【求职秘籍】外企HR现身说法面试经验(四)

3 Q: 除了前面提到的，你最看重应聘者所展现出来的什么部分？

I think there's one thing that we're always looking for, that you can't really get across in an application... on an application form or in a covering letter, and that... that's your genuine interests in a job or your enthusiasm for a job. I think that's something really you can only get across at an interview. I think when we interview people, we're never really expecting to get the finished article, to get a fully qualified person with loads of experience. In fact, if we did interview somebody for a post who'd already been doing something similar or was very experienced in that post for several years, I think we might actually question why they were continuing and perhaps not looking to improve themselves or get a better post.

So what we're actually looking for is perhaps somebody who doesn't have all the skills, who doesn't have a huge amount of experience but what they do have is a willingness to learn and enthusiasm for the job and generally just somebody who shows real interest. And I think you can do that in an interview. You can really get across to the people who are interviewing you that you'd loved to do the job and that you'd liked to learn and you'd liked to improve yourself.

4 Q: 在面试中有哪些忌讳

OK, there're some very obvious things but I think one thing that, from my own experience, is not to get too friendly or too personal with the people interviewing you. I mean I've had examples of people who've come into the interview room giving me a kind of drink or a piece of cake. I can understand why they're doing that but it's not really right in an interview situation. I've even had somebody who told me I had nice eyes. Can you believe that? I have a friend actually who was telling me about a job he applied for and he... the interview panel was made up of two ladies - it was actually a women's university. And the panel was made up of two ladies and he... at the end of the interview he kissed the interviewers on both cheeks as was his habit. But I think that probably didn't go down particularly well. So don't be too familiar with your interviewers. Don't be too personal.

From personal experience actually I... the very first job I interviewed for I can remember I was... I think I was 20 or 21 at the time. First interview. Brand new suit. Very very nervous. And when I arrived for interview, they offered me a cup of tea and I accepted it. Actually a hot drink wasn't exactly I wanted because I was probably sweating so much anyway from being nervous. It wasn't a good idea but I can just remember them giving me this hot cup of tea in a cup and a saucer, and then nowhere to put it so I was sat in front of the interviewers and trying to hold onto this cup of tea and my hands were shaking so much that I remember the cup rattling in the saucer. So things like that... I wouldn't... yeah... maybe I wouldn't accept the hot drink at interview. A glass of water might be good coz often if you are talking a lot you tend to lose your voice. But yes, hot drinks...err... definitely recommend that you leave those alone.

5 Q: 通常应聘者都会被问到自己的强项与弱项，谈论自己弱点的最好方式是什么？

I think this is a question I am not sure how often this gets asked actually but if you did get asked this question, I think you have to be honest. Well maybe not too honest I mean I think you don't want to say something that's going to jeopardise your chance of getting the job so I mean don't say that you're lazy or that you're a bad time keeper and you turn up late every morning. You know that wouldn't be a good thing. I think also, don't try to say something that would be a cliche - "I'm too hardworking" or something like that. It's just not believable. I think you have to be honest. I think maybe... I think what...  the point of this question is I think what they want to do is see how you look at yourself. So can you evaluate your own performance in a way and also can you... if you can evaluate your own performance can you think about how you would change or go about improving. So maybe try to give a past example of a weakness that you had in the past but then also show how you might have changed. So for example, time management is often a difficult thing for people in a job and it's something that you can learn, I mean there are certain things that you can do to improve your time management. So maybe you could use an example like that say a couple of years ago I had problems meeting deadlines and so on, but I realise that this is a problem and these are the steps that I took to change and now I... you know I'm much better at time management - I meet all my deadlines. So try to put a positive spin on it if you can by giving example of maybe how you've changed.

Related to that actually is an interview I did recently, I was quite impressed by somebody who, when asked about experience for a particular job, he was very honest and said that he didn't have any experience in that area at all. But what he did do is that he told us about the skills that he has that would suit that job. And I was very impressed with that answer. It was very candid, very honest. And I think you... often in interview situation people tend to try and cover up gaps in their skills or experience and don't do that particularly well but I think this particular person... I was very impressed with the way that he dealt with that question with honesty. If you can't... if you don't have the skills or experience, maybe that doesn't really matter do you actually have other skills that would... that you can offer up that would meet the needs of the job. So I was really impressed with that particular person.