Preparation is the way to success in the interview

Given the inadequacy of my answers, it was fortunate that this was not a bona fide job interview.

The interviewer was Carol Pritchard, a consultant at Penna Meridian, the outplacement consultants. The exercise was aimed at improving my interview technique. Instead of a panel of potential employers, it was a video camera that absorbed my every word.

Interviews have assumed a new importance in the City of London. Intense competition for vacancies and new FSA rules requiring the clear establishment of candidates' competence, mean that poor interview technique has become something of a liability. However, with work, even the worst interviewee can do well.

Linda Jackson, Penna Meridian's business director, says that seeing oneself on video can provide valuable insights: 'People might be saying the right things, but without enthusiasm sometimes they look dispirited. Grinning all the time is not good, either, there needs to be variation in the delivery.'

In my case, the camera revealed not that I was inanely happy or bored, but that I had an unfortunate tendency to cover my mouth while speaking. Body language experts attribute this to deception. In fact, it was more to do with shame. Most of my responses were concocted on the spot.

Meridian's Pritchard says: 'Preparation for interviews is absolutely vital. It is exactly the same as preparing for an exam if you put in the work before the event, you will tend to do better.'

Pritchard advises her clients, 60% of whom are applying for investment banking positions, to do careful research before the interview. This means scanning papers and the web for recent news about the company, looking at the company's own website, and talking to people who work there. It also means absorbing the contents of one's own CV.

At Meridian, clients are only placed in front of the video camera after they have first spent several sessions identifying skills and achievements and constructing a CV suited to the position they aspire to. They are then advised to completely familiarise themselves with its contents.

Pritchard says: 'The CV can be an agenda for the interview. Its contents can provide the basis for the questions that you are asked.'

Familiarity with the contents of a CV means more than the ability to recite work history or academic achievements. It also means having a useful stock of CV-related examples to illustrate things like leadership, team skills and diplomacy.

Stevan Rolls, a director in the recruiting division at Andersen, believes that the new FSA requirements for competency based interviewing have made these examples more important.

He says: 'Competencies are clusters of knowledge, skills and behaviour which underlie performance in the role. Structured competency-based interviews work on the assumption that past behaviours are indicative of future behaviours.'

The route to a successful interview, says Rolls, is to identify the competencies required for the position, and to draw a list of experiences that demonstrate them. In most cases, competencies can be identified from a detailed job description obtained prior to the interview.

Demonstrating competence is important for graduates, whose lack of experience makes examples particularly necessary.

Lesley Wilkinson, head of resourcing at Citigroup, says: 'At a graduate level, we are looking for several core competencies. These include analytical skills, relationship building, self-awareness, team working and a global mindset. It is very difficult to find people that are demonstrating competencies across all of these groups, but we do look for positive evidence.'

A similar process is followed at ABN Amro. Lisa Pickup, head of graduate recruitment, says the bank's structured interview process is based around a set of core competencies. She says: 'Prepare stories from your CV. If you have limited work experience, think through your extra-curricular activities. If you were a sports captain, it is not enough to just give a title. Think about what your real role was, the problems that you had to overcome, how you motivated people.'

Individuals looking for further assistance with their interview technique may benefit from consulting a recently published book. Brilliant Answers to Tough Interview Questions, by former careers adviser Susan Hodgson, offers tailored responses to such testing requests as: 'What are your weaknesses?' and 'I see that you were made redundant by your past employer - how have you coped?' Hodgson offers the brilliant answers of 'over-enthusiasm' for the first question and 'natural optimism' for the latter.

However, over-preparation for interviews carries dangers of its own. Hodgson writes: 'Do not learn my answers by rote. They can come out in a very stilted manner.' Kamini Persaud, recruitment officer in graduate recruitment at Bank of America, agrees: 'Textbook answers are the worst thing, and they are very quickly revealed when further questions on the subject fail to elicit a response.'

Penna Meridian's Pritchard advises against embellishing the facts. 'Lying does not work. The truth works, as does enthusiasm. Be enthusiastic and truthful and you will become more engaged - and engaging,' she says.

In fact, it is engagement, together with well-prepared and interesting behavioural examples, that are most likely to lead to success. Bank of America's Persaud says: 'It is not so much about market knowledge and experience, but motivation, team work and interpersonal skills. You can have the best CV and experience in the world, but if you don't know how to present it, you will get nowhere.'