How to make your Interview a success - 43 unique tips applicable to any International Organization (Part 2 of 3)

After reading this blog you will have more knowledge about different techniques that you can use to structure your interview answers to fit with the evaluation criteria used by International Organizations. You will learn a technique how you close an answer to ensure that you have covered what the panel wants to hear from you and you will understand why you in a feedback conversation after the interview can be given the assessment score of 3.875 for a certain answer given in the interview assessment.

In this article we provide you with unique tools how to close an interview answer to ensure you have covered everything the panel wants to hear from you. We also teach you how to predict the interview questions beforehand at the stage of your own preparation!

Did you read Part 1 one of this article - the first 8 tips? If not find them here 

Enjoy reading another 20 tips! 

How to prepare for your interview:

 

9. Prepared to respond in more than one language: Does the job you are being interviewed for require more than one language? This can be found in the job description. If the job requires more than one language, i.e. both English and Spanish, you must prepare yourself to respond to interview questions in both languages. Prepare yourself, so you know how to formulate yourself to standard/expected questions in both languages!

10. To a certain level you can predict what to come in the interview: For example, you can count on one ‘Rapport building and motivation question’, anticipate one/two ‘Technical questions’ and two to three ‘Competency assessment question’. In most cases the competencies are the once listed in the job description. You should always prepare at least one answer for each competency, where you can give good examples of when you have used, or how you have acquired, this competency. With this level of preparation you would have more than half of the interview covered!

 

11. Structure yourself and be mindful of the length of the interview indicated in the invitation: In many organizations a hiring unit cannot proceed with the interview unless at least two qualified applicants are identified (and out of two, at least one female applicant). Hence, chances are that the interview panel follows a strict schedule with multiple applicants to interview. You should therefore make an own assessment of how much time you have at your disposal on each question. As mentioned in tips 10, plan for one Rapport building motivation question, one or two technical skills assessment questions and two to three competency assessment questions. So if you are called for an interview that is scheduled to last 45 minutes, plan for 6 minutes per question, just to make some room for introduction and some additional probing time for the panel. 

 

12. When preparing yourself before the interview, formulate your answers out loud - talk to the mirror: Everyone is different, so this advice may not apply to everyone. For most of us it definitely a worth while advice to formulate your answers beforehand to hear how they sound. This helps you to hear yourself when you are keeping a structured answer, but you also hear when you loose track. By knowing when you tend to start 'rumbling' may help you to avoid doing so in the real interview situation.

 

13. Hand back the end of your answer to the panel: One smart way to close an answer is to ask the panel whether they are fine with the answer you have given or if they want you to further explain any of the parts of your answer. This is a smart way to invite the panel to probe and to have them direct you to the essence of the question in case you haven’t touched upon what they really want to hear from your answer.

 

14. Prepare appropriate answers at a correct level use CARL/CARI: Below we describe how your answers are evaluated and scored. This understanding can be helpful when preparing your answers; to provide the panel with one example is not enough. The answer you provide must be at the right level and complexity for the job you are supposed to do. In one of our most recent blog we were introducing the CARL/CARI method when writing your application (STAR is another method that is recognized when preparing/structuring your interview). You should use the same CARL/CARI method when structuring your interview answer. 

 

15. Show that you understand the job you have applied for: When preparing your answer, link the skills, competencies and outcomes listed in the job description with your past professional career. When answering, aim at showing the panel that you both know what you are expected to do in the job and that you have experience from what is asked for in the past.

 

16. Don’t ever lie or over-estimate your own achievements: Don’t say that you have all the qualifications for the job if you don’t really know you have them. If you want to make such statement, make sure that you have done your home-work and that you have a complete picture of what is required in the job description you are being interviewed for. If it turns out you have gaps, it will look bad at your credibility as applicant and impact the overall impression.

 

17. Never read loud from your paper/notes: Prepare yourself to the extent that you never feel that you must read from your paper. A recruiter can hear the difference between a spoken and a read answer on the phone in seconds and even if the things you read are great, it is likely negatively impacting the impression of you as a candidate.

 

18. Use google to find good competency sample answers: When preparing an interview, it can be an advantage to know a little about how your answer is being evaluated. When evaluating competencies some organizations are using ‘Positive’ and ‘Negative indicators’. These indicators are not public, but using google can take you far to getting an understanding of indicators. If 'Leadership' is one of the listed competencies, make a search for interview answers for 'Leadership' and take note of what recruiters in other business are defining as a good answer, the differences are not very different if you make sure to emphasize the multi-cultural and international perspective.

 

19. Your answer will be scored by the panel: In many organizations, the answers of an applicant are scored using a numeric scale. Where the highest score is master of the competency and where the lowest score defines none or basic awareness. Different practices apply to different organizations, but sometimes answers are scored individually by each panel member and sometimes the panel comes up with a joint scoring. We have talked to applicants that have received feedback from an interview and find it odd that they scored 3,875 for the teamwork’s competency. This scoring is likely a result of an individual scoring practice, where three of the panel members scored the applicant with a 4, but one of the panel members scored 3.5 (4x3 + 3.5x1 / 4 = 3,875).

 

20. Easy to come up with one example, harder to come up with one good one: The final scoring of an applicant is often the result of a discussion between the panel members. There are of course many different ways to assess answers, but the one that we describe here is one that is recommended by some of the largest international organizations out there. This assessment method suggests dividing the answer in three pieces: 1) Context; 2) Action; 3) Result/Impact/learning. To evaluate the context of your answer, the panel will focus on the complexity of the situation described by the candidate. Does the example require Basic (1), Beginner (2), User (3), Expert (4) or Master (5) awareness of the competency? To make this understandable the example we provide here is to assessing the Context part of the competency; ‘Conflict resolution management’. A basic/beginner context could be to give an example about how you resolved a conflict between a colleague and yourself in a common lunch room. A master awareness could be to give an example of how you resolved a conflict between two minorities conflicting about common resources in one area of a country. The same logic would then apply to the assessment of the actions you took to resolve the conflict. Where the actions you took complex, innovative, logic and did they feel correct? The third part is the assessment of the results/impact/learning, what was the result, what was the impact and what were the lessons learned? The panel will then sum up all three evaluations and divide them by three. This is good way to make sure that a complex example with complex actions and results are paid more than an answer without the same level of complexity.

 

21. Understand how skills and competencies are defined in the organization you apply for: In one of our most previous blog posts we wrote writing a good application, we described competencies and skills, read that blog post to get a broader understanding. To be able to prove that you have the skills and competencies required you may need to read about how the organization you are interviewing for are defining their competencies. Many organizations have public ‘Competency framework’. Click the  youtube link to see a film on how UNFPA describes their competency framework or click this link to read about how the UNDP JPOSC describes competencies. Google to see if the organization you are interviewing for have a public version. Otherwise, read the job description and google the competencies to see how other organizations define them.

 

22. Never ever respond that you have no example: We have been to interviews where an applicant can’t come up with an answer/example to a Competency Based Interview question and gives up. If you as an applicant don’t provide an answer to one of the questions, you are scored zero for that competency and with only 5-6 questions you cannot reach the bar to be selected, nor recommended.

 

23. Learning curves or anticipated challenges: You may be asked by the panel to provide examples about learning curves or anticipated challenges. You should always provide examples, don’t say that you don’t foresee any. If you don’t have any good answer or if you would like to play safe, you can always talk about challenges changing job, move to a new duty station, work in the field, work in Headquarters or to get your family settled in a new environment. However, it is important to always turn the challenge into something positive. Talk about both the challenge and the mitigation.

 

What different question types are being asked?

 

24. Never count on a panel that knows how to interview: A professional panel asks questions and probe with follow-up questions to get the most useful information from you. Unfortunately, you can never rely on getting a professional panel. Most panels do not consists of recruiters and hence you must make sure that you have planned an answer that takes you through all parts of the CARL/CARI structure without getting any follow-ups from the panel. 

 

25. Open-ended question: There are several different kinds of questions that may be asked during the course of the interview. The most common one is the open-ended question. This is a question type that requires you to provide more information than a single word answer such as “yes” or “no”. One example could be: Please provide the panel with an example when you…”.

 

26. Follow-up (or probing) question: This question is designed to probe for more information and greater depth. Sample probing questions; “What was your role? (context)” “What did you do? (action)” “What was the result (results/impact)?”. As mentioned in tips 24, never rely on the panel to probe. Prepare yourself and your answer, so that when you stop talking you have covered the whole CARI/CARL structure.

 

27. Closed (either/or) question: A closed question can be answered with very few words. This kind of question is most often used as a follow-up to check a fact or a detail. Sample of closed questions: “Have you completed your Master’s Degree?”

 

28. Rapport building or motivation question: As a candidate it is likely that you are nervous about being interviewed. This is something the hiring organization is aware of, and that is also why the first question in the interview in most cases is a ‘rapport building or motivation question’. As mentioned in our most previous blog post (tips 5) the rapport building question is your chance to show your potential. This question may seem simple, and many applicants therefore fail to prepare for it, but this one is crucial. A good answer to this question does not include giving a summary of your application (CV). Instead use this question as your sales pitch for the job. Give a pitch — one that’s concise and compelling and that shows exactly why you are the right fit for the job. Start off with some specific accomplishments or experiences that you want the panel to know, then wrap up talking about how that prior experience and your potential, motivation has positioned you for this job. 

 

29. Prepare a logic and believable answer to why you are applying for this particular job and in this organization: International organizations want to hire professionals who are passionate about the job, so prepare a great answer about why you want this position in this organization. Identify a couple of key factors that make the job a great fit for you, always relate to the content of the job description (skills/competencies) when motivating your application for the job. Also make your homework about the organization and find reasons why this is your dream organization to work for.

 

If you want to read more interview tips, we strongly recommend the UNDP JPO site. In the third and last part of our 43 tips we will provide more than 10 real sample questions that are used by international organizations when interviewing candidates. We will also give you a few tips on things that could be good to do just after the interview.