed to go a long way towards landing you the role!

Example
‘Last summer I was working in a busy finance department, where I processed and dealt with the financing needs of our valued clientele. While going through the team inbox, I could see that a customer had contacted us several times recently regarding an application they had made to purchase one of our excellent products through a finance arrangement. The application was awaiting processing, and while I knew our system would probably assign this to someone in my team automatically within 72hours, rather than make the customer wait any longer, I took the initiative and went ahead and processed the paperwork right there and then. It pleased me to know that by taking just a small amount initiative in this way that I could make a big difference to a customer who I’d never met before. I was also really pleased that the paperwork went through without a hitch, which meant that within the next 24 hours our customer would get the financing they needed and deserved’.

Willingness to Learn
A trait sought after by employers in many entry level roles, you’ll find this is usually required where the job description states you’ll be required to learn and develop in that role, or where on the job training is provided. Employers usually associate this trait with candidates who have a positive mental attitude and have a motivation to want to perform well in that role. As such, convincing an employer that you have a willingness to learn either through the demeanour you exclude, or through the striking verbal examples you provide, is a highly effective tactic that has been proven to be very effective indeed with employers

Example
‘Having recently entered the workplace I don’t have a work-related example I can provide you with, however, I do have some great personal examples I can share with you instead. One of these is from a time when I was in college and undertaking a very challenging course. I really wanted to learn and take in as much as possible so I would be ready when examine time came. Because I’m always so well prepared, I’d already read through the course material before the module was due to start. I realised there was high component of maths involved, and while I’m proficient in this area, some of it seemed quite advanced. I was unsure I would be able to do this, so I contacted my tutor and they recommended some primer courses. By taking the time to complete these primer courses, it was big factor in helping me pass the actual course itself. Not only was I more confident going into it, but I definitely learned and retained more of the material too, not to mention it also made the course a lot more fun as well!’

There are many more types of skills and qualities that are highly valued by employers in the job markets of today. Things like Adaptability, Ambition, Attention to Detail, Business Acumen, Continuous Improvement, Creative Thinking, Customer Focus, Flexibility, Listening Ability, People Management, Persistence, Relationship Building, Resourcefulness, Strategic Vision, as well as so much more…

It’s up to employers themselves, along with the HR consultancy agencies they often work with, to determine the exact nature of the areas they want to assess you on in the interview, and with potentially hundreds of different qualities and competencies to choose from, there is no doubt that it can often be difficult to know for sure what an employer might be looking for. However by reviewing the job description in the first instance, and by having faith in your own abilities in the second, taking the time to conduct proper preparation means you’ll not only be able to walk into the interview with more confidence, but will also be giving yourself the best possible chance at landing the role ahead of the other candidates who are competing against you

Lastly – Embrace the interview process
This piece of advice is one of the most important ones of all

People can sometimes approach the interview process with trepidation, cynicism, and even distain, and in such cases, they will find it much more difficult to get the results they want during the interview process itself. That why it’s essential that you embrace this process to the fullest extent possible

While this may mean different things to different people, the point is that in the long run, when it comes to interviewing, you’ll find you get out what you put into it

Interviewing to some extent is a fickle process, unfortunately there is no way around it

Employers and interviewers respond better to candidates who understand this fact and embrace it. While the handshakes and smiles can sometimes seem superficial, while telling the interviewer how much you like the company, telling them how much you admire all their great achievements, and saying nothing but only good things about yourself can seem highly generic at times, that’s the reality of how interviews are. There is a methodology to this though. Remember that you only have very a limited amount of time with the interviewer, and in that time, they will not only try to get to know you, but more importantly, will use what you tell them to determine if you’re a better ‘fit’ for the role than the rest of the other candidates you’re competing against

For instance – Let’s consider the following
‘I used to work in customer service. When I went to interview for a new role, I really wondered about what I was going to say. No one wakes up one day and says, I really want to work in customer service when I grow up. I really can’t wait to get into the customer service profession and start dealing with all the problems people have, and enjoy a role where I have to stress over lots of different problems I didn’t create in the first place’.

While you may think this, you can’t go into an interview and say it.
It’s up to you to the find things that you like about the job, and to accentuate and emphasis these positives to the best of your ability, leaving out the negatives unless asked directly about them, at which point, any points you do raise will need to be put across in the most constructive way possible

To this end, speaking enthusiastically about our past and present employers always comes across really well, whether it’s about highly important things, or everyday mundane issues. Although from our perspective, as interview candidates it can seem rather unfair that based on solely on what we say, it can make all the difference as to whether we get the job or not, regardless of the skill level and motivation we have to perform the role. When we consider the methodology behind this interviewing dynamic from an employer’s perspective, it begins to make a bit more sense though.
In the interview, an employer has no way to verify everything you tell them. For that reason, they will normally take what you have to say at face value. Therefore, we should ask ourselves in this sort of circumstance, if you were an employer, what types of employees would you like to have?
Wouldn’t you like to hire employees that have great things to say about you and your company. Today’s employers certainly do! Moreover, if a candidate can easily express such sentiments in an interview, it does actually tend to translate across to how well they will express this on the job too.
This is why what we say and how we say it are highly important things to an employer, and will be considered accordingly in an interview

As an individual, it feels good to have someone in your corner. To have someone argue your merits and promote the things you stand for. Employers feel exactly the same way! That’s one of the reasons why keeping everything simple and positive and having great things to say about yourself and your employer can make all the difference when you go for your interview

Almost everyone has something they don’t like in their role that they can gripe about. Employers understanding this, they understand there are challenges and problems in the workplace, which is exactly why they are looking for candidates who can get on with their duties and make the best out of the situation and get the job done

Show the employer that you understand this, show them that you understand you need do the job with the tools they provide you with, and better yet, that you’re enthusiastic about doing so! Because if can, you’ll be putting yourself ahead of the competition and giving yourself the best chance possible of landing the role

The money has been spent on the system, the training, the tools, and from there, the rest is up to you! Employers need staff they can rely on to get the job done. Show them that you’re the right person for the role by expressing your desire and commitment to want to work for them, then follow this through with strong verbal examples of situations that accentuate your competency and enthusiasm to perform the duties involved in that role

It’s almost said to the point of a cliché, but it’s quite true. By keeping everything positive in the interview, by having great things to say about yourself and your employer, and ultimately, by embracing the interview process itself, you’ll be giving yourself the best chance possible of putting yourself ahead of the competition and landing the role you’ve worked so hard for when your next interview arrives