Tips for a Construction Interview

 If you want a construction sales job, attitude and preparation is everything! The construction market has no doubt been hit hard by the recession. The number of people on the market rose sharply as businesses went into administration and were forced to make redundancies. This meant lots of candidates, all applying for only a handful of jobs. Companies that were still recruiting had their pick of the crop meaning they were only going to recruit people that fitted their exact requirements.

Things have definitely improved and we’ve seen a steady rise in the number of vacancies in , but one thing that has not changed is the specificity of the jobs that companies are looking to recruit people for. It seems that over the past 18 months, business have got the taste for candidates that are prepared to go that extra mile and now aren’t going to tolerate anything vaguely resembling a half-hearted effort.
 
With this in mind, we have been at pains to reemphasize the importance of being thoroughly prepared for interviews. Long gone are the days of "I’ll turn up and see what they have to say", or “I’m interviewing them as much as they are me” attitude. Companies want to see people with a proactive approach that are well prepared and understand the business they work in and that are able to demonstrate it. Follow these interview tips and you’ll be prepared…..

1. Research!

A simple glance through the company’s website might have sufficed one upon a time, but it doesn’t anymore. If the answer to the popular opening question “So, what do you know about us?” is “not much – I’ve had a quick look through the website...”, the interview is likely to end shortly thereafter.

2. Be targeted

If the company you are interviewing is a large multinational, the internet will almost have too much information for you to glean. Use sites like Wikipedia and Hoovers for information as well as the company’s website (and those of their competitors). 

3. Speak to people

If they are a smaller company and have less of a presence on the web, then make some phone calls (you are a salesperson, after all). Call companies who are likely to be their customers, speak to friends or colleagues who may know the industry or even get in touch with people who work for the company.

Lots of organisations openly publish contact details on their website and if you are able to explain to an existing rep that you have an impending interview there, they will often try to help (extreme caution is advised with this approach however – some vacancies will be confidential and you don’t want to end up contacting someone who has no idea about an impending vacancy – it is thus always important to check with the recruitment consultant before you do this). 

4. Make notes and bring them with you

It is possible to have undertaken the most thorough research imaginable, but if you walk in, empty handed, the initial impression will be that you haven’t tried. 

5. Consider your suitability

Be specific. Ultimately, you are there to sell yourself, this is a sales process and you need to consider your  features and benefits as an individual. It is specificity that is important here. You might be hard working, organised, conscientious and so on, but how specifically are these features going to benefit you in this particular role. 

6. Ask questions

Prepare as many open questions as possible prior to the meeting and bring  them with you – beware of point (1.) here. A question is assured not to impress if its answer is to be readily found on the company’s website .“What does the business turnover?”, for example, should only be asked if one is beyond any doubt that this information is not easily available elsewhere. 

7. Be specific to their business and to this vacancy

It is understood that you are going to have to ask about some things that you might ask others during other interviews, but if your questions are too generic it will be obvious that you’re using the same ones for each vacancy.  

8. Don’t lie – you’ll get found out

You may have left your previous role due to the fact that your boss was a bully and a tyrant, so it’s impossible pretending that you got along like a house on fire. The trick is to take something positive from each of your previous roles, even if the actual reasons for leaving aren’t. “I don’t regret working there as it gave me a lot of XYZ experience and I am pleased at the successes I had”.

9. Close the sale

You wouldn’t go into a sales meeting, ask questions to understand their key requirements, sell features and benefits, overcome any objections and then walk out without asking for the order, so don’t do the same in an interview – you’ll end up walking out of the meeting without knowing what happens next or where you stand, and, unless the interview is for a non-sales role, you’ll undoubtedly lose respect with the company.

10. Show you are keen

If you’ve already done a good enough job with the points above, this should be an addendum, merely summing up what you’ve done so far, but remember that no one ever got offered a job, or the next stage in a process, if the company didn’t think  they were keen. A simple ‘Thank you again for your time today. I appreciated the opportunity to learn more about the business and, having done so, I am even surer that this is the opportunity for me”.

Two obvious but oft overlooked points:

11. Be punctual

If your journey involves much of our country’s motorway network, the best way to do this is to aim to be early.   A couple of minutes of opportunity to revise your notes is infinitely preferable to a sprinting, breathless charge at the last minute.

12. Be smart

I have spent a decent chunk of my career following up on sales interviews encompassing every bracket of salary and responsibility. Not once have I ever been told that someone appeared ‘too smart’. Dark suit, smart polished shoes, white shirt and a quiet tie.