interview tips

Rating Your Own Management Competencies
There follows three separate groups of management competencies against which you will be asked to rate your own performance. If the job that you are applying for does not require any managerial skills then you should skip this section. Otherwise, please answer these questions honestly, as the point of the exercise is to better understand yourself; ahead of the interview. This interview tips page contains fifteen questions in all and you may find it useful to have a copy of your CV or other personal records to refer to. Depending on the job you are applying for, some of the criteria may not be applicable - in which case, ignore them.

Rate your own ability in the following areas.
(1=Poor, 3=Average, 5=Excellent).

1 2 3 4 5 Managing Staff
I could define future personnel requirements
I could contribute to the assessment and selection of candidates
I could develop teams through planning and organization
I could allocate work fairly and effectively
I could evaluate individual performance, providing constructive feedback

1 2 3 4 5 Decision Making Abilities
I could implement and evaluate changes to services/products
I could make recommendations for budgeting and expenditure
I could monitor and control the use of resources
I could plan activities to ensure that objectives are met
I could obtain and evaluate information and make decisions

1 2 3 4 5 Interpersonal Skills
I could establish and maintain the trust of my subordinates.
I could establish and maintain the trust of my immediate manager.
I could identify and minimize interpersonal conflict.
I could counsel subordinates, where necessary.
I could lead group meetings and discussions – re: problem solving.

interview tips - Analyzing Your Scores
It is important that you approach each interview knowing exactly how to sell yourself. Your primary aim at interview is to convince the interviewer that:
1. You would be able to do the job competently.
2. You can bring additional benefits to the organization.
3. You are the best candidate on both of the above counts.

Following the completion of the management competencies questionnaire, you should be able to sketch a profile of your key attributes that you think will best fit the interviewer's impression of the ideal candidate. The interviewer will want to know how competent and adaptable you will be in fulfilling the managerial and administrative aspects of a new job. Therefore they will be asking questions that will be testing your suitability against a variety of job related criteria. When answering the interview questions you will need to look for opportunities to answer in a way that enables you to emphasize your particular abilities. Conversely, you should understand your limitations better and be aware that these may require some careful diplomacy.

interview tips - How to Identify Your Limitations
Thinking about our own limitations may not appear to be part of your normal healthy thought processes. Consequently, you may experience some difficulty in producing an adequate list of these weaknesses. This process can be made easier by considering some of the shortcomings you have experienced in your career to date.

Ask yourself questions like:
1. What were the tasks and situations I have had the most difficulty with?
2. In which instances did my colleagues react negatively towards me?
3. Were there any reasons why my career faltered at any stage?
4. Why am I really leaving my present job?
5. In which areas could I really improve my performance?
6. How could my interpersonal skills be improved?

If you are still struggling with devising a suitable list of your personal limitations, think back to the exercise on 'Assessing Your Strengths' where you ranked your own performance in terms of commonly recognized strength criteria and review your own scores against the following six key criteria:
1. Leadership
2. Judgement
3. Confidence
4. Creativity
5. Tenacity
6. Interpersonal Skills