My partner had an interview yesterday, she also did a presentation before the interview. She was told last week that her application really stood out, it was the only picked out by everybody that was involved in the selection process. She’s feeling nervous about it all and doesn’t think she came across as well as she could have done in the interview. She doesn’t think she did badly but maybe could have answered some things a bit better. So when choosing somebody for a job how much do you put on the interview? Would a bad interview put you off someone that looked perfect on paper? Do you take into account nerves etc in an interview situation?

You always think that you did worse than you actually did. You always think of something you could/should have said

She’s had good feedback about it so she should stop worrying, nothing you can do about it now anyway.

I feel her pain, I’m currently sat in my car waiting for an interview at 9am with another next week. Always a good sign when you get shortlisted but even so its nerve wracking. I would think if theres a few people they liked and couldn’t decide it would then come down to them looking back at the applications. Hopefully they are trying to pick between her and someone else and looking back will chose her or it may be that with so many interviews that day that they had already decided before them and because of the application she’s the one that stuck out the most. Who knows!

Depends on the role and how good the interviewer is, the answer is “lots”. What’s on paper is fine but you want to know about how the candidate reacts in certain situations, perhaps how they deal with stress and pressure and also to address any questions the CV has not.

The CV gets you to the interview, an interview gets you a job.

The CV gets you to the interview, an interview gets you a job.

This is true. Whether she did as bad as she thinks she did is another matter. I wouldn’t expect good answers to every question in an interview.

Look at everything as a whole not just cherry pick where the candidate did well.

Depends on the organisation. Some are quite structured. I am recruiting at the moment, and the application is assessed on the essential criteria which gets candidates to interview and possibly also some kind of assessment. Then the slate is wiped clean and the selection is made on the results of interview/assessment.

I have also recruited for another organisation where candidates were marked on their application, their interview and their presentation, and the combined score used.

You do try to calm people down who are nervous, but at the end of the day you can only rate people on what you observe, and if they don’t present the evidence then…

Sounds like she did fine to me ! Everybody is nervous. Make sure she gets feedback if she doesn’t get it – sometimes that can be surprising, always that can be useful.

P.S also – she could have found this out in advance, if there is a contact name on the application call them ! There is nothing wrong with finding out how the assessment process works, it isn’t a secret.

I am surprised how many people don’t do this, it’s like entering a competition without knowing the judging criteria. I am also constantly surprised how many people count themselves out at the application stage via a failure to read the instructions.

(Steven that wasn’t aimed at your missus just a general comment !)