Why you should prepare for an interview:
It sounds like an obvious thing to do – But lots of people don’t bother to prepare, they will just wing the interview. Or are under the false illusion their winning personality will get them the job. Whilst that might be true some of the time, plenty of the time it won’t be.
I have been working in recruitment around 11 years now having originally started in London working for Aspire Group. I then worked for Poolia and Eames Consulting in banking and finance. A large part of my week in my latter role at Eames and Poolia was spent coaching senior candidates within banking to perform better at interview. I have interviewed thousands of people across several very different sectors ranging from green crew to Executive Directors at large banks. What the vast majority of all these candidates have in common is they don’t enjoy interviews and they don’t perform to the best of their ability when being interviewed.
There are some candidates who enjoy interviews and think they are good at them. In my experience they may enjoy them, be personable, likeable etc but very rarely are they actually nailing the interview.
Unfortunately an interview is a pressure situation so no one ever does as well as they hope to. Factor in it’s the dream job, whether that is Stew on a world cruising yacht or a Captaincy role offering rotation on a new build then that pressure rises significantly and performance deteriorates.
The obvious way of alleviating this is to prepare. What do I mean when I say prepare? Well this could be a whole separate blog on its own. But in a nutshell spend a bit of time working out your strengths. What have you achieved in your previous roles, yachting or otherwise. Jot down some examples of when you have been given responsibility, when you have done things well. Think of the personality traits of a good crew member and come up with examples of when you have demonstrated these.
Make sure you know all your own details. Dates, time frames, what tenders you drove, how many weeks of charter you had. The list is endless so write down everything relevant into a word document. Think what questions you could possibly be asked. Then think of how you will answer them. Write all of these questions and answers down if you can as it will definitely benefit you. You are far more likely to remember something if you have written it down and it will jog your memory about other things you have done at the same time. Finally, look into the logistics, where is it and how am I going to get there?
Doing the above will take a couple of hours. Most people won’t bother as it takes time and effort. I would urge you not to be one of those people. Doing the above will also have one other significant benefit. It will make you more confident in the interview and a little more relaxed going into it. Hence your performance will improve but it will also allow your personality to shine through more which is vital in the junior ranks.
If you are a Captain who has been vaguely interested by some of the points made above then please get in contact as I offer career & CV advice and very detailed interview coaching for a small number of suitable candidates. This blog is just scratching the surface of what is an in depth subject. This service is completely free of charge, I just like to keep my hand in. Tim Clarke, tim@quaycrew.com.
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