OK, so Rowan Manahan only asked for one tip on his blog (see Definitive Job-Hunt) but I don’t care, I’m giving you another one!
Here’s a question you might well be asked in an interview: “Why do you want this job?”
Note the pronoun: “this”.
Not “a”.
This.
During my time in recruitment, it amazed me how many people seemed to misunderstand this question. “Why do I want this job?” they would seem to ask themselves silently. “Surely they mean: Why do I want a job?” And they would proceed to explain why they felt being in employment was, in principle, better than being poor, thus leaving the interviewers with the impression that they didn’t particularly want to work with us.
Our conclusion was almost always: “Well, we certainly want to hire a person, just not this person.” And in the cases where we did hire such a person, they usually left after six months when the job they actually did want came along.
So here’s the thing:
Actually want the job you are going for, know why you want it and be able to express why you want it.
I’m sure you will see variations on this theme in the Definitive Job-Hunt.
Kind regards,
Declan Chellar
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