This 3-day training program provides skills for successful job interviews, including preparing for interviews, crafting cover letters and CVs, demonstrating competencies, and practicing interview techniques. The training covers competency-based interviewing methods that assess skills through structured behavioral questions. Participants engage in role plays and learn to formulate examples using the STAR method in response to competency-based interview questions. The goal is to help candidates understand how to optimize their performance and impact during job interviews.

1. JOB SELECTION INTERVIEWING SKILLS
CHARLES COTTER PhD candidate, MBA, B.A (Hons), B.A
www.slideshare.net/CharlesCotter
22-24 NOVEMBER 2017

2. • Work Readiness Analysis
• Planning and preparing for the job interview
• Crafting and Compiling a professional and cutting-edge
Cover Letter
• Creating and Compiling a professional-looking CV – your
marketing tool
• Application of the theory
• Avoiding job interview errors and other pitfalls
3-DAY TRAINING PROGRAMME
OVERVIEW

3. • Mastering best practice interviewing techniques and skills
• Competency-based Job Interviewing
• Dress for Success – personal appearance, dress code and
personal grooming
• Maximizing your performance and impact during the job
interview
• Concluding the interview and Post-job interview follow-up
• Role play exercise
3-DAY TRAINING PROGRAMME
OVERVIEW

4. AGREE OR DISAGREE?
WHY?

5. INTRODUCTORY LEARNING ACTIVITY
• Individual activity:
• Complete the following statement by inserting one word
only. In order to be work-ready and to have a successful job
career, I need to/to be ………………………………………………
• Jot this word down and find other learners who have
written down the same word.
• Write this word down on the flip-chart.
• Each learner will have the opportunity to explain their
choice of word.

6. INTRODUCTION TO WORK/EMPLOYMENT
READINESS
• Work/employment readiness is defined as being able,
with little or no outside help, to find, acquire and keep
an appropriate job as well as to be able to manage
transitions to new jobs as needed.
• The key elements of job readiness are:
Education
Skills
Confidence
Future-fit

8. INTRODUCTION TO WORK/EMPLOYMENT
READINESS
• The Employment Readiness Model is based on the
assumption that becoming "employment ready"
involves achieving three (3) interrelated goals:
Being self-sufficient on four Employability Factors that
prepare you to manage your work life
Being strong on five (5) Soft Skills that help you manage
challenges and perform effectively in your work life
Understanding the particular stresses or challenges you
face

10. LEARNING
ACTIVITY 1
• INDIVIDUAL
DEVELOPMENT
ACTIVITY
• PART A: Gap Analysis
• By referring to the
Employment Readiness
Model, identify your
work readiness gaps in
the three (3)
interrelated goals.
• PART B: Work Readiness
Survey

11. LEARNING
ACTIVITY 1
• Identify your work
readiness gaps.
• PART C: Conduct a
personal SWOT
Analysis.
• Develop an
integrated Work-
Readiness Plan on
the strategies that
you will employ to
improve your work-
readiness skills.

15. PLANNING FOR A JOB INTERVIEW
• Best practice research suggests that prospective, job
applicants apply the following five (5) – step process:
Step 1: Pre-interview company and job-related Research
Step 2: Matching job requirements with application form and CV
Step 3: Reviewing job description and job specification
Step 4: Anticipating job interview questions and formulating
model answers
Step 5: Practicing/rehearsing for the job interview

17. ATTRIBUTES OF
PROFESSIONALISM
• Specialized Knowledge
• Competency
• Honesty and Integrity
• Accountability
• Self-Regulation
• Image

18. CORE COMPETENCIES OF BEING A SUCCESSFUL PROFESSIONAL
• Identify our most valuable skill sets
• Market our skills that are most in-demand
• Target who we want to market ourselves to
• Articulate our ability to solve an employer's problems and alleviate
their pain
• Proactively start and engage in meaningful industry conversations
• Position ourselves as a subject-matter expert
• Know our worth and limits

19. NETWORKING AND BUSINESS CONTACTS
• “It’s not what you know, but who you know.”
• Research has proven that those employees better equipped
with the social skills necessary to network effectively and
build sustainable, professional relationships with key
organizational decision-makers, tend to climb the corporate
ladder substantially faster than those who lack this capability.
• Research indicates that between 50% and 75% of jobs are
never advertised. So networking can be 12 times more
effective than answering an advertisement.
• Networking is a process of building strong and enduring
relationships that are mutually beneficial.

21. THE PRINCIPLES OF
PROFESSIONAL SOCIAL
MEDIA ETIQUETTE
• LinkedIn
• Twitter

22. LEARNING
ACTIVITY 2
• Group discussion:
• Apply the 5-step planning
and preparation process for
an identified promotion at
DST and/or a job outside of
DST.
• Develop strategies of
enhancing and exhibiting
your professional skills,
attributes and -brand, prior
to the job interview for the
above position.

24. CRAFTING AND COMPILING A CUTTING-EDGE COVER
LETTER
• The value and importance of compiling a Cover
Letter
• Cover Letter Template - refer to pages 22-24 in the
Learner Manual
• Cover Letter Checklist - refer to pages 24-25 in the
Learner Manual

25. CRAFTING AND COMPILING
A PROFESSIONAL CV
Refer to the CV template on pages
26-28 in the Learner Manual

26. LEARNING
ACTIVITY 3
• Individual activity:
• By following the
provided guidelines,
compile a cutting-edge
Cover Letter. Once
drafted, use the
checklist to ensure
compliance of these
guidelines.
• By following the
provided guidelines and
template, compile a
cutting-edge CV for a
prospective job.

27. OPTIMIZING JOB INTERVIEW
PERFORMANCE AND IMPACT
• Job Interview errors – refer to page 32 in the
Learner Manual
• The Do’s and Don’ts - refer to page 33 in the
Learner Manual
• 8 Focal points of a successful job interview

29. 8 FOCAL POINTS OF A SUCCESSFUL JOB
INTERVIEW
• Dress appropriately
• Marketing and selling yourself during the job interview
• Creating the right first impression and sustaining this throughout the interview
• Putting your best foot forward – demonstrating your personal and professional
value
• Managing your emotions, stress and nerves (before and during the interview)
• Harmonizing your verbal and non-verbal communication messages
• Dealing with aggressive job interviewer tactics
• Dealing with sensitive questions e.g. salary/money

34. LEARNING
ACTIVITY 4
• Syndicate group activity:
• Review the typical job
interview errors and don’ts
and indicate which are most
prevalent and/or which you
can relate to. Identify
improvement strategies for
each of the typical errors.
• Review the 8 focal points of
job interview success.
Describe your strategies to
optimize job interview
performance.

36. AGREE OR DISAGREE?
WHY?

38. RECRUITMENT PROCESS
• Defining the role (Job Analysis)
Job Specification
Job Description
• Attracting applications
Recruitment methods (internal and external)
Employee value proposition (EVP)
• Managing the application and selection process
• Making the appointment

40. SELECTION PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE

41. SELECTION PROCESS

42. • Short-listing
• Assessing applicants to decide who should be offered a job
• Making the employment appointment (offer)
References
Medical examinations
Psychometric testing
Performance tests
• Employment offer
SELECTION PROCESS AND METHODS

46. LEARNING
ACTIVITY 5
• Reading article: 10
Mistakes Job
Interviewers Make
• Identify some of the key
lessons/learning points
from the article.
• Describe how these
lessons can be applied
to your organization’s
competency-based job
selection interview
process.

48. DEFINING COMPETENCY-BASED
INTERVIEWS
• Competency-based interviews (also called structured
interviews) are interviews where each question is
designed to test one or more specific skills.
• The answer is then matched against pre-decided
criteria and marked accordingly.
• For example, the interviewers may want to test the
candidate's ability to deal with stress by asking first
how the candidate generally handles stress and then
asking the candidate to provide an example of a
situation where he worked under pressure.

50. DIFFERENTIATING BETWEEN COMPETENCY-BASED
INTERVIEWS AND NORMAL INTERVIEWS
• Normal interviews are essentially a conversation where the interviewers
ask a few questions that are relevant to what they are looking for but
without any specific aim in mind other than getting an overall impression of
you as an individual.
• Questions are fairly random and can sometimes be quite open.
• Competency-based interviews are more systematic, with each question
targeting a specific skill or competency.
• Candidates are asked questions relating to their behaviour in specific
circumstances, which they then need to back up with concrete examples.
• The interviewers will then dig further into the examples by asking for
specific explanations about the candidate's behaviour or skills.

51. CBI PROCESS FLOW

52. CBI PROCESS FLOW

53. SKILLS AND COMPETENCIES FOR CBI
 Adaptability
 Compliance
 Communication
 Conflict management
 Creativity and Innovation
 Decisiveness
 Delegation
 External awareness
 Flexibility
 Independence
 Influencing
 Integrity
 Leadership
 Leveraging diversity
 Organisational awareness
 Resilience and tenacity
 Risk taking
 Sensitivity to others
 Team work

54. SUB-COMPONENTS OF COMPETENCE

55. HOW COMPETENCY-BASED INTERVIEW
QUESTIONS ARE MARKED

56. HOW COMPETENCY-BASED INTERVIEW
QUESTIONS ARE MARKED
Positive indicators Negative indicators
 Demonstrates a positive approach towards
the problem.
 Considers the wider need of the situation
 Recognises his own limitations
 Is able to compromise
 Is willing to seek help when necessary
 Uses effective strategies to deal with
pressure/stress
 Perceives challenges as problems
 Attempts unsuccessfully to deal with the
situation alone
 Used inappropriate strategies to deal with
pressure/stress

57. HOW COMPETENCY-BASED INTERVIEW
QUESTIONS ARE MARKED

58. S-T-A-R CBI QUESTIONING PROCESS

60. • PROBING - It may be necessary to probe with
additional, relevant questions at all stages of the
process.
• “CBI HAS A CLEAR FOCUS ON ESTABLISHING JOB FIT”
CBI INTERVIEW – CRITICAL SUCCESS
FACTOR

61. CBI CHECKLIST
• Prepare for the interview
• Follow a logical sequence
• Create a proper environment
• Relax the candidate
• Let the candidate do the talking
• Perfect your questioning

62. CBI CHECKLIST
• Become a better listener
• Keep your reactions to yourself
• Stay in control
• Take notes
• Sell but don’t oversell the position
• Conclude on a proper note

64. LEARNING
ACTIVITY 6
• Reading article: How to
Master Asking
Behavioural Interview
Questions
• Identify some of the key
lessons/learning points
from the article.
• Describe how these
lessons can be applied
to your organization’s
competency-based job
selection interview
process.

66. LEARNING
ACTIVITY 7
• Role Play:
 Divide into syndicate groups.
Conduct a competency-
based job selection
interview with a prospective
job applicant. Each group
member will play a defined
role.
• De-briefing:
 Review and evaluate the
efficiency and effectiveness
of this competency-based
job interview. Identify
improvement areas and
recommend strategies to
improve future interviews at
your organization.

68. CONCLUSION
• Key points
• Summary
• Questions
• Training Administration

69. CONTACT DETAILS
• Charles Cotter
• (+27) 84 562 9446
• charlescot@polka.co.za
• LinkedIn
• Twitter: @Charles_Cotter
• http://www.slideshare.net/CharlesCotter