KTP Associate Blog

A little while ago Soumya posted a comment asking about the interview procedure and what to expect and so I thought I would write a bit about it to hopefully answer any questions you might have.

The first thing to explain is that this is my experience with the interview and that every one’s will be different as the recruitment process may vary depending on the University and Company, but having said that knowing kind of what to expect can’t hurt.

When I went to my first interview (don’t worry, mine was an exception and you should only have one) I had the usual sit in reception nervous till I was called. Then Phil, one of the guys from the office, came to find me and showed me round the factory which was “not part of the interview”. Whenever you are told this, don’t believe it as it WILL BE part of it. They will ask whoever showed you around what they thought of you, how polite you were, what questions you asked. Always treat this as you would an interview, you are told its not so as to get your guard down, don’t make a scene of yourself as it will get back to the people making the decisions!!!

After this I went straight into the interview. This consisted of 2 academics, the company’s MD, the man who would become my manager, the company’s HR person and the university supervisor all sat round a table. Daunting to say the least! Expecting a grilling the interview turned out to be very relaxed and friendly. They started by asking a few questions about myself and what I do in my spare time, this was just building on the application form really. I had to then give a 10 minute presentation on my dissertation project. For this I just dusted off the one I gave at uni as part of the marking. Just make sure you know it inside out and be ready for questions. A trick I got taught was to sit down and think “What questions are they likely to ask me” and work out answers for that.

Once the presentation was out the way it was a few subject specific questions, “how would you solve this problem?”, “What would you do in this situation?”, “How have you demonstrated these skills before?”. Then just a few more general questions and I was out after about an hour. Nowhere near as bad as I was expecting.

After a few days I got a phone call to say that they had narrowed the selection down to me and one other but could not decide which so could I come for a second interview? This was just an informal chat with my manager and the MD, they had given me some questions to plan answers to before hand. That lasted about half an hour and I must have done something right as I was offered the job!!

So important things to remember for passing any interview;

1. Turn up early! (it sounds obvious but makes a huge difference to turning up late!!!)
2. Dress smartly (again sounds very obvious but if you are in jeans or your shirt is not ironed then you will not make a good first impression.)
3. If you have an ‘informal’ tour with someone who is not on the interview panel treat it as part of the interview as they WILL ask that person for their input.
4. If you are giving a presentation then know your stuff!! Think of questions that they are likely to ask you and plan out a set of answers, it will help you so much its untrue.
5. If you get given information on the company then ensure you read it, and do some background research on the company as they are VERY likely to ask you what you know about the company!
6. If you don’t understand a question the ask them to re-phrase it, this is not a bad thing.
7. Just be polite, smart, ask informed questions (not “so is he a good boss to work for?” or “When do I get a pay rise?”) and relax. This is much easier said than done, but if you can calm yourself down and relax then you will think more clearly and perform better.

Other than that, just be yourself and good luck!!

Good afternoon boys and girls, are we sitting comfortably? Then we shall begin…

One of the things that gets mentioned a lot within the KTP scheme are transferable skills, things you will be able to use outside of the the KTP in your everyday life. Things you will be able to use after the KTP if you stay on with the company. Things you will be able to use in any job you apply for in future years. But what are they, and how will you know when you have them?

These skills are things like; team working, report producing, general business knowledge, project planning, subject specific knowledge, being able to work on your own initiative. There are far to many of them to list here. A lot of these things you become so used to using that you do them without thinking.

The KTP modules are very good for giving you these skills, and offer a lot of practice in using them as I have already mentioned. Other things you get just from practice, doing something every day until you can do it without thinking about it.

For example, when applying to become a Special Constable, I had to sit the standard police exams and interview procedure. Nearly all of the questions I was asked involved where I had demonstrated certain key skills that they were looking for. 90% of my answers were drawn from my KTP experience and as a result I passed the interview with flying colours!

The diploma which you can gain from the residential modules is a major transferable thing, which will look good at any job interview, as well as the MPhil which I have just started to work towards. (40,000 words… why on earth did I say yes to that?!?)

All of these are very much ‘formal’ skills which you can quantify with examples, but you will also gain a lot of informal skills which are harder to give examples of. Communication for example, being able to get on with colleagues and customers is something which you will learn to do but is hard to prove.

All in all you will be able to cope in a variety of different situations, put the skills you use in your KTP to other uses and feel confident in doing it.