Yusuf's Guide To Living - Episode 3 - Interview Answers

In my short time trying to build a career I’ve had many interviews and after a post-interview rejection it's all too easy to blame the interviewer, the trains or the weather or even the fact that you wore sky-blue tie rather than a navy tie. However, sometimes you just have to share a little of the responsibility and often its only after going through the interview later, in the cold light of retrospect, that you realise an answer you thought was outstanding would probably have been better left unsaid!

In an effort to develop a sort of cautionary tale, I've picked out four of my less conventional interview situations and while the interviews were quite a while ago and I don't remember my answers verbatim, I have tried to keep true to how events unfolded.


BEAR IN MIND THAT THESE ARE ALL TRUE STORIES
 
1) 

Position applied for: Head Boy - 2005.
Interview type: panel of 4 interviewers 2x deputy headmasters, 1x head of Sixth Form, 1x deputy head of sixth form.
Necessary information: my first ever interview. An ice cream van (known as the 'froz van') would come to the school everyday and pupils would be very keen to give it their money. To keep the crowd from turning into a rabble (which, incidentally, was allowed while we were a boys-only school) prefects (I was one of 30 or so) would try to maintain an orderly queue.

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Interviewer: Can you tell us a way in which you would you change the school to make it better?

Me: *discreetly stalling for time* Do you mean curricular areas or something else?

Interviewer: Anything. Any area that you think could be improved. Take as much time as you need.

Me: I see. *thinks for only a second to impress them with the quickfire brilliance and easy implementability of my thoughts*
OK. Often when prefects are controlling the froz van queue, some of the students are a bit aggressive, especially when they've tried to push in and have been caught doing so. Sometimes they refuse to move to the back and all we can so is give them a pink slip and report them to you. What I would change is I would allow prefects to use physical force to maintain order. Only mild force of course, not punching pupils! Enough force so that if a student is being unruly, we could push them and move them to the back of the queue.

Interviewer: OK. *they all make notes* Well, thanks for coming. We'll be deciding later today and we'll let you know then.

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Result: No.

Feedback provided: None

Means exactly what you think it means

2)

Position applied for: Summer Intern - actuarial pensions firm.
Interview type: HR panel interview. 2x interviewers.

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Interviewer: Actuaries sometimes have to write large amounts of text when doing research. Can you tell us about any extended writing you've done on your university course?

Me: Not really. Maths at degree level doesn't require writing long passages, never mind essays!

Interviewer: Oh. Then have you written any prose outside of your course?

Me: *chuckles* not so much. I chose maths specifically to avoid writing essays. What I have done recently is write a long email in my capacity as vice-president of the Islamic Society. Shall I tell you about that?

Interviewer: Ok. Go on.

Me: Well, as Vice President, I am responsible for the males in the society, and recently it came to my attention that some of the members were less than strict about their clothing! During prayer we prostrate on the ground and when doing so, a few people would ... display ... *chuckle* a bit of themselves to the people behind them!! I wrote a lengthy email to discourage them from this.

Interviewer: Right. Ok. So how did you research that?

Me: Research? A few minutes on Wikipedia. Took me about 3 hours, most of which was editing time.

Interviewer: Ok. Let's move on.

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Maybe, maybe not

Result: No.

Feedback provided: We felt that you were very genuine but unfortunately some of your answers weren't strong and we don't think you'd fit well here.



3) 

Position applied for: Graduate Consultant - Pensions Software firm - 2010

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Interviewer: You've written here that you were Vice President of the Islamic Society. What did that involve?

Me: A wide range of things, for example organising weekly prayer meetings, arranging events, liaising with speakers. Our major event was Experience Islam Week and I was heavily involved with that.

Interviewer: Tell me some more about Experience Islam Week.

Me: It's a week of talks by guest speakers from all over the world, open to the public and the topics are pertinent to today's world and trying to dispel common myths about Islam. Things like charity or the environment.

Interviewer: Oh ok. Any other topics?

Me: Hmm. *excited about sharing some knowledge* Off the top of my head, this year we covered terrorism! And the Islamic concept of Jihad. Yes, terrorism and jihad are a couple of topics. Very interesting ones as well I found them to be. Suicide bombing and the like. Wars! The West's war in Iraq and Afghanistan. Yeah, that kind of thing. What do you know about terrorism?

Interviewer: Not much.

Me: Oh. Well it'd have interested you I think. Yep, and the role jihad can play in a muslim's life. Very fascinating indeed! Islam's against terrorism by the way.

Interviewer: I see.
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Result: No.

Feedback provided: We don't think we have an environment in which you'd thrive.

There's a time and a place for most things.

4)

Position applied for: Summer Intern – Actuarial Pensions firm (2008)

Interview type: panel of two.
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Interviewer: What do you know about being an actuary? The work we do.

Me: Actuaries study historical trends and try to predict the future using statistical methods. Very prevalent in pensions and the insurance industry. Analytical work and very numerical.

Interviewer: ok. What do you think you'll be doing on the internship on a day to day basis?

Me: Well, very much the work of a 1st year analyst.

Interviewer: And what do they do?

Me: First year analysts would be doing work similar in nature to a more senior trainee actuary.

Interviewer: And what they do?

Me: I'd say they'd do similar work to a qualified actuary, but with less responsibility.

Interviewer: Ok. So what do qualified actuaries do on a day to day basis?

Me: Ok. Ok. To be honest with you I know in general what actuarial involves but I don't really know what actuaries do or what I'd be doing on a day to day basis.

Interviewer: Ok. Well, something to discuss on your lunch with the analysts then.
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Result: YES.

Feedback provided: Not necessary!

Sometimes you just gotta roll the dice and hope for the best

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Click to see Episode 2