LG John

Ok, I had an interview for a planning post a massive real estate company who have an office in Edinburgh and the interview lasted around 45 minutes, was very informal with no structure or specific questions but more just a free flowing discussion about who I am, where I'm at and where I'm going.

I've got the 2nd interview tomorrow and I really want the job but have never been through a 2-interview structure before. What can I perhaps expect at the 2nd interview? Is it likely to be more formal, structured and specific to the job I'd be doing? Has anyone got any general advice?

So far I've written down the standard questions they might ask; why do you want the job; why would you be good for the job; name a time when; etc and written answers which I'll now bulletpoint and revise so that I immediately know what to say in response to those questions. What else can I do? Is begging bad?

The Zohan

I always get asked " Where do you see yourself on 5 years time" or similar.

They are bound to ask you "if you have any questions", always good to have one, if you cannot think of one before then bare it in mind during the interview.

Oh, and good luck!

Chip Sengravy

Don't let them think you are a pushover, and whatever you do, don't appear too desperate. Try and be at least 15 minutes late, and if possible reek of ale. As for appearance, 3 days growth, and that "just fallen out of bed" hairdo will win them over for sure. If at any stage during the interview you feel like they are still unsure, you might try picking your nose and eating it, and/or breaking wind and wafting it up for a sniff, either is just as effective. Also, should any of the interviewers be attractive females, try not to look them in the eye as this will unsettle them, concentrate on the chest instead to try and put them at ease.

It's in the bag

mart360

2nd interview...

90% chance of job...

the second interview is so that normally 2 or more others see what the first interviewer has seen, and if they concur, its normally an offer...

one curve ball they threw me was

"what do you want from us as a company"!!

nomally its a case of what can you do for us!!!!

good luck.. be yourself and use the i havent got the job approach..

to cocky or confidant can blow it.. be yourself...


M

SiPie

If it's the one man company chap.. then it's going to with the same person as it was the first time

Yes

The guy has zero intention of offering you the job and is just freaked out by you..... he wants you back for a 2nd interview to find out why your numberplate says leggy blonde....

In all seriousness, it will probably be more of the same if it's such a small company....

With regards to preparation and perfecting structured answers, I always thought interviews were a bit like kung-fu If you thought about what to do next, you were ****ed Best just answer the questions and react naturally

Just go out on the **** tonight, get 2 hours sleep maximum and go to the interview with a stinking hangover and you'll be fine

Good luck

Si (prone to being **** all help at all with most things!)

imlach

Interviewing candiates almost every day at the moment

All I can say is that being yourself is key, as well as showing a good level of enthusiasm & interest in the job. Ensure you have done a wee bit of research on the company to show you're interested in them....but don't overdo all of these things, as it may look a bit insincere/false. Don't do what one did recently - "what do you know about our company" - "err...umm....not much really". Good grief!

Questions? Depends if they're horrid or not, but given your 1st interview was relaxed, I'd bet on the 2nd one being similar.

There's the usual feared stuff like "Tell me your weaknesses", but that's easy to turn around....just name something you USED to be bad at, but are now good at due to you taking action to improve yourself in that area. Tell them how you went about it etc.

Annoyingly, did they not detail what form the 2nd interview would take? Bit more technical stuff etc?

Good luck. They always go well & quickly once sat down & in the room.

LG John

Nah, this is the other end of the spectrum with a very large private sector company!

Plates don't read 'Leggy Blonde' no more - I changed them tonight and have the proper font again. Plate should read S200 OLB but reads S2000 LB - hopefully the cops won't make an issue.

SiPie

Textbook advice from Imlach

Mrs WRX

Lets hope they dont want you to do any typing - what with having no arms.

SiPie

Class

imlach

When it comes to questions you can ask them, one I've been asked a lot recently by contractors under interview is :

"Are there any aspects of the job which you think I am short of experience in" or similar.

Threw me at first, as it's almost like asking "Am I suited for the job then"

Other questions to ask :

- Tell me about career progression within the company
- Are there any performance related rewards?
- Does the company have plans for further growth, or into any other areas?
- Will this be a client facing role? Any opportunity for travel?

I'm sure you can make up some more, given you know your profession better than I do

Johnny E

I just got a promotion and on the 2nd interview they asked me what i think my weakneses are.......i nearly said cream cakes but i found to be a hard question.


Good luck

LG John

Cheers guys, this has been very helpful. I've been updating my 'revision notes' and now have some pretty solid answers to give and questions to ask. My big problem is that this is working for a private sector planning company and my 4 years planning experience is with a public sector local authority. I'm fairly confident I can outline how my experience would be useful, etc

imlach

Not a problem at all surely. Planning is planning. You're an adaptable guy, right? Another point to stress in interview

"I've managed to deal with all the frustrations & constraints that one often encounters in the public sector, and I feel this experience & knowledge will stand me in good stead in the private sector. Additionally, given I know how the local council planning works, I feel I'd be able to contribute more to any private sector issues when applying for local planning permission"...

...etc etc

warrenm2

Yeah I got asked that once on a PDP and I said "working somewhere else". Funny thing was, I was right!

LG John

Yes planning is planning but being a public sector planner I have far less of an appreciation of the commercial aspects to the private sector work. I have to convince them that I have a very sound understanding of profit/loss, risk vs reward, etc without once mentioning poker! If they at least know I understand the foundations of the system of business them I should be ok because the 'lingo' I'll pick up quickly. For example, ask a private sector planner what 1 hectare of edinburgh city centre land is likely to be worth and he could probably guess quite well. I wouldn't know if its £10 or £10M

imlach

So long as you mention an awareness of the issues, while admitting that you are currently weak in commercial experience, but keen to learn, then you'll be fine. They already know from your CV that your commercial experience is nil. If this was an issue, you wouldn't be at the 2nd stage, let alone the first.

LG John

True, right I'm off out for that pint and some 8-ball to relax

16vmarc

Nice one

LG John

Just back and I norrowly avoided disaster!!

I've had it in my head for over a week that the interview was at 9:30 so this morning at 8 I was sitting in my boxers on scoobynet trying to relax my nerves when my phone goes off. I go through and its my alarm reminding me of my interview at 9!!!!! Uh-oh!!! I nash into the shower, get dressed and bolt out the door I got halfway there in the car then hit heavy traffic and abandoned it for the bus. In the end I made it with 5 minutes to spare but jeeze that was close!!

Interview went as well as I think it could and was much more of a 'what would you do if', 'why do you ...' type of affair. I did as well as I think I could have and the job seems like its very interesting and rewarding. I'm against 2-3 other peeps so wish me luck

imlach

Good luck! Sounds like you did as well as you could. Were we any help in the end then, or more of a hindrance?

Avalyn

Jees-o, close shave there then ... maybe helped a bit as you had less time to stress yourself out over questions (more stress about getting there on time though !)

I've been for a few interviews in the last few years and they either go 2 ways for me (they are usually jobs I don't have all the experience for, but have some transferable skills i.e. I'm a software engineer but maybe haven't used the development environment or coded in that particular language) ..

(a) quite relaxed and they can see given a few weeks I'll pick things up quickly and they see I'm a well balanced hard working individual and have more skills than just the ability to code software (these interviews I have been offered posts) .. sounds like yours or ...

(b) [nerdy voice on] Here's a piece of code you've never seen, we'd like you to be the biggest possible geek and become a C compiler pointing out all the obvious faults in code you'll never write as it's much too complicated for even us to understand but we have copied it from a text book and cunningly have the answers even though we don't know what they mean [nerdy voice off] i.e. who cares about the person, or if you fit in

Sounds like the company is more like (a) which is good (who wants to work for (b) anyway ).

Good luck fella
Avalyn.

imlach

I've just completely rewritten our companies technical questions for that very reason. What use is a nerd in a commericial environment.....nerds surf and geek all day, doing their best to avoid real work

Avalyn

imlach .... exactly. I've worked with some right brainers

Jees sometimes I couldn't understand a single line in their code. Trying to explain to them that once the compiler got a hold of it, the only thing they were saving was typing a few more lines.

Re-coding it so that 'normal' folk could try and figure out what they were attempting was met by the usual blank/are you thick look (followed by a swift kick in the nadgers by me ).

I've used C/C++/VB etc for the last 10 years or so and still hate technical tests 90% of the stuff they ask you never never never use or even need to know in a commerical environment, it's all for geeks at university .. what's wrong with a few more simple lines of well structured code that anyone can pick up and is maintainable ??????

Oh no we can't do that, we need some really really complex C++ object stuff going on. Why? What's wrong with that single if->then->else statement that works???

****.
Avalyn

imlach

Our questions are now based around probing techniques, approaches, and demonstrative real-world design skills.

Avalyn

Oooooh ... that should sort out the geeks especially the mention of 'real-world' design skills

Avalyn.

imlach

On the off chance, if you fancy a 3 month contract writing Windows XP Embedded device drivers in the USA, let me know We're in Edinburgh.

RS2 JIM

iTrader: (5)

Saxo Boy,

Was the company a large multinational one with a four letter name? (i.e ABCD)

If so, a mate of mine just got a job with them after the 2 stage interview process. He's Aberdonian but fancied a move to the 'Burgh.

Anyway, best of luck with the job, i'm sure you blitzed it!

Avalyn

Hahahaha, thanks for the offer

I'm up in Aberdeen and only been in my current job for 5 weeks so currently enjoying the honeymoon period ... also I've put C/C++ on the shelf as my current company are more web based/database application stuff so I get to piddle around rather than do real coding i.e. most of the guys in here streak their pants when a pointer is mentioned

I'm an ex-Agilent softie as I have a funny suspicion you may be too ?

Avalyn.

imlach

Have you changed your username recently?