I've got an internal interview next Tuesday for a different department. Complete change of career though. It's a new job role just been created so no full job description yet and searching online isn't helping much either.
I've not had an interview for a while, about 2 1/2 years, so rather rusty. How can I prepare? Any tips for in the interview itself?

Have a look on my posting history – I gave someone a rough guide recently – think the thread was called something like "competency interviews"

Make sure you go to the interview fully dressed.

Make sure you go to the interview fully dressed.

I made that mistake before. It unfortunatly ended up with my current job 🙂

Don't be afraid to ask for sometime to think about a question. But don't use the time to see how long you can hold your breath for…..

Have you not had any guidance from HR or the manager that's recruiting? I recently recruited someone internally and gave them some guidance around what to prepare for interview (for us it involves giving a short presentation covering your background and why you think you're suitable for the role, then moves on to Q&A).

flash your boobs, always works

I shall email the manager and ask him for some guidance then. Thank you.

And I won't hold my breath TSY

Or flash my boobs!

And remember the interviewers are people too (well usually) try and think what they would like to hear, what would convince them to employ you, and that they have just heard the same old BS from 6 other people so throw in the odd (clean) joke.

P.S apart from the HR bod who may appear a person but is really a cyclon and has a heart of freezing cold stone.

I shall email the manager and ask him for some guidance then.

If an interviewee contacts me in advance for guidance/additional info, to me it shows they're taking the interview seriously and are making the effort to prepare for it, which is worth a point or two.

The Southern Yeti – Member
Make sure you go to the interview fully dressed.

As my brother had a crap pickup, instead of a car at the time, so he wore old clothes and took his suit down hung up. Drove 2 hrs there and found his trousers were missing, didn't have time to get to the shops, so he did his interview in a dress shirt/jacket & holey(sp?)/frayed jeans (from wear, not fashion)… got the job.

Don't be afraid to say "I don't know" if you don't know something. Always 10 times better than waffling.

"I don't know"

Would be a cracking response to a competency question 😆

"Can you tell us about a time when you've worked in a team?"

"I don't know."

Relax, be yourself. Worst that can happen is, nothing – you'll not "lose" anything, you'll be in exactly the position you are now. Don't sweat it too much and you'll ace it, go in like a bundle of nerves and panic and a) you'll say something stupid and b) no-one wants to hire a stressbunny.

Think of answers for stock questions. "Tell us your best feature… ok, now tell us your worst feature…" is a HR favourite. (Unprepared people can be shockingly frank, I once heard a candidate reply to that with 'well, I have anger management issues, I left my last job after a fist-fight with my boss. Er, he started it.')

If you don't know something, be resourceful. Eg, on a technical question, "well, I don't know the answer, but I could work it out from the manual / ask a colleague / check their website / I once had a similar situation where I did this…"

Don't lie. Really. You'll be found out.

Don't put stupid crap in a public place and think no-one will look. (I once interviewed a candidate for a sysadmin role, did a bit of legwork off his CV beforehand and came across his personal website where he was boasting about what a great hacker he was and what systems he'd cracked and burned… right… )

Make sure you know your CV inside out helps.

Prepare some answers to basic questions like why you should get the job, what you can offer, key skills etc…

"Tell us your best feature… ok, now tell us your worst feature…"

A book I have on interviews has a very good technique for answering this question. Think of something about yourself which is true, then extend it to the point where it becomes a fault, then say you're working on it.

An example would be something like "I have a very good eye for detail, so I have to be careful not to apply my standards to the work of my subordinates."

Yeah.

The way I approach it is to find a negative that's really a positive. "Well, I can be too much of a perfectionist, so I perhaps get focused too much on detail sometimes" for example.

"I have a very good eye for detail, so I have to be careful not to apply my standards to the work of my subordinates."

I think some (if not all) interviewers can see right through this sort of thing.

There is room for a certain amount of honesty in interviews!

Nobody who asks the weakness question has thought about it much – nobody is ever going to sit there and say "Well, I like to procrastinate", unless they have a screw loose. 😆

It's not a question you can expect to ever get an honest answer to.

If you don't have any details about the job, ask them. If the manager won't give you details, it's probable better to find out before you get the job that he's a twunt. The interview process works both ways, prepare and ask relevant questions about the position and the environment around the position.
If your CV is an honest representation of your life, you don't have to learn anything.
DO NOT LIE.
There's lots of advice on the internet regarding Q&As and advice regarding the strength weakness question, I'm a perfectionist/workaholic might not be so good.
Think about how your strengths are relevant to the position and what the benefits are for the organisation and be able to demonstrate/prove it with real examples.

Good luck.

Read up on the company. Learn what they do and where they're looking to expand.
Be interested in the technology/processes you'll be working on and ask technical (but not overly geeky) questions.
If you're moving work area, or stepping up, explain why you're doing so and how your current skills set will be useful now and to build upon.
Talk to them as people. How do they engage in conversation?
Use the opportunity to judge the company. Are there many stupid ties, do they have adequate hot beverage facilities, do people actually talk to each other!?

I've just been through this process, so good luck.

I already work for the company it's just another department so the work I've done in the last 12 months will be my CV.
I want to move onwards and upwards but will miss the atmosphere in the sales teams 🙁

Make sure you don't use the interview as a way of finding out about the job, and deciding if you want it. By the time you decide you do want it you'll have missed the opportunity to win the offer.

The sole purpose of the interview (from your viewpoint) is to get the offer. Nothing else.

The time to decide if you want it, or haggle for better pay is once you are holding the written offer.