i am crap at interviews :(

[bunnybabylon]

i waffle and gabble and never know what to say even though i rehearse it for days :(

is there a book to help me! it's getting me down now

How do you rehearse? It helps to practise with a real live person who can give you feedback. Maybe you don't waffle as much as you think.

Otherwise, you could give your answers some structure by fitting them into one of the frameworks for answering interview questions. Google "STAR approach" for one example.

Me too. Just had a day long interview consisting of presentations, in tray exercises etc and then facing a panel of 7! Received constructive feedback stating it was obvious I knew my stuff but that with my nerves I made careless errors e.g lack of eye contact at times, mistakes I never would usually make. I feel physically ill at the thought of interviews and desperately need a job! The job went to a far less qualified (and cheaper) token male (bitter, me)?!
Any advice more than welcome please.

Have you tried your library? Loads of books in mine, really helpful
I think the more you know your stuff the less nervous you'll be

i really do know my stuff which is so annoying! i just can't seem to get it across, the STAR approach does look helpful will research that more tomorrow. Will also try library, looked in so many book shops didn't really think about the library.

:( Janji that sucks

I know how you feel!! Its 'BUZZ' words I don't get; they score you on them but how do you know what they want you to say!? Somebody should come up with a definitive list

Thanks bunnybabylon! Yes it does! Especially when main interviewer said off the record that she reckoned I should be going for higher level positions in view if my experience. WTF?

The STAR approach is really good if you're answering competency based questions as it enables you to put your answer into chronoligical order, which is the natural way we talk about things, rather than saying I did this, that and the other because of this and then I thought of something else.... It helps you get your thoughts in order and give a good answer which also helps the interviewing panel understand what you did. And I say this as an interviewee and an interviewer!

And once you've got your answers sorted into STAR order the most effective practice is to say them out loud over and over again. To yourself is good enough. It really helps you eliminate all the erms, ums and sticking points and to get your response into a format that you can be confident to give at interview. And lots of people don't like hearing themselves speak, this technique really helps you to get over that.

And most interview panels are happy for candidates to take notes in with them. As an interviewer my view - and that of my colleagues - is that the candidate has come well prepared if they have taken the time to do that. We are not interviewing for the person with the best memory. I took notes into my last promotion interview. It was just a sheet divided up into the 4 competencies I was being tested against and I just had bullet points of examples I could use to show how I had demonstrated them and I'd practiced all the answers using STAR. I only had to refer to it once but I got the promotion.

As an interviewer I would much rather someone quickly referred to their notes than sat there like a rabbit in the headlights desperately trying to remember what they had done and waffling through an answer.

Hope this helps OP and Janji. I've had some dreadful interviews in the past, some I still cringe about. I only learnt this stuff when I was asked be part of a recruitment panel.

A few weeks ago I had one of my first interviews in years, after being made redundant in February. The main interviewer stopped my half way through my second question and said something to the effect of 'keep it really short. All I want to know is that you can do the job and are enthusiastic about fixing the things you're not so good at".

Looking at the star approach, I was doing all of that with bells on. I wasn't anywhere near succinct enough.

I spent the rest of the interview trying not to cry because I'd totally blown it and made myself look like a complete rambling schoolgirl. But I took his comments on board and basically spent the rest of the time saying 'Yes I can do that, I've done it before' or 'I've only got a theoretical idea of how that works but I know I can apply myself to make it work'. Well, I was concentrating more on not crying than making sure I got a detailed answer out.

Anyway, I got the job: my worst interview ever, and I got it! I was so surprised! I start in a couple of weeks.

Very well done Stetsons congratulations. He sounds like an absolute arse though, not letting you answer the questions properly and wrong footing you! Then again it sounds like a great interview not having to give long detailed answers but I can understand how it totally unsettled you. Best of luck with the new job!

A competent interviewer can see when someone is stricken with nerves, and should try to put them at their ease, otherwise they won't see the 'real' candidate.

I'm a freelancer now, so interview success is absolutely essential for me. I always do some research the company beforehand - being able to demonstrate some knowledge about the hiring company & its goals says to the interviewer that I am serious about wanting the role, and demonstrates enthusiasm. I always have a list of questions ready to ask at the end, as I find interviewers generally like to talk about their company, their team, their role, and it gives me chance to add in any relevant experience that I've not already cited in the interview questions.

I built up my confidence by practicing stock answers to standard questions, and saying them out loud until the sentences flowed. I also practiced my body language - sitting up straight, leaning slightly forward, maintaining eye contact.

If I find myself rambling, or can't remember how my sentence actually began or what point I'm answering I just stop talking - I end the sentence and smile confidently. They just ask the next question, and the interview moves on.

HTH

I agree with you Sleep we always try to help very nervous candidates and give them a more leading question to try and help them to give an answer but it is so difficult when you are trying to help them and nerves have just taken over and they've gone blank. Sometimes the more leading question works and they find their feet and sometimes it unfortunately doesnt. I've been there as a candidate and it's horrible.

And it's quite ok to say 'sorry I think I'm rambling/went off on a tangent there' and revise your response. We do take account of nerves, we're just looking to see that you can back up what you put on your application form and you know what you're talking about. We aren't Lord Sugar in the Boardroom! And as scary as the interview panel might be, it may well be that it's their first turn interviewing. In my first promotion interview one panel member was clearly more nervous than I was and I was terrified!

Star is fab and makes sure you get the whole 'story' in without missing the important bits like tge result.

Thanks Busters. Bearing in mind my arrival at the interview was, shall we say, creatively timed after being stuck behind an accident, then not being able to find the building, I was in such a fluster that I completely forgot how to give proper answers. So a stern talking to did me the world of good.

I came out feeling like I'd been stripped alive, but through all of it, I could see he was trying to help me. I figured if I could see that while I was in the middle of it, then he probably wasn't too scary to deal with on a daily basis. He obviously liked something about me and wanted me to give him good enough answers to justify giving me the job. Or something like that.

Will stop hijacking now though, sorry OP. I found that the best single piece of advice I was given was to just be myself, don't 'try' to impress them IYKWIM.

Good luck, I hope you find something soon!

Sorry to hear about your experiences. I do quite a lot of interviewing and do think as an interviewer you have a responsibility to put people at their ease: otherwise you're not seeing them at their best.

My advice is also to read the brief, job description etc carefully. This week I was interviewing candidates for a job that had a presentation session in the morning. Only one out of three had actually answered the brief. The others basically told us what they thought we should know, but that wasn't what we asked for! Guess who got the job in the end (it wasn't only the presentation that swung it, but it certainly was indicative that she had done her homework, which carried through to the interview).

Oh, and do your homework about the panel if you can. (You can ask who's on it in many cases). It's great if you can tailor your answers to what you know about the panel themselves.

Sounds like a nightmare Stetsons but hope it works out. I've only had one very scary interview panel boss and he was a pussycat when I actually worked for him. Scared the life out of me in the interview tho!