Interview and Resume Writing Tips Part II

Okay, I will move onto the interview proper for this second part. All this advice has been drawn from my experiences interviewing candidates for university admission, for jobs (and I think I have done a fair bit of interviews by now.

The first thing I will say is that Singaporeans really do rather badly at interviews. I don't really know where to attribute this: is it the fault of schools for not teaching students these real-life skills? is it because we don't like to sell ourselves because of our Confucian values? Are we too comfortable? I really don't know. But this is bad news is really good news for those of you that prepare well for your interviews.... the competition ain't that great. So don't really stress if you can't follow all ten tips... I am sure if you do a couple of them well, you will be well ahead of the competition.

#5 Do your homework.
There is simply no excuse for this one. Especially in this day and age of the Internet. Anyplace you interview, you better make sure that you have scoured the web for everything that you can possibly find on the particular company you are interviewing for. I was particularly impressed when one university candidate managed to hunt down an essay I had written in my undergraduate days (of course, she would have scored more brownie points if she had read the essay and came up her viewpoint with regards the points I raised in the essay).

Just as important it is for you to show your numbers in your resume, you must bother to remember the numbers that the company has on its websites. (A company's website is pretty much their resume) If you don't bother to remember these numbers, who should your interviewers reciprocate by remembering your numbers?

Researching the company means you must know what are the key thrusts they are moving to. You can find this in their media mentions and on their websites. After all these are the thrusts they are trying to promote... and you need to know this for the next tip.

#6 Show how you can contribute.
Having done the homework, you know have to show how you can contribute to the mission of the company... with the skills, talents, experiences and passion that you have. You have to show why the agency is going to be better off with you, because if you can't even make this argument, why should they even hire you?

#7 Enjoy the process.

This is perhaps the hardest piece of advice.... but yes, you have got to enjoy the whole process.... In fact the more you enjoy it the more your interviewers will enjoy it... and the person they will pick is the person they simply enjoyed interviewing with, because they want to have the opportunity to continue talking to them.

Congratulations

Would just like to take this opportunity to congratulate all the interns and high fivers on their A level results. I am sure all of you guys did really well. No worries, I am not going to ask the interns to post their results on their blog.

I would like also take this opportunity to wish all of you all the best in applying for university, courses, scholarships. Please tell me if there is anywhere I can help in the process, whether by doling up advice, writing testimonials, or introducing you to some of my friends who may be better placed to advise you.

I have also done up Top Ten List of what to do for interviews which all you will find helpful. I had previously arranged a session on this with the Interns, understand that 2 or 3 of the High Fivers came but had to leave before I could start the session. Anyhows, if there is still sufficient demand, I don't mind conducting another session. (just post comments on this)