To feel sorry for dh?

[TheMeow]

My poor dh can't get a break when it comes to interviews. I know it's the same for a lot of people but he has never "passed" an interview and no-one will tell him why so I can't help him improve his interview technique.

He's worked for the same company since he was 12 where he started as a paperboy and he now holds a "supervisor" level job but only because that's where everyone working at this company ends up. He earns just above minimum wage and he hates everything about the job.

He has applied for so many different kinds of job, some similar to what he does now, some vastly different and the latest one was voluntary so he's even willing to do unpaid work but he gets rejected after every interview.

I feel so upset for him but I don't know what I can do to help.

what about him making an appointment with a life coach or something? Someone who does know about how to present yourself well and who can fake interview him and help him to imnprove?

Bumping this for you. There will be somebody here with insider knowledge of HR who will have some idea.

I'm having a similar problem. I think they can tell I'm so stressed and unhappy. It's very hard to put on a positive persona for interviews... but it's obviously important.

That would be a good idea Hecate, does anyone know any reputable businesses?

Has he tried doing some interviews for jobs he's not interested in (and therefore not nervous) and just using them as training ground to build up his confidence?

I would also say a life coach type person. I'm not in the UK so I don't know what is available. They always seem to stress the importance of the first ten seconds - a bit of eye contact, shake hands, smile. Also having a few sensible questions to ask - about training, size of teams, structures rather than pay and holidays. Getting interviews is good though, his CV must be good... does he have a copy to take to interview, with most relevant parts underlined as a reminder?

I've never thought about taking the cv in with you but it's a good idea.

He doesn't know about this latest one yet, he's not home from work but he asked me to check his emails at lunchtime. It was for the police as a Special Constable and he's going to be absolutely gutted. It makes me want him to not apply for jobs because how much rejection can one person take? It doesn't help that I've only ever been unsuccessful in one interview.

Could part of it be that while he has a lot of experience in his current job, employers see he has only worked for one company and that puts them off?

You would have thought employers would see him working for one company as loyalty, and that the company he works for must value him.

And if they don't he can point it out to them?

I imagine that is an element, but I don't think it's unsurmountable.

Does his CV show how he has changed within that company? CAn he alter his CV so that it shows more how his role has changed so completely over the years that it might as well be a different company?

And, remember, these are hard times..

The company he works for is owned by Tesco and has a very high turnover of staff mainly because they don't treat them very well. They value him so much they don't hesitate to ask him to cover staff shortages 300 miles away (yes seriously) and then still haven't paid his fuel expenses 7 months on.

We will get working on his cv, thanks for all the ideas! Please keep them coming!

This might help -

Adult Careers Service

Maybe he could puff up the troubleshooting element of his job?

I conduct loads of interviews. If he's getting to the interview stage then his CV and application forms are OK as he wouldn't get that far if they weren't.

You can use a professional CV writing service - the ones that interview you over the phone and then write the CV are best. They are more expensive, but better than the template ones, which can be quite obvious to recruiters.

Some other tips.

1. Practice, practice, practice. Ask loads of questions like "what do you think you can bring to this role?" "What skills and experience do you have that make you the right candidate for this post" are common ones that will appear in one form or another at interview. If its public sector, expect a question or two on equality and things like that.

1. Brush up on the company. Read their website. Read what other people have written about them. Use that information to tailor how you answer your question.

1. Come up with a killer answer to "why do you want this job / to work for us".

1. Prepare some questions beforehand. You don't have to use them, but it helps at the end when they ask you.

I'd certainly check out the Adult Career service or see if there are other local services who conduct mock interviews who can interview him and then give constructive feedback.

HTH

Out of interest. I prefer people who have stuck with the same company for a good chunk of time (contractors excepted) as it shows loyalty and that they are worth investing in.

I agree with everything Christmasheave said. I used to do lots of interviewing as well, and agree that if he is getting interviews then the companies think he can do the job. Interviews are about seeing a bunch of people who are qualified to do the job, and seeing who will fit in best with the current team etc.

The sort of questions that we used to use were along the lines of "Tell me about a time you worked in a team to achieve a task and what went well/badly within the team" "Give me an example of when you didn't achieve what you wanted, how did you deal with that". If your DH is getting these types of questions then he should do some thinking about examples.

Do you know anyone who conducts interviews as part of their job role? Can you ask them to conduct a mock interview and do a review afterwards?

You're supposed to do a three part answer to questions:

e.g. How important do you think x is to this job?

Well I think x is really important because y. In my last job I had this relevant experience and learned z. If I were working for you I'd apply this like this.

Do you have any close friends who interview people in their current jobs who could give him practise interviews?

If not you can practise with him - look up sample questions, and practise good answers!

ideas like -

tell me about time when you solved problem / dealt with difficult personality/tell me about a big acheivement / tell me about a time when a task went wrong and what you learnt from it. etc etc