CPD23 – Thing 21: Promoting yourself in job applications and at interview

Ah. Job interviews. My nemesis. Or at least my Achilles heel.

I’ve never been all that good at promoting myself and get really nervous at interview which prevents me from getting across all the really good stuff I’ve prepared to say. I want to look at this ‘thing’ in two parts: job applications and job interviews.

Application and preparation

I even get nervous when applying for jobs or preparing for interviews, playing out the interview scenario in my head and getting panicky about it. I sound like a bit of a lost cause really but I know I can’t be all that bad really, having actually managed to get through interviews, and of course get offered jobs, in the past! But I’ve had more than my fair share of bad interviews too. I’ve had really good interviews where I’ve not prepared at all and bad ones where I’ve done loads of preparation – weirdly this often makes me more rather than less nervous! Though of course I am not advocating going to interviews completely unprepared just perhaps not so wound up as I usually am. My two top tips for applying for jobs and preparing for interviews would be:

• When writing the additional information section of the application form, address each of the criteria from the person specification directly.
• Prepare a range of ‘stories’ to tell in the interview. It is important to keep a store of these so you have good evidence of achievements to rely on no matter what questions are asked.

The interview itself

Interviews are horrible. They just are. I wish there were a different way of getting a job. There are some practical ways to make the whole process a little easier such as knowing well in advance where you’re going – how far will you need to walk from the car/bus/train? – and how long you’ll need to get there in plenty of time all help to lessen some of the nerves. I can never tell how an interview has gone afterwards and rarely remember much about it once I walk out of the room. Two tips for interviews, gained from those much wiser and better at them than me, are:

• Make a note of questions and concepts discussed in the interviews afterwards. Something to add to the ‘stories’ to prepare in future.
• Don’t not say something just because you already wrote it on the application form – if it’s relevant, say it and add more detail than you could go into on the form.

After the interview – feedback

Perhaps even scarier than the interview is getting feedback when you haven’t got the job. It’s definitely worth doing though as it’s probably the best way to improve. I’ve had some harsh feedback in the past that put me off asking for a while but most of the time it’s really constructive so it’s important to get it if you can. Hard when the rejection comes via email though. The main thing that stands out in the feedback that I’ve received is that I come across as rather “understated”. I don’t feel comfortable bigging up my achievements this is probably a fair assessment but of course means I end up selling myself a little short.

From thinking about this for this thing, there are a few things I need to try to do to be able to sell myself better in interviews:

• Make a note of any achievements that can be used as examples when asked of those “can you tell us about a time when you…” type of questions.
• Learn to manage the nerves – any tips gratefully received!
• Be enthusiastic and not afraid to sell myself!

Inspiration for reflection

I recently attended a training session on ‘Giving your best at interview’. Interviews are one of my real weaknesses. I know I can do the job but somehow can’t seem to get that across in the interview (even though I know I must be capable, having managed to get jobs in the past!). I usually view these sorts of things with a certain amount of cynicism – surely it’s all just common sense – but I went in with an open mind, and the knowledge that I need all the help I can get!

Aside from learning to control my nerves, I need to look at how I can be better prepared. Preparation for interviews is something I struggle with as I often find that this makes me even more nervous! One of the things we focused on in the session was developing ‘stories’ of our achievements to have examples to refer to in the interview. Now this may be something that seems really obvious to most, but it really resounded with me as something I’m not doing so well. I can speak hypothetically about the skills I have and which aspects of the job these are relevant to, but when it comes to demonstrating these skills by describing real experiences I sometimes struggle to give enough detail or, shamefully, to recall anything at all.

When I was speaking with one of the other attendees the penny suddenly dropped! She mentioned that this part of the interview preparation was quite easy for her as reflective practice was embedded into her working life as a nurse (I should have perhaps realised the benefits of this sooner considering I work with student nurses!). Rather than trying to recall pertinent experiences only when preparing for interview (a bit like trying to remember everything you’ve done in the last year the week before your appraisal!) I’m going to have to ensure to record and reflect on achievements and experiences as an ongoing process. I always try to do this when I attend events and conferences but know I could do more if I’m to have enough evidence of my skills and experiences to refer to in interviews. And it’s a win-win really as this would also be good practice to get into for appraisals, Chartership, or for my CPD in general.

Reflective writing is of course not without its problems (partly the reason for my procrastination over commencing Chartership), being quite a difficult skill to master in itself. This blog post from Rachel Smith describes an interesting, creative method of reflection and, while I’m not all that creative, it has definitely inspired me to find a way to make the reflective process a bit easier for myself too.  Simply setting aside enough time for reflection would definitely be an improvement at the moment, especially as, after a fairly quiet start to the year, I’ve suddenly found myself with quite a few events and CPD opportunities to fit into a short space of time.

I’d be really interested to hear other ideas people have for effective reflection, or any interview tips.