Many students often ask me how I can pass a job interview, assessment centres etc…

I always answer in a simple sentence: Common sense!

Always have a common sense. Not only have common sense but also try to demonstrate it because the interviewees/assessors will ask you several questions to see whether you have such quality or not.

(I will write more articles in the near future to elaborate on each point)

Another tip for securing a good job is presentation skills, people often think they have such ‘talent’ by being able to speak clearly or loudly; however, they often fail terribly at it.

My advice is: get the content right because nothing worse than a presentation with a shallow content, remember you have to know more than your audience, otherwise they will crush you with questions afterward.

A simple strategy is to have a structured presentation including: Agenda (what you will cover in the presentation), Introduction (what you will take about), Main body (the actual content) and Conclusion (a summary of what you covered).

The delivery style is as important as the content, think of politicians, they are often great speaks with crap content.

Good delivery style, from my own perspectives, relies on the ability to present without using notes or reading off the slides (if you’re using Powerpoint), practice your presentation over and over before presenting. If you are in an assessment centre, make sure you stick to the point, be precise and don’t waffle, I find it very helpful when I write on a flipchart while presenting in an assessment centre, because I won’t have PowerPoint facility and the time to prepare.

As a final point, always always always maintain an eye contact with ALL the audience as it will differentiate you from an average presenter.