job interview presentation - going over time

[StillFrankie]

I'm trying to practice the presentation I have to give for my job interview. I have 15 minutes and I'm talking for nearly 30 mins :(

I am aware that I am reading off the slides but at the same time I will need to explain what's on the slides iyswim?

How on earth am I going to keep it short? I've already emailed them a copy of my presentation in advance as requested so I can't really change it now.

I'm really panicking now as presentation skills are a big part of the job and normally I do fine but for this one I keep going over time or rushing/talking fast to get it all in.

Help appreciated!

[Oblique27]

In my view you should NOT read out the slides, that is very tedious for your audience. If they have them in advance, they should have read them so you just need to add the explanation, good luck!

[BlackCatGirl]

I always prefer a less is more approach to presentations, however in your case you can't change the slides without having to explain why at the interview.

What you could do is at the beginning of your presentation say that you are going to summarise the topic and that your slides give more info that the interviewers can refer to later. I would work though your slides and make very high level notes, then practice so you can fit in 15 mins. it will look much better than reading from the slides.

Also, if you have the time try and reduce your notes to key words. practice by using the key words as prompts. This should result in you presenting in a much more natural style and not looking like you are reeling off lines from a pre-prepared script.

Good luck

[Love51]

Choose some slides to flick past. In my experience you aren't allowed to keep.going after the time, so rather than them hearing the first half, choose what you will cut out. Hopefully you csn shoe off your knowledge in.the interview bit. gd luck

[StillFrankie]

I like the suggestion of summarising - perhaps saying if they have anything they would like me to expand on, I can do so at the end of the presentation?

There are questions at the end of the presentation so I guess if I don't go into too much detail then that I would be able to give more info in my answers?

[StillFrankie]

I bloody hate speaking to people though (I have a stammer :( )

[Hoppinggreen]

Do not read off the slides!
The slides should be bullet points that you expand on.
Structure should be agenda, info and summary then ask if any questions. Do not go over the allotted time either.

[StillFrankie]

I have been given hints as to what questions I might be asked too and I'm confused by this question - can anyone explain it better? I'm struggling to think of a scenario, my current role is advisory

Describe through examples drawn from your experience how you measure and take account of the impact of your decisions on external parties.

[BlackCatGirl]

Asking about expanding on any points you have covered in the presentation is a good idea. However, don't leave sections out in the hope that they'll ask about them.

The questions section would be a good place to go into more detail. The fact that only 15 mins has been assigned probably means that they don't expect you to go into huge amounts of detail. They will be looking for someone that can give a clear and concise presentation.

[ginmakesitallok]

What a fabulous question! Very simply I guess for example that if you are advising that someone should see X, then you need to be aware that X might not have enough capacity, that their waiting times might go up? You'd be limited in terms of measuring that impact because unless you have access to their data you'd be depending on publicly available data? Hard to answer without knowing more details

[FadedRed]

YY definitely do not just read the slides. Try to summarise the main points on each slide into a concise statement, one or two sentences only, allow a few seconds pause when you put each slide up for your audiance to read the slide then say your prepared sentence. Allow another very short pause for any questions before moving on to the next slide. Ideally you wouldn't have more than one slide per minute of the presentation, but there's nothing you can do now you have sent the presentation in to them.
IMO it is important not to run over the set time, they'll probably stop you anyway once the 15 minutes is up, so make sure you can see a clock or watch.
Practice as much as you can pre interview so you feel as confident as possible. In front of a mirror is good. I used to put my crib notes on several sheets of paper or card, with the bottom right hand corners turned over so they were easy to pick up to get the next page iyswim.
Better if you can speak without notes, but in an interview situation, discreet crib notes would be safer, but again, try not to be reading from the notes, just have them there to glance at if you need to.
Finish with a slide that says "thank you for your attention. Any questions?" or similar.
Best of luck with the interview.

[yummumto3girls]

Definately stick to 15 minutes, I have had lots of interviews needing presentations, all have been timed and most look quite fidgety once that time has been reached and your still talking - very off putting! Agree less is more! Good luck.

[StillFrankie]

update - I managed to stay within the 15 minutes allocated yay! although I was a bit shaky with my delivery. I think despite being nervous I was still clear.

After the presentation, they had 2 questions. The female interviewer said I had answered most of the other questions in my presentation - I hope that's a good sign. As for the other two questions, I felt at the time I had answered them well although now I realise there is something I should have added to one of the questions.

The competency part went really well I think. I had brought evidence to back up my scenarios and they did look impressed by this.

finally the female explained the role further, she said "as you have already demonstrated in your presentation..." and "as you said earlier..." again is this good?

She asked if after the further explanation of the role, I was still interested and I said yes.

I left the interview feeling really positive, but today via another colleague I found out they have 2 external candidates and what their names were so I googled them. They both seem to have more experience than me :(

Without going into details, the job is 50% one thing and 50% another, I have lots of experience of the first thing and they have all the experience in the other, which I worry is the more important thing if that makes sense?

DH knows one of the external candidates who used to work with him and DH says this guy is a d*ck and that his linkedin profile description of his old job is very exaggerated but of course my employers won't know that will they?

I have gone from feeling positive to feeling scared. I'm supposed to hear by Friday but I'm on holiday for a week! I don't want to spend my holiday worrying about this :(

[StillFrankie]

ps I did my whole presentation without looking at my notes, yay me, I do worry about how fast I was going, I grabbed a glass of water afterwards so I'm now worrying about how fast/nervous I appeared! arrrgh stressed out!

[EBearhug]

It sounds like it went pretty well, and that's the best you can do. The other candidates may look good on paper, but they might screw up in interview. And they may well know about the other candidates - some industries are comparatively small, and most of my current colleagues have previously worked with other people at other companies who I've previously worked with at another company, or know someone who worked there... You just don't know.

You already know that you shouldn't be worrying about it, so me telling you you shouldn't won't make any odds - but do try and focus on having done what sounds like a good job and have a good break!

[FadedRed]

Well done, Op, sounds like you did a good job.
Hope it all turns out well for you.

[StillFrankie]

update - I got the job!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Oblique27]

Brilliant! Your actual skills versus LinkedIn fantasy must have been very clear!

[gonegrey56]

Well done and congratulations ! From your report of the interview you had clearly done well so I am thrilled for you .

[PeterParkerSays]

Well done!

As you found out, then "as you said earlier" stuff is good as it means you're already thinking along the lines they have in mind.

[tribpot]

Yay - just picked up this thread from the point where you'd done the presentation and thought all the feedback you had got pointed to you having done very well. Excellent news - congratulations.

[CloserToFiftyThanTwenty]

Congratulations!

[StillFrankie]

thank you! heading off on holiday later tonight and can actually enjoy it now!

[FadedRed]

Congratulations! Have a great holiday too.

[Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g]

Well done!

On the point of the external man having inflated his CV - I've heard it said that when a man looks at a job description/person specification he thinks 'Well, I can do some of that and bullshit about the rest, so worth a shot!' whereas a woman thinks 'I can do everything except that bit, but of course they will want somebody who can do everything, so I can't apply'. Obviously this is a huge generalisation but I think there is something in it. I've certainly found myself thinking like that in the past.

[StillFrankie]

I think you are spot on Gasp!