If you regularly interview candidates for internal roles

[TR888]

...what are the dealbreakers? What is something you definitely mustn't or must do?

Any tips are welcome!

Any tips?

Surely it’s the same as any interview?

Deal breakers for who?

For me they have to be able to show they live and breath the company culture and values
Have the customer as their number 1 focus and the skill and/or will to learn the role.

Depends what your interviewing for though.

You need to answer the questions as if the panel are strangers, don't assume they know you know the answers. That's the biggest mistake internal candidate make in my experience.

Listen to the question. If the interviewer repeats or rephrase it, that means your first answer didn't hit the mark - don't just repeat it.

If they ask "give me an example of a time when you have ..." E.g. given good customer service, don't say " I always do that". Give an actual example and bring it to life.

Agree with not assuming the interviewer knows what you're talking about - especially in a massive corporate.

When I ring to say I'm not offering the job and offering to book a feedback session with you, don't tell me I am making a mistake and refuse the feedback. And then apply for another job in the team a month later 🙄

For me, if they’ve got to interview stage I’m confident they can do the job. The interview is about how they’ll fit into the team, fill any gaps that might be missing and their behaviors/attitude to work.

If you know the team, think about what you’ll add to it.

Thanks! That's great advice. This is an interview in a very large organisation. I'm very out of practice as it's my first interview in over ten years... 😅

I'd agree with don't assume the interviewer knows you know. Treat them as a stranger.

Also my bar for internal candidates is higher in terms of understanding what the team does and how it fits into the org strategy, challenges, ecosystem, culture, etc. It's so frustrating at the end of an interview when you ask "any questions for us?" An internal candidate's question is to ask me to describe the team objectives, or structure, or anything else that is published internally and easily available on the company intranet.

Find out the format of the interview.

our corporate interviews are points based on our published “competencies”

go through each value and put together an example of how you have used or demonstrated each point.

some interviews will be purely based on showing these values. Some will have role based expertise, some a combination. Find out.

I’m interviewing for my replacement at the moment.

I’d recommend if possible getting in contact with someone in the role already to get a sense of their actual responsibilities, asking about strategy, priorities, team dynamics.This will make your questions more informed and demonstrates that you have taken the time to learn more.

Have a good answer for why you want this role.