Why the interview format matters

What exactly is the interview format, and why does it matter to you? Well, format is the way in which something is presented, organized, or arranged. So, the format will dictate exactly what it is you will face on your big day.

Knowing the format you can expect will allow you to tailor your interview preparation accordingly to give you the best chance of interview success. Make sure you are ready, no matter what type of interview you will face.

Common Interview Formats

Telephone Interview

Commonly used during the initial screening process to reduce a pool of candidates down to a more manageable number for face to face interview. They offer the employer the benefit of being quick and cheap. For you they present a number of challenges.

You can learn more about the phone interview here

Group Interview

Here you are rubbing shoulders with your competition. They are often used in graduate interviews, or when a large pool of seemingly equal potential candidates needs to be whittled down quickly.

To learn more about the group interview - click here

One on one

This is the traditional interview format that most of use imagine when we think of the job interview scenario. You, and employer, going through the typical question-answer scenario. They tend to fall into two broad categories, depending on the company and the personal style of the interviewer; The structured interview focuses on the core competencies and employs a set series of questions to examine your possession of them, whereas an unstructured interview follows a much more conversational style of questioning, at the interviewers whim. You have a much greater opportunity to influence the course of the interview in an unstructured interview.

Panel Interview

During a panel interview a group of two or more will interview you. They will usually be from different areas of the business and will each ask you questions. That aside it tends to follow the familiar pattern of the structured interview

Interview Presentations

In some roles you may be asked to give a presentation. Its common in sales roles as a test of your confidence, communication, and ability to win people over. Its also a test of your interview preparation, and ability to handle interview nerves.

To learn more about interview presentations click here

Make sure you are ready for any interview format by getting the job interview information . Do some work beforehand and find out what type of interview will be used. When its all over, you’ll be glad you did.

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