The Apprentice - Job Interview

Did you see last night's episode of The Apprentice - The Job Interview?

(Catch it here on the BBC The Apprentice Website, if you missed it - it was a classic).

The final 4 candidates were subjected to 3 job interviews with trusted colleagues of Sir Alan Sugar. And to say these were aggressive stress interviews is an understatement.

Each candidate was interrogated, accused of lying, forced to justify their position in the final four of the show and told they weren't up to the job.

So how realistic an approach is this? Are you likely to get a stress interview?

It depends on the company you want to work for.
If the working environment is high pressure, high expectations, then you should expect a stress interview.
It's a commonly used technique to predict whether you become aggressive or defensive under pressure. After all, anyone can put on a glossy job interview performance, so this is one way of telling the strong candidates from the good actors.

How did The Apprentice candidates perform?

Paul

Why did he bother going into the interview?! What a fiasco! With each interviewer, he relied solely on his sense of humour and positive thinking, but it fell flat. You can't joke your way into a job like Alan Sugar's Apprentice. You need to be able to prove you've got what it takes. Here are some of the key mistakes Paul made:

• He carried on regardless with his jokey, casual style.
  He didn't twig that this was a serious interview that required strong answers. He didn't pick up on the fact that the interviewer wasn't amused by his style.



• He had mistakes on his CV and couldn't remember what he had written.
  This is a really bad mistake to make - even worse when you consider he's a recruitment consultant who writes people's CVs and advises them on job interviews every day.



• He hadn't thought about the skills he had used in the last 10 weeks to be on the winning team 7/10 times.
  Had he been able to provide concrete examples of the skills and characteristics required for the role, he would have fared better. Instead, he waffled about being brilliant and the best - unsubstantiated claims that are easy for any interviewer to see through.
  He has plenty of skills and positive characteristics, but you can't expect an interviewer to believe glib cliches. They want examples and evidence.

Classic quote:

Paul: "I can get on with anyone"

Interviewer: "Well, you're not getting on with me."

Paul: "That's your opinion."

Ruth
Ruth is a confident, assertive woman, who borders on aggressive. She has been given feedback throughout the show on this, but didn't seem to have taken it on board. With her skill set and her achievements, she could have had a brilliant interview, but instead she only made it through to the next round by the narrowest of margins.

• Don't scare the interviewer!
  Ruth was so busy being aggressive, leaning across the desk and trying to get her point across that she had the interviewers leaning back in their seats. This is a really bad sign. She repeatedly contradicted them harshly when she didn't agree with what they said. She proved just how aggressive she can be.



• Don't over-hype your achievements.
  It's important to sell yourself with your CV, but you have to keep it realistic. Ruth's claims of what she had achieved in her last role simply weren't believable. In the interviews, this meant she spent more time explaining what she meant about being a "fundamental part" of the improvements, rather than telling them how she did it and why that would be relevant to Sir Alan Sugar's business.



• She showed no respect for the interviewers
  Ruth barged into one interview without even knocking. She showed a complete lack of understanding of rapport. She seemed to think the interview was yet another battle she had to win. On this basis, most companies would refuse to hire her, for fear of what she would do to their teams.

Ansell
Ansell is, to quote Nick, one of Sir Alan Sugar's aides, "the only one of the bunch I'd leave my wallet with on a beach". And he has great skills to back up his likeable personality. So how did it go for him?

• Mr. Nice Guy
  I lost count of how many times the word "nice" was used to describe Ansell after the interviews. And that's really positive. Unfortunately it simply wasn't backed up by a belief that he could cut it in The Apprentice role.



• "Just a salesman"
  Throughout the 10 weeks, Ansell has had feedback that he is "just a salesman". He's had plenty of time to come up with concrete examples of his other skills. He gave this a good go in the job interviews, but would probably have fared better had he actually shown those skills during the 10 weeks. His interview performance was good, but his performance in the tasks was less obvious.
  



• The Board Room
  You could see Sir Alan wanted to keep Ansell, but Ansell just couldn't match Ruth's energy. She was passionately explaining why she wanted to be The Apprentice, yet it seemed Ansell had almost given up. Such a pity. Of all the candidates, he seems to have the most integrity.

Michelle
We saw Michelle in a new light. She hasn't really performed that strongly during the last 10 weeks, but last night we could see what she was made of. How did she do in the interview?

• Strong examples
  She was proud of the route she had taken to get where she was. She was able to give strong examples of her dedication to her career, right the way from her days as a Kwiksave checkout girl. This counted in her favour.



• A rounded skill set
  She provided compelling evidence of the relevant skills and characteristics, when asked to do so. She was good at thinking on her feet and providing convincing examples.



• She built rapport
  She, like Ansell, was sensitive to how the interviewers responded to her questions. She showed the ability to build rapport with them and win them round with her influencing skills. This was in direct contrast to Ruth's approach. Michelle was professional, whereas Paul seemed to think he was in the pub with the lads.

The biggest single mistake made by all the candidates was not researching Sir Alan Sugar's companies before starting the show.

How can you convince someone you are passionate about working for them if you can't even tell them what products they make?!

Paul used the excuse that they had only had 3 weeks' notice of the interview. Well, checking out the internet and asking the press office for the company's last annual report would have taken just a few hours.

In reality, all four candidates would have been rejected on this basis. How can you possibly be, to use Ruth's words, "craving" to work for Sir Alan, if you haven't even checked out the businesses he runs? Researching the company is critical, before you go to the interview.

Want to make sure you don't make the same mistakes as The Apprentice candidates?

Find out more about how to avoid the top 10 job interview mistakes.


If you've got a job interview question, ask Clare Jaques on the Monster Job Interview Forum.

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