So, in this next video, I'm actually going to interview a candidate for a position within
my company. Now, the candidate's name is Mark. He's 21 years old and this is his first ever job
interview. He has no previous work experience. And I would like your help, please. I want you to tell
me in the comments section below the video after the interview has taken place whether you would
hire him or not based on his performance! Now, this video is also going to be useful
for anybody who's never attended a job interview before, or if you are the type of person who has
no previous work experience. Make sure you watch the video from start to finish because at the end
I will give you my own feedback as a Hiring Manager on whether I think this candidate, Mark,
is suitable for a position within my company. Let's invite Mark into the interview, and let's
see how he gets on. Come in. Hi, I’m Mark I’m here for the interview. Hello, Mark, come in.
Hi. Nice to meet you. Nice to meet you, Mark. I'm Richard. Take a seat. Thank you very much.
OK, well, welcome to the interview, Mark. Thank you very much for coming along. I'm going to be
interviewing you today for the position within my company. It's really important that you relax. I
understand this is your first job interview, but don't be frightened. Try and relax into
your answers so I can really get to know the real you. Can you start off, please and tell me about
yourself. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to be interviewed today. I would consider myself
to be someone who is very hard working. I'm full of enthusiasm and passion to start and my first
job. And I'm determined to make a positive impact. Having read the job description,
I'm confident I have the skills and qualities needed to really excel in the job role,
and I believe this, being my first job, is actually an advantage to you because you can shape
and mould me to how you need me to be. I also think you'll be impressed by my teamwork ability,
my ability to learn and retain information, and my passion for delivering excellent customer service.
OK, thank you for that answer. The next question is, why do you want to work for us?
I want to work for your company for three reasons. The first being that you have a great reputation
for being a forward thinking company that delivers excellent products and services,
and that means I'll be challenged in the role, and I'll have to deliver high standards. And that's
something that really appeals to me as a person. I am aware that you have a talented pool of staff
and that means I have the opportunity to learn and develop off those other people as well.
And finally, I'm looking for long term employment with a company, and as your company has a great
reputation, I know I'll be happy to work there for the long-term. OK. And the next question, what
are your strengths? I would say that I have many strengths, but the ones that come to mind are my
positive attitude and a can-do attitude, which I feel really rubs off on those around me. I'm also
a fast learner and someone who is able to retain information very well, and that means I'll be able
to hit the ground running in the role and also get up to speed really quickly. I also consider myself
to be someone who really enjoys working as part of a team to support each other and reach a common
goal. I would say I'm a loyal person. Someone who is honest and has a lot of integrity. So,
if you were to hire me, I would be a really proud member of your team. Thank you very much. So, the
next interview question is, tell me about a time when you delivered excellent customer service.
Although I've never been in a job role where I've had to provide excellent customer service before,
I know how to provide it and I fully understand how important it is. A recent example comes to
mind where I entered a store and I was greeted straight away by the Customer Service Assistant.
She greeted me with a smile. She took the time to talk with me and understand my needs from the
products and services that they had to offer. Now, this enabled her to provide great suggestions for
me. I ended up making a purchase and as she was wrapping the product, she took her time and that
care really shone through, and it showed that she really cared about the service that she was
delivering. Now, when I left the store, the result of that was I had a great feeling. It made me want
to go back and make repeat purchases, which I ended up doing in the end. Now, I understand
that for you, I need to deliver that same level of customer service and hopefully
bring repeat business to your company also. OK, tell me, Mark, what's your biggest weakness?
I would say my biggest weakness is that I find it hard to say “no” to people. If someone asks me for
help, I'm the type of person that always wants to say “yes”, and this means I can take on too much
sometimes and become a little overwhelmed. Although I'm very hardworking, and it's in
my nature to always want to help people, I'm learning that I need to think before I always
say yes to everything. Thank you for that answer. The next question… Where do you see yourself in
five years’ time. As this is my first job, I fully plan on staying here for the long-term.
And if you're happy with my performance, which I genuinely believe that you will be,
I for sure will still be here in five years’ time. In five years’ time, I expect to be a
highly-respected member of the team, and ideally, I would love to be in a position where I can help
train up new members of staff. OK, thank you for that. Why are you applying for this job?
There are three reasons why I'm applying for this job. The first being is that it is local to me, so
I won't have to travel far. The second being you have a great track record of success, which means
I'll be able to grow alongside your company. The third reason is that I believe there's an
opportunity for advancement within your company, which is something that really appeals to me.
OK, thank you. The next interview question: Which do you prefer,
working as part of a team, or working on your own? To be honest, I prefer working as part of a team.
That way, we get to support each other and we get to work towards achieving common goals.
However, I'm more than capable of working alone and unsupervised. Having recently completed my
studies, I'd spent many hours alone revising for exams and completing my essays, so I would say I'm
the type of person who's adaptable and can work well, both in the team and alone. OK, thank you.
Can you tell me what's your availability like? I'm very flexible when it comes to availability.
I understand I need to be available as and when required, and my personal life means that
I can work the hours needed, and at short notice. I'm also saving up for a car, so I'm happy to work
as much as possible. OK, thank you. This is the final interview question and this is your
opportunity to shine. So tell me, why should I hire you? You should hire me for four reasons.
The first reason being, I'm a fast learner, and that means I'll be able to get up to speed
quickly within the job role. The second reason is my positive attitude and my friendly nature.
Third reason is my skills and qualities are a match for the job description. And finally,
the fourth reason is I believe I'm a blank canvas, which means you can train me up to be the perfect
employee. OK, thank you, Mark. That's the end of the interview. Do you have any questions for me?
I just have two questions. The first question is, what advice would you give to the successful
candidate? Well, my advice to the successful candidate would be to make sure they get up
to speed quickly in the role. That's really important. Also to listen to your brief. So,
if you are successful, I will give you numerous tasks that you are responsible for.
Make sure you listen to the brief and then you go away and always carry out your duties on time and
to the highest standards possible. The other piece of advice I would give to the successful candidate
is to make sure that you are open to change. We have to change a lot within this organization to
stay ahead of our competitors, and it's also really important that you embrace ongoing
development. And I like the type of employee who will always take responsibility for their own
learning and development. Thank you. The second question is what are the plans for the company
over the next five years? So, over the next five years, we really plan to expand as a company.
We interact with our customers on a regular basis. We always ask our customers for feedback,
and based on that feedback, we create and develop new products. So, we are looking to expand our
product range significantly over the next five years. And that's why it's really important
in this role if you are successful, that you always provide outstanding customer service.
Can I just say thank you very much for giving me the opportunity to be interviewed today?
Good luck with the rest of the interviews and I look forward to hearing from you. So, that's
the interview over. Now, in a second, I'm going to give you my feedback based on Mark's performance.
But before I do, tell me in the comments section below the video what you thought about Mark?
Do you think I should take him on within the role in my company? Tell me the good bits about
his interview, and also the bad bits. The areas that you think he could have improved upon. Let
me now give you my own feedback. Now, typically, a hiring manager will use a job interview scoresheet
to assess the candidate's performance. In a second, I will tell you how I personally scored
Mark and whether or not I am going to give him the opportunity in the role. But a job interview
scoresheet will include things such as FIRST IMPRESSIONS. What was the candidate like when they
came into the room? Did they display good manners? Did they offer a firm handshake? Did they not sit
down in the interview chair until invited to do so? And also, the scoresheet will include BODY
LANGUAGE, INTERVIEW TECHNIQUE and also how the candidate responded to the interview questions.
So, what was Mark like when he first walked into the interview room? Well, I felt he demonstrated
really good manners. He knocked on the door. He came over to me. He introduced himself and
he gave a firm handshake whilst looking me in the eye. Now, that tells me he is a confident person.
I want to take on somebody who is confident in the role. And he didn't sit down in the interview chat
until invited to do so. So, I was impressed with the start of the interview. I also liked the fact
that he dressed smart and professionally, and that told me he probably has high standards. Now,
one particular area that I scored Mark down on, was the fact that he didn't bring along his resumé
to the interview. Now, of course, you will have already submitted your resume
in your application for the job, but it's really good practice to take it in your CV or your resume
to the interview in a nice looking presentation folder, because if the interview says to you,
“Walk me through your resume.” You can refer to it during the interview. So, let's now take a look
at Mark's answers to the interview questions. So the first question I asked him was
Tell me about yourself. Now, I liked his answer. It was OK. It was very positive and upbeat,
which was good, but I felt he could have expanded a little bit more in relation to his educational
background, what he's been doing in between his studies and applying for a job. And also,
I would have liked to have known a little bit more about what he gets up to outside of work. However,
I thought his answer was very positive; it was upbeat, and it was a good start to his interview.
So, the second interview question I asked the candidate was, Why do you want to work
for us? I quite liked his answer. Again, it was very positive, which I really liked about Mark.
He had this infectious positivity, but I felt I would have liked to have heard a little bit more
about the RESEARCH he would have carried out into our company. So, if he'd have said to me…
“before applying for the job, I researched your organization. I had to look at your website.
I had look at your social media pages and I even tried your products and services.”
That would have been a better way to answer the question, Why do you want to work for us?
So, the next interview question is relatively an easy one, in my opinion, to answer. And that is,
what are your strengths? He gave some really, really good strengths, and I like the fact
that he’d referred to the job description time and time again throughout the interview. That tells me
he's had a look at the job description, and he's confident he has the strengths and the skills and
qualities to carry out the duties to the expected standards. So, the next interview question was a
really difficult one for Mark because he has no previous work experience. And the question is,
tell me about a time when you provided excellent customer service. I thought this was one of Mark's
better answers because he demonstrated an understanding of the importance of customer
service, and instead of saying “I've never been in that situation”, he gave me an example
of when somebody provided HIM with excellent customer service, and that's a really smart way
to answer difficult behavioral interview questions. So, he scored really highly with
that response. So, the next interview question is probably one of the hardest ones to answer during
a job interview. And that was, what's your biggest weakness? Now, I really liked Mark's answer. He
said that he found it hard saying “no” to people. I liked that from a hiring managers perspective
because I felt I could give him loads of work, and he would probably say “yes” all of the time.
So it was a smart answer. Now, you have to be really careful when you answer that question,
What's your biggest weakness? Never say my biggest weakness is I am a perfectionist, because
the interviewer will see straight through it. You have to be genuine in your answer and do make sure
you give a weakness that is actually relevant to you. Then, of course, the next interview question,
Where do you see yourself in five years’ time? is another relatively easy one to answer. You have to
be honest in your response. However, if you were to say to me in five years’ time, I'm going to
move on to a different company, that would put me off because when I take on someone within a role,
I have to spend a lot of time training them up, so I don't want them to leave soon after. So, Mark’s
answer, again, I thought was clever. He planned to stay working for me for a long period of time.
He wanted to get his career off to a good start. And the answer, in my opinion, scored very highly.
Now, the next interview question was, Why are you applying for this job? Mark gave three reasons. He
didn't just give one. He gave three. So the first reason was because the company was local to him.
Now, of course, a lot of people apply for jobs because they are local, but I wouldn't have used
that as a reason for applying for the job. The second reason was a relatively good one,
and that's because he said I had an impressive track record of achievement and he felt
he could grow with a company. That was OK. However, the third one was a really good reason
because he felt that later on down the line, there might be an opportunity for advancement.
I liked that because that tells me he's keen and enthusiastic,
and he's more likely to stay working for me for a long period of time. So, the next interview
question is one that I like to ask a lot during job interviews, and that is, which do you prefer
working, as part of a team or working on your own? Mark gave a really good answer, in my opinion.
He said that he preferred to work as part of a team, but he was also flexible and adaptable,
and he wouldn't be averse to working on his own. That was a great way to answer that question.
The next interview question: What's your availability like? I liked his answer because he
tied it with the fact that he said he was saving up to buy a car and therefore he wanted to work
as much as possible. That was really good, too, because he aligned his answer with his personal
goals outside of work. In my opinion, the more hours you can work, the more chances are you
will get hired. So, the final interview question was a real opportunity for Mark to impress me; for
him to sell himself! Now, I liked the fact that he said you should hire me for four reasons. So he'd
obviously prepared his answer to this question in advance. And that's what you should do. I like
the fact that he just didn't give me one reason why I should take him on. He gave four! So, the
first reason was because he was a fast learner. I liked that because I'm quite an impatient person,
and I don't want to have to spend lots of time training somebody up. He would go away,
he would learn things quickly, and then he could start contributing to the team's goals. Now,
the second reason he stated why I should hire him was because he had a positive attitude
and a friendly nature. That tells me he will be good working as part of a team. He will fit into
my team quickly. The third one, he mentioned the job description. Again, I liked that. He said,
I've read the job description. I've got the skills and qualities needed to match the requirements of
the role. And the fourth reason, which is really good, I loved this, I haven't heard it that much
during job interviews, but he basically said, “I'm a blank canvas and you can train me up to be the
perfect employee.” That's a great thing to say when answering the question, Why should I hire
you? Especially when you have no previous work experience! So, would I take Mark on in the role?
Yes, I would. I will offer Mark the position, and the main reason why I will take him up in the role
is because I felt he was very positive. And as you can see from his answers, even though he used
his hands quite a lot, that doesn't matter, but it was a little bit distracting. But I loved the fact
that he was very positive about life. He was very positive about getting the job, and I felt
that I could take him under my wing. I could train him and I could teach him the necessary skills and
qualities to really excel in the position. And also, I felt the Mark would end up working for me
for a long period of time, and again, that's a really good thing to talk about in your job
interview. So, if you have your first job interview coming up and you have zero experience,
the next thing to do is to CLICK THAT LINK in the top right-hand corner of the video,
head through to my website, PassMyInterview.com and you can download my full set of 50
INTERVIEW QUESTIONS AND TOP-SCORING ANSWERS. It's going to help make you be the standout candidate
during your interview! I hope you enjoyed this tutorial. Don't forget to SUBSCRIBE to
the channel, and please give the video a like. I very much appreciate your support. Thank you so
much for watching, and I wish you all the best for for your interview. Have a brilliant day!