SECOND JOB INTERVIEW
How to deal with it and prepare effectivelyOr have you already done a few in the past but alas, don’t you have a good memory of them? Don’t panic: in this article, we will give you practical advice to get to the second interview prepared, with useful tips on how to answer the most frequently asked questions, make a good (second) impression, and beat the competition.
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How to face the second job interview?
The success of this second phase consists of several elements:
- the approach,
- verification of specific skills,
- preparation for questions,
- and above all your ability to value yourself in front of recruiters.
Technically we speak of Personal Branding, i.e. the art of being able to sell yourself and create a recognizable, different, and attractive identity for others (in this case, the dreaded HR). An indispensable technique during the job search, on which we have concentrated an entire training course: the Personal Branding Course.
Knowing how to promote yourself and enhance your skills during an interview is the most important and unfortunately the most undervalued skill for those entering the world of work.
Writing a good resume is essential and yours is likely to be very good if you’ve been called back for a second job interview. But now the difference between you and another candidate, with the same curriculum, will play precisely on how convincing you can be in presenting yourself as the best possible candidate for that position.
Let’s start with the approach: what are the things not to do to make a good impression in front of recruiters?
Second job interview: 3 mistakes not to be made
Starting on the right foot is essential to avoid antagonizing the commission in charge of the selection right away. Here are the 3 most common mistakes when preparing for a second job interview:
Thinking that the place is already yours. First of all, congratulate yourself on getting a second meeting: it’s not for everyone and you can legitimately have higher hopes of getting the job than others.
But now is the time to shine among many other candidates without thinking that you already have the role in your pocket.
A second job interview is a golden opportunity that doesn’t happen to everyone, but for this very reason, it would be a shame to lose it just for a superficial presumption, right? So: high motivation, but don’t forget to be humble!
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Don’t expect a new face
Sometimes it will happen that the same recruiter decides to arrange a second job interview with you to address some issues that did not arise in the first meeting, but this is not always the case.
On the other hand, it may happen that the second time around it will be a psychologist, the department manager, or even the general manager who wants to get to know you before being hired. In this case, expect questions that are more technical than your skills: the technical interview aims to verify that you have the specific requirements to cover the position for which you have applied. You may also be subjected to a psycho-aptitude test in case of a second meeting with the psychologist.
Collecting information on interlocutors is essential: try to find out from your contact person who they will be or at least their role within the company, to personalize your answers as much as possible.
Forget about the first interview
In the second business meeting, you definitely won’t be asked the same questions, right? It is therefore crucial in this phase to rethink the first cognitive meeting, the issues that have emerged, and the questions that have not been asked.
This will allow you to play ahead and imagine what this second phase will be about: Did they focus on your past experiences the first time around? This time they may want to delve further with more technical questions or conversely discuss your future goals with you. Do not rule anything out in advance and prepare a list of hypothetical questions that could arise. Moreover, preparation work of this kind will help you a lot in managing anxiety.
What questions to expect from the second job interview?
After an initial screening of the requirements by Human Resources, the goal of your interlocutor during the second interview will be to clarify any doubts and understand if you are the best candidate for that specific position.
Knowing how to enhance one’s professional identity is essential for answering the most frequent questions of a second meeting. Let’s see how:
What are your strengths and weaknesses?
An insidious question that unties itself from technical skills and aims to frame you from a human point of view. To excel and be happy at work, it is essential to choose a path that is as much in line as possible with one’s aptitudes and motivations; what the recruiter is trying to figure out right now is if you’re cut out for that role from a psycho-aptitude point of view.
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Answer this type of question honestly, perhaps bringing a concrete example of how you handled a particular situation in the past. The “show, don’t tell” rule applies, demonstrate your qualities by telling a story that exemplifies them.
Don’t just say “I work well in a team”; rather it tells of the time you worked on that project with a team of colleagues, managing stress very well and helping to maintain a relaxed atmosphere. A well-told story says more than a thousand generic adjectives and will allow you to differentiate yourself in the eyes of the recruiter.
Why would you like to work in our company?
This a classic question that allows the recruiter to test your level of interest in the role on offer and the company.
To answer, it is useful to be very up-to-date on the entire corporate environment: its history, the sector in which it operates, its values, and its mission. All information can be easily found by searching the site, reading the news or the company blog, or following the employees on Linkedin.
The advice is to always add a personal touch: you could answer referring to the first meeting, enthusiastically remembering what you liked most about the company that was presented to you, and explaining why you would like to get that position.
How would you behave in this particular situation?
From the first interview, it will have emerged that in theory your profile is aligned with the role, but now in the second job interview, the recruiter will want to know more about your concrete ability to handle certain situations. To do this, he may present you with a hypothetical situation to solve; to answer think about your past experiences, when a similar situation arose, and how you behaved.
Or he could ask you for a practical demonstration of what you can do, by presenting your project or requesting a portfolio. Today it is increasingly essential to demonstrate your skills practically rather than having pure theoretical knowledge, especially in new areas such as digital marketing.
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What are your future goals?
Implicitly: what difference could you make in our company? The interlocutor wants to investigate your professional future to understand in which direction you are oriented (if you want to make a career, for example) and if it is in line with business needs. The advice, therefore, is to respond by trying to link your requirements and objectives to the needs of the employer.
Only if you mean it: after all, a second job interview is an opportunity for you to learn more about the company you’re going to work for and decide if it’s right for you.
Final job search tips
As you may have guessed, during a second job interview a good 80% of the cards are played on Personal Branding, or on your ability to convince your interlocutor that you are the best possible candidate for that position. The remaining 20% ??is the result of your real technical skills and past experiences, two elements which in any case have already been assessed during the skimming of the first interview.
Think of yourself as the packaging of a product to be presented on the market, with the only difference being that in this case, that product is YOU.
Identify your strengths
To start, before promoting it, you have to do a job of framing the product: what it is, what its value is, and how it differs from the others. In this case, therefore, you will have to consider your attitudes:
- What are my strengths?
- Is there anything I’m naturally good at?
- Is my character more extroverted or introverted?
- What is the role in which I would feel comfortable?
- What are my future goals?
- How do I propose to reach them?
These are some of the fundamental questions to be asked during this first phase.
Analyze the market
The second step passes from the analysis of the market in which you want to enter. Here’s what you need to consider:
- Considering my skills and aptitudes, what is my target market?
- Is it a growing, stalling, or declining market?
- What value does my profile have for that market?
It is important in this phase to combine personal aptitudes and skills with market trends: identifying a growing market for which one’s professional profile has a lot of value is the best possible choice.
How do you promote yourself online?
According to research by Wyser, 80% of recruiters type the candidate’s name into Google after receiving the CV. So you will understand that taking care of your online image is no longer an option. Today it is essential to correctly manage your social profiles to excel in your job search: from LinkedIn to Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube.
Above all, Linkedin is the perfect social network to create a real professional network: you can get in touch with people in your sector or reach out to those who already work in the sector you would like to retrain.
Knowing how to do a good job of Personal Branding will not only help you in the initial phase of looking for a position but will allow you to be more confident and to effectively exploit your strengths and skills during the first and second possible second work meetings.
I hope this article can give you some useful ideas to face better a delicate phase like the second job interview and good luck with your future projects!
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