Hi, over the next few weeks I will be publishing regular advice on how to ace your job / university / MBA, or PhD interview. If you would like to book a lesson with me, I will provide you with a 28 page document that I have written with some sample questions and advice on how to answer them. In these articles that I am publishing, you will find a group of questions and the appropriate advice on how to answer them, and in some cases you will even find some sample answers. During a lesson, I will go through the questions with you, let you answer as if you were in an interview environment and then I will check, and if necessary, correct the content of your answer. I hope you find the following information useful and I really look forward to seeing you online if you choose a class with me! I am also offering a 20% discount for any new students for ANY of my lessons. 

Lesson link:

https://cafetalk.com/lessons/detail/?id=11273&key=ec0e3f840eb8c5a75b04f6306f25dd66

• Describe a time you experienced success/failure in a team.

Try to describe a time where you achieved success in the face of adversity, what your input was, and why this input was valuable. If you talk about a failure, make sure you understand why you failed and explain what measures you put in place to ensure the failure never occurred in the future.

• How will you contribute to our classes?

Try to think of the personal qualities you have that will contribute to classroom discussions, maybe it is your professional experience to date, industrial expertise, international experience, or leadership skills etc… Try to relate your personal skillset to the activities that will be required of you throughout the course, and do not forget how these skills can be used to help other students develop.

• Is there anything else you want me to know about you?

This is your chance to tell the interviewer any useful information that may reinforce your application. Your CV only contains limited professional information and the questions asked can sometimes be limiting so try to tell the interviewer something interesting about yourself that has not been discussed previously.

• Do you have any questions or additional comments?

Try to think of intelligent questions that you can ask the interviewer about the course, the university or stories of students who have graduated and gone on to make major achievements in their lives. Maybe you can ask about whether there is an active alumni that you can join once you have graduated

• Why do you want to leave your company to come and study here?

For many, this will be easy to answer and the answer will be similar to that of the question ‘Why now?’.  

- Be prepared to answer questions related to your materials.

- Think of follow-up questions/answers to your initial answers to standard questions.
- Keep your answers brief to maintain a conversational atmosphere (a maximum of 2 minutes in general).

- Dress smartly (a suit/tie/jacket for males, a skirt/trousers, shirt and maybe a jacket for females).

- Be punctual, do not under any circumstances be late. If you have a Skype interview, make sure you are ‘online’ at least 5-10 minutes before the start time. Make sure you are seated in a quiet environment with a plain background, do a sound, microphone, and camera test before the Skype call, and sit upright looking directly into the camera.

- When answering the Skype call, ask if the interviewer can hear and see you clearly, and if necessary adjust any settings on Skype to rectify any problems.

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