GRADUATE GUIDE TO

SUCCESSFUL JOB INTERVIEWS

Summit – Graduate Guide to Successful Job Interviews – Edition 2009-2010

 INDEX
PAGE 3
Purpose of an Interview & Preparation (3 main steps)

PAGE 4
Different Types of Interview

Face to Face

Telephone

Panel

Group

Sequential

PAGE 5
Types of Questions Categories

Competency Based

Technical

Structured

Situational

PAGE 6
Tips for Leaving a Positive Impression

Do’s & Don’ts

PAGE 7
Closing an Interview

Next Steps

PAGE 8-12
Typical Interview Questions and Possible Suggestions

Summit – Graduate Guide to Successful Job Interviews – Edition – 2009-2010

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 PURPOSE OF AN INTERVIEW
The interviews are a crucial part of recruitment process for all employers. From the employer’s
perspective, the purpose of an interview is to assess your suitability for the job. The employer wants to
know
 Can you do the job ( competency matching)

 Will you do the job (job readiness)

 Will you fit with the organization and the future team?

The purpose of the interview for the candidate is to gather more information on the position and
employer and to assess whether you want to work for them. In the interview you should sell your skills
and abilities to the employer and convince them that you are the right person for the job.

PREPARATION
Pre Interview preparation is very important for a job interview. There are three main steps for preparation

 You need to know about the employer

It is important to research and gain knowledge of the employer. This will demonstrate your interest
and motivation to work for the organization. You should visit their website and read through
information that you can get on their recruitment literature, long term strategies and annual report.
Research their business, size and structure and read about their competitors.

 You need to know about the job

You need to know as much as possible about the job in order to assess your suitability for the position
and to show the employer your skills, education, and relevant experience. To understand what the
job involves, it is good to read and understand the job description. Discussing with people already
doing the type of job you are interested in, friends, family, careers advisers and teachers can also
help significantly.

 You need to know about yourself

It is crucial to read your CV, while reading the CV think specifically about the qualities and skills the
employer is looking for. Identify those areas in which your skills and experience match the employer’s
requirements.

Summit – Graduate Guide to Successful Job Interviews – Edition – 2009-2010

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 DIFFERENT TYPES OF INTERVIEWS

Interviews can take many different forms. It is important to understand the different types of interviews
in order to increase your chance of success. Typical types of interviews may be:

1. Face to face interview: This may be a one to one meeting. There may be one or two interviewers
such as a functional specialist or Manager and a member of HR team from the organization.

2. Telephone interview: Telephone interviews are increasingly

used as a vital part of the recruitment process and are
often used by the employers as the first stage of
assessment prior to face to face interviews. You need to
be well prepared for telephone interviews. You should
have your CV in front of you in case the employer asks any
questions related to your skills, qualifications, training or
experience. Remember to sound interested and
enthusiastic. Try to arrange the time and place for the
interview where you won’t be disturbed.

3. Panel Interview: This usually consists

of three or more people sitting on a
panel in one interview. Remember to
maintain eye contact with the person
who has asked the question but to
also look at others as you are answer
the questions.

4. Group Interview: Several candidates are present in a group interview. Each person will be asked
questions in turn. In such situations group discussion is encouraged and you may be invited to ask
questions to the other candidates.

5. Sequential Interviews: These are several interviews in sequence. Each interview can be with a
different interviewer. Generally, each interviewer asks questions relating to different sets of
competencies. However you may face some common questions in different interviews. In that case,
make sure that you answer the questions completely each time.

Summit – Graduate Guide to Successful Job Interviews – Edition – 2009-2010

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 Employers may use different types of questions in an interview. An understanding of types
of questions may help you to answer the questions effectively. The most commonly used
questions are:

1. Competency based questions:

Such questions are based on the
skills and competencies required
for the job. The interviewer may
ask questions such as, “Give me
an example of a time when you
worked under pressure to meet a
deadline.”

2. Technical questions: Technical

questions are asked to assess your technical knowledge of the subject. Questions may focus on
your project work or some hypothetical technical problems.

3. Structured questions: This refers to a set list of questions used by the interviewer. The
interviewer asks all the candidates the same questions.

4. Situational questions: This is where the interviewer will present a scenario and ask a question to
finds out how you may react or deal with the situation. For example ‘Imagine you are
responsible for the account of a well known financial institution, the CEO calls and is very angry
as he has not received the monthly update as agreed. You realize that you had forgotten to send
this out as your manager had asked you to deliver a training course for 3 days. How do you react
and what would you do to solve the situation’

Summit – Graduate Guide to Successful Job Interviews – Edition – 2009-2010

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 TIPS FOR LEAVING A POSITIVE IMPRESSION
 Confirm your attendance by telephone or email.

 Make sure you arrive on time. Know the place and how to reach there in order to arrive around
10 minutes early.

 Be polite and friendly to everyone as you may be assessed from the moment you arrive until you
leave.

 Dress suitably and conservatively. It is advisable to wear a suit or National dress for UAE /Gulf
Nationals. Be smart and formal. Avoid wearing bright/loud colours.

 Remember to take with you – your CV, pen, notebook with any questions you are planning to ask
at interview, copy of job advertisement, copies of references and certificates can be presented
in a file for the employer to view which will show initiative and good organizational skills.

 First impressions are crucial – smile as you greet people and if culturally appropriate give a firm
handshake if the interviewer offers his/her hand. Maintain eye contact.

 You should sit upright when asked to sit. Avoid slouching

and crossing arms or legs to show a positive, respectful
and open approach.

 Show your interest, enthusiasm and motivation to do the

job and work for the organization. Lean forward slightly
to show you are interested in what the interviewer is
saying.

 Make sure you understand the question and try to give

brief answers supported with relevant examples. Ask for
clarification if you don’t understand the question
correctly.

 Speak clearly at a moderate pace. Taking a deep breath

before you start speaking may help reduce your anxiety.

 Remember to be yourself. Keep emphasizing on the positive aspects of your personality but
don’t put on an act.

Don’ts

1. Don’t be negative- avoid speaking negatively about yourself, your work and previous employers
or professors.

2. Don’t talk too much and give irrelevant information.

3. Don’t overestimate the interviewer’s expertise and have confidence in your specialist subject
knowledge. If the interviewer seems to be a functional specialist you could answer the question
using technical terms otherwise keep your language simple when communicating with a non
specialist interviewer.

Summit – Graduate Guide to Successful Job Interviews – Edition – 2009-2010

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 CLOSING AN INTERVIEW: YOUR QUESTIONS

It is very important to ask relevant questions. Usually you are given the opportunity to ask questions at
the end of the interview. It is advisable to ask at least two relevant questions. This allows you to show
confidence, interest and enthusiasm. You may ask about the organization’s graduate development
programme and opportunities for continuous professional development, or about the working culture,
values and organization’s priorities for the coming year and future growth. You may raise a question
related to information or responses given by the interviewer during the interview. Avoid asking questions
about the holidays, salary and other benefits at this stage unless raised by the employer.

If the interviewer does not inform about when you

should expect to know the outcome of the interview
and what will be the next stage of the process, you
should ask this information at the end.

Finally, remember to thank the interviewers and re-

state your interest in the job.

NEXT STEPS

1. Keep a record of interviews you have attended. Reflect on the interview and make notes of your
thoughts about the job and the organization.

2. If you have not received any information from the employer by the date they stipulated, it is
advisable to contact the HR team by phone or email and enquire about the status of your
application.

3. If your interview has been unsuccessful, you should ask

if you can have feedback on your performance this will
help you to understand the areas that you need to work
on further for your next interview. Remember most
people attend more than 1 interview before being
offered a post. Practice makes perfect!

Summit – Graduate Guide to Successful Job Interviews – Edition – 2009-2010

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 TYPICAL GRADUATE APPLICANT INTERVIEW QUESTIONS & POSSIBLE SUGGESTIONS
Below is a sample list of interview questions which will help you to prepare for future interviews.
This is not a definitive list however we have tried to give you a range of typical questions that
employers in the UAE may ask. From our research with local companies we have identified some of
the more common questions with ****

1. TELL ME ABOUT YOURSELF****

This is a common question asked at interviews. Often employers use an open question like this to
allow you to talk about yourself and feel at ease at the beginning of the interview. You should have
a short statement prepared in your mind although be careful that it does not sound too rehearsed.
You should aim to highlight specific aspects or relevant achievements from your course and
mention any work experience you have. If you have limited work experience or no work experience
you could highlight positive activities you have been involved in either currently or recently. If you
can try to relate these to the position you are applying. Start with the item farthest back and work
up to the present. You should spend no longer than about 2 minutes on this question.

2. WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT THIS ORGANIZATION ?

This question is one reason to do some research on the organization before the interview. Find out
what are the major areas of the business and current projects or initiatives that the company is
involved. Most organizations will have a lot of information about their activities on their web site,
some may also have supplementary information like their annual reports which can provide useful
information and insight into their operations and turnover.

3. THINK OF A TIME WHEN YOU WERE DOING SOMETHING AS PART OF A TEAM.

DESCRIBE THE SITUATION AND EXPLAIN THE PART YOU PLAYED?
In this type of question you need to think of an example of working as part of a team to achieve
something positive this could be a sports team, part of a club, organizing an event as part of a team
or an experience from your internship where you worked as part of a team. Be sure to have
examples that can show the skills you used as a team member like planning, organizational skills, co-
coordinating and commitment. Specifics that show you often perform for the good of the team
rather than for yourself is good evidence of your team attitude.

4. EXPLAIN HOW YOU WOULD BE AN ASSET TO THIS ORGANIZATION ****

You should be prepared to consider the skills the employer is looking for and emphasize examples of
how you can match these skills from your experience. This will give you the chance to highlight your
best points which relate to the position. Using examples is a good idea e.g. “I have excellent time
management skills and can work under strict deadlines whilst maintaining quality standards. I was
able to meet all of my assignment deadlines at University whist maintain a GPA of 3.2 and working
part time as a customer service agent”

Summit – Graduate Guide to Successful Job Interviews – Edition – 2009-2010

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 5. WHAT DO YOU CONSIDER TO BE YOUR STRENGTHS ****
This question requires preparation and is a very common interview question. You need to present
job related strengths and achievements. What skills do you excel in that are related to the position?
In preparation it is a good idea to make a list prior to the interview you can ask friends, family or
tutors to help you with this. Think of 1 or 2 examples where you can demonstrate your strengths to
the employer. Some good examples are ability to prioritize, problem solving skills, team work, ability
to work under pressure, leadership skills, positive attitude, supporting others etc.

6. WHAT DO YOU CONSIDER TO BE YOUR MAIN WEAKNESS? ****

There are different ways to deal with this question but you should never choose a weakness that
relates to the job. One option is to pick a non-related weakness which you’ve worked on to develop
and improve for example “Although I am a competent user of Microsoft word and excel I really
wanted to improve my skills in access so I joined a class to improve in this area” Another option is to
be entirely positive and state that having researched the job you feel that there are no barriers to you
excelling in the role, then summarize a few of your strengths. The final option is to state that
although you do not feel like you have any specific weaknesses you are keen and willing to develop all
of the required skills for the post.

7. THINK OF A TIME WHEN YOU WERE FACED WITH CONFLICTING PRIORITIES. WHAT
APPROACH DID YOU USE AND WHAT WAS THE RESULT? ****
This is a competency based question and is designed to see how you can manage conflicting
priorities. A good answer would be to say you currently have many conflicting priorities including
university assignments, sporting commitments, clubs events and family commitments etc however
you have learnt to manage your time well and select the most important task that you should address
first. You could give an example such as “I was due to hand in an assignment, participate in a rugby
tournament and attend a university function within the same week. I completed a list of the tasks
and deadlines and decided to complete my assignment a week early so that I had time to dedicate to
training for the rugby match and attend my University function.”

8. WE ARE SEEING FIVE OTHER CANDIDATES TODAY WHY SHOULD WE EMPLOY YOU?
****
Ensure you research the company, your response should focus on a number of needs the employer
has and for each need you should give them the skills and experience you have that match those
needs. It’s important to be genuinely positive and convey a “can do” attitude.

9. WHAT MOTIVATES YOU TO DO YOUR BEST ON THE JOB?

This is a personal trait that only you can say, but good examples are: Challenge, Achievement, and
Recognition. You should be ready to give an example from your experience.

Summit – Graduate Guide to Successful Job Interviews – Edition – 2009-2010

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10. ARE YOU WILLING TO WORK OVERTIME? NIGHTS? WEEKENDS?
Firstly you should consider the mature of the post. Many jobs such as hospitality work, marketing,
events management, engineering or construction projects are likely to expect that staff are able to
be flexible and work additional hours when the business requires. If you are unwilling to do so
then it may not be the right environment for you. You should be honest in your response and
realistic in terms of what you are willing to work but you need to balance this by showing that you
are flexible. You may choose to say something like “I prefer to work normal office hours however I
am willing to work additional hours when the business requires particularly if it is a specific project
I am involved in.” If you genuinely are unable to work outside of general working possibly due to
family constraints or commitments you should be honest about this.

11. DESCRIBE YOUR WORK ETHIC.

o Emphasize benefits to the organization. It is particularly useful to give examples such as:
Rarely taking time off sick - 100% attendance at University,
o Being punctual - always being on time for class or made sure I was always on time for my
internship
o Like to ensure that I work to a high standard – I always double check my assignments before
handing them in
o Like to complete tasks to the required deadlines – I try to be well organized so I can balance
my priorities, I was successful in achieving all of my assignment deadlines
o Determined to do my best whilst enjoying my work – whilst on internship at the bank I
always asked advice of others if I was unsure before giving information to a customer.

12. WHERE DO YOU SEE YOURSELF IN 5 YEARS?

Always show that you are keen to develop your skill set and prepared to do additional training or
study to further develop your career. For example, “In five years I hope I will have achieved my sales
targets and be recognized as one of the organizations top executives. I hope I will be leading,
managing and supervising the work of others in the team.”

13. TELL ME ABOUT ONE OF YOUR GREATEST ACHIEVEMENTS

For this question you should think of an example of something that you are really proud of it can be
from your work, education or personal experience. Try to show in your example a goal that you set
for yourself and describe how you felt when you achieved it. For example “I always wanted to learn
French so I took an evening class last year. When we took our field trip to France I was able to
practice my French and help others in my group to understand conversations I had with the local
people. It felt good to be helping my fellow students” or “I achieved the highest honour in my Major
which made my parents really proud, my hard work and efforts really paid off”

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 14. IF YOU ARE OFFERED THE POSITION WHEN CAN YOU START?
You should be realistic and honest about your expected start date. Do not say immediately if you are
unable to start straight away. If you are already working you should explain that you will need to give
a notice period to your current employer. It is good to mention this as it shows you are a considerate
employee.

15. WHAT IS YOUR EXPECTED SALARY?

This is a difficult question to answer however you should do some research on typical salary levels in
similar companies for fresh graduates. Talk to as many people in the related fields of work that you
can, review job postings in the press and on recruitment sites. You could answer this question by
stating “ From my research I understand that the current market value for similar positions is
between 8000 AED to 10000 AED per month I would be looking for an offer something similar to this”
Another option would be to ask the employer what their current salary banding is for fresh graduates
in this position.

16. DO YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS?

Always have some questions prepared. It is fine to make a list to take into the interview with you but
you should aim to have at least 2 questions ready. Try to show interest and enthusiasm in the
questions you ask. Typical questions to as could be:
o What opportunities for further professional development are available within the
company?
o What are the company’s priorities for the coming year?
o How would you describe the culture of the organization?
o How is performance and development assessed?
o What roles do graduates who were recruited over the last three years have now?
o Can you give me a fuller picture of the training and development programme?
o What do you most enjoy about working here?
o How is the job likely to develop over the next two years?

17. WHAT WOULD YOUR UNIVERSITY PROFESSOR/COLLEAGUES SAY YOUR STRONGEST

POINT IS?
There are numerous good possibilities: Energy, friendly positive attitude, leadership, team player,
initiative, patience, hard work, creativity, ability to manage deadlines etc Remember to think of
examples that you can demonstrate.

18. WHAT HAS BEEN THE BIGGEST CHALLENGE IN YOUR LIFE AND HOW DID YOU
OVERCOME IT ?
Here you should think of a personal obstacle or barrier that you have faced it could be related to your
work experience, study or a personal issue the important thing here is to identify the issue and show
how you achieved success.

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19. ARE YOU WILLING TO WORK IN A MIXED ENVIRONMENT?
This may be an issue particularly for some female applicants. You should be aware that most places
of work within the UAE require staff to work in a mixed gender environment. If you need to consider
a segregated environment you should consider be open and honest during the interview. However
usually you would have considered the nature of the work before applying for the post.

20. WHAT IS THE STATUS OF YOUR VISA?

Employers may ask this question to know the type of visa you have, what is the status of the visa, who
is your sponsor and is your visa transferable. Some employers agree to allow a female to keep her father
or mother as a sponsor, and may apply for a special labor card for them. Candidates should always be
aware of their condition of their visa (is it transferable and are they willing to transfer it to the company
as their sponsor)

Summit offers all ADU graduates the opportunity to attend a mock interview. The mock interview
has been designed to enable you to practice your interview technique and gain experience of
typical questions you may be asked when going for an interview with a local company.

If you would like to arrange a mock interview please contact us at www.summit-uae.com

Or call us on 02 501 5418

Summit – Graduate Guide to Successful Job Interviews – Edition – 2009-2010

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