Common mistakes in an interview

Interview write up with Nomalanga Ndlovu

When children are born there is usually a set plan by the parent when it comes to their education. Education has changed drastically in the last five years and as Africans we have a window of opportunities for us to grow. One of the biggest gaps in schools is in the area of soft skills, it always surprises me how we focus on academics and leave out the very essence of soft skills to later become a huge elephant standing in between us and opportunities and jobs that we are trying to access. Some private schools always include this in their curriculum, however, there is a population of our continent that never went to private school which leaves a huge gap.

The dynamics on opportunities change when we graduate and go out into the real world. After spending years in school we are all excited to graduate and wear our gowns and get the certificates, only to have to go out into the market place to justify or prove ourselves to be part of corporations in an interview.

You will agree with me that currently we do not have many jobs and that there is a lot of young people that are roaming around dropping applications company after company looking and hoping that they can be called to that interview. So you can imagine that it’s not two people dropping the application but most of the times you are fighting a battle with 100 to 200 people to be called to that interview and take note we are still at Curriculum Vitae stage.

The big question then becomes how do I set myself apart to get that job that many other people want? What do I do when I have been called to that interview? Are you going to be sharing the tips every day?

Questions to ask yourself as you prepare
Whenever you go to an interview you need to understand that what you are about to enter is a very competitive space, a space were you are not the only one that wants to set themselves apart. You need to finish up this thought and bring out what you want to illustrate. What’s your point?

You need to ask yourself this question, what kind of job do I want, or what kind of responsibilities do I want to be exposed to. A lot of young people sometimes will focus on, just wanting a job so that they can be able to have a salary, but I don’t think that a salary is worth it, the experience that you are going to gain and the job that you will receive hopefully, is what is more important. The value that you are going to add and the value that you are going to receive as well at that particular company.

What kind of job do you want, where do you want to work, how long do you want to work in that place and how much information do you have about that company? These are questions that will help you to self-introspect with regards to the position you would want to get into.

When you are not aware of your position that you would want as an individual, what you find is that whatever is offered to you is whatever you are going to take, so be specific about what you want as an individual, if you want to learn be clear about that, if you want to gain experience be clear about that as well. First lesson is to be sure about what you want in that particular company, one thing I can guarantee is that every panel, even the human resources is looking for a particular character, someone who is going to fulfil their duties and above all add value to the company.

Common mistakes in an interview
Common mistakes that people make as they go into an interview are: They do not get enough information about the company. They do not do enough research about the job that they are applying for. People are not well vexed about the basics of the company.

The classic questions that you are most probably going to be asked is why do you want to work for this company? What value do you think you can add to this company? You can never answer that question when you as an individual do not know any values of that company and when you not aware what the company culture is. The most fundamental thing is to get information about the company that you are going to be working with, another common mistake is people fail to demonstrate how they are going to fit into the position that they are applying for. How is your background and the education that you coming in with going to benefit the company because it is not just about you existing but it is about you adding more value.

Failing to present an effective resume- a majority of us do not get a call back because of how we structure our CV, your story is not clear in the CV, the journey that you are taking us on is not clear, you see a CV is not just a document which specifies who you are and what you’ve done but it is a story on paper, so have you articulated your story clearly, so clearly that it qualifies you to be in an interview.