Foscari - Dipartimento di Scienze Ambientali, Informatica e Statistica

Take in your own notepad – you do not want piles of notes but a few bullet points can help you focus
on saying the things that you want to talk about.
Nerves often mean that when you are asked if you have any questions, you can not think of a thing to
say. To the interviewer, this can look like you are not interested or you can not think on your feet, so
have a couple of questions prepared on your notepad.
Nowadays, we are all amateur specialists in body language, so people read all sorts of interpretations in
to eye movements and hand gestures. Just remember the basics – make eye contact with each of the
interviewers and smile and nod. It makes it more inclusive and more like a conversation.
It is really useful to rehearse – so get a friend to practice interviewing you. Ask them for feedback on
your answers – and also ask them to watch your body language carefully.
Most of us never fully get over interview nerves – and adrenaline can be a good thing – but plenty of
preparation will help you focus, will help you concentrate on your success stories – and, whilst practice
might not make perfect, it will certainly make it easier.
True or False
1. It is not important to be prepared for an interview.
2. Adrenalin can cause problems in an interview.
3. The interviewer is never nervous.
4. The job advertisement does not contain much information about the job.
5. The interviewer will not be interested in your hobbies or free time activities.
6. Before the interview it is a good idea to phone the company for more information.
7. The interviewer will not mind if you arrive late.
8. It is impolite to ask the interviewer to repeat a question or ask him/her for an explanation of the
question.
9. Try to look serious at the interview.
10. An interviewer will not expect you to ask questions.
Traditional Style Interview Questions
Recruiters who are not yet using the behavioural style interview process generally use the traditional
style. The recruiter will ask about your educational background, past work experience, extra-curricular
activities, and outside interests and activities.
Almost all interview questions asked in the traditional style can be boiled down to their bare essence.
When that is done, most questions give the recruiter in depth information about 1) CAN you do the
job? 2) WILL you do the job? And 3) Do you FIT into my organization? They are therefore, CAN,
WILL, or FIT questions.
A list of typical questions follows. They have been grouped by their essence group. It would be wise to
write out your responses to these questions.
CAN type questions:
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