The most common mistakes graduates make
After 8 years of working in the field of graduate recruitment, I have written below the top 6 most common mistakes graduates make at an interview and what you can do to improve your chances of securing a job.
- Not enough preparation for the interview. You need to know information about the company (what do they do?, who started it? When was it started?), You need to know their competitors (names of competitors and reasons why the company you are interviewing with is better), Information about the industry (new developments? What’s happening?). It is also important to think about how this company can grow their business and what ideas you have to facilitate this growth.
- Demonstrate no clear passion or focus that they want this role. The number one thing employers are looking for is a demonstrated passion and clear focus for the role. If the C.V. hasn’t been tailored according to the role or there has been no clear effort to study or learn more about their industry, then you will immediately be caught out.
- Have no intelligent questions to ask at the end. Surely if you were about to devote a large amount of time to a company and a role then you would have questions to ask. Employers see questions as a demonstrated enthusiasm to work for their company.
- Have no examples to back up where they can add value. It is important to know how you can add value to a company. Look back at previous experience, public speaking, Duke of Edinburgh, Young enterprise, playing sport at school, paper round, playing music, acting in the school play, being part of a society at University and think about what competencies you have developed, which can add value to an employer. Did the experience improve your communication skills meaning you can liaise with clients with ease? Did it improve your leadership skills? What about your confidence?
- Graduates don’t know what they want to do. In an interview the employer is looking for evidence that the person they are interviewing firstly wants the job, REALLY wants the job, and whether they have the ability to do the job. If the candidate umms and ahhs about why they want to work there, then this will immediately put an employer off. An employer just wants to see a demonstrated and proven enthusiasm for the role and for working at their company with valid reasons why.
- They don’t appear warm or friendly enough at the interview stage. Due to all the nerves of an interview situation most graduates forget the most important criteria, which is that people like to be surrounded by positive energy and positive people and the interview should center on building rapport and fitting into the team. Find out the name of the person interviewing you and then find out their background using social media and this will give you lots of ideas to help you build rapport and be less nervous.
Emma Vites is the CEO of The Apprentice Project a company which specialises in providing vital coaching to graduates teaching them all the employability skills they need to succeed and then finding them jobs with some of the UK’s leading companies. She is also a life coach, NLP Master Practitioner and DISC personality profiling consultant.
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@emmavites @apprenticepro
