I've been doing lot of interviewing of late and I feel like I need to write a fresh blog on nailing EA/PA interviews. I've written a couple of other blogs in the last year on the interview process, but feel like there are some key factors that need to be called out and brought to the forefront of everyone's minds. Interviewing by no means needs to be a scary or intimidating process, and potentially can be so easy if you just follow the right formula. For EA/PA roles you can almost predict the questions you'll get asked, so your answers should be nothing but well prepared. And if you are turning up to interviews unprepared and with no specific examples in toe, you can kiss that job goodbye. We all know the attributes an EA/PA needs to have, so its not hard to sit in front of an interviewer and reel off things they want to hear. Things like "I'm super organised; very efficient; pro-active; flexible; work well under pressure; have great written and verbal communications skills; and are great at PowerPoint and Excel" are things we can all say. But whether you are actually are any of those things, or can do any of them is another story. Providing examples of things you've done and talking about how you organise yourself and your manager is key to allowing the interviewer into the workings and mechanics of your brain. If an interviewer can't tap into the way you actually operate and try and gauge a mental picture of how you work and organise yourself, then you've got Buckley's of progressing further into the process. So I've listed below the key elements on how to be successful in an interview, and given the amount of interviews I've conducted in my time, you may want to actually take note of these tips, especially if you're to job hunting at the moment!
1. Prepare your examples
First up, make a list of ALL the amazing things you've done throughout your career thus far, or if you're just starting out then all the amazing things you did at School/Uni, in your part-time job or even in your personal life. So put things on the list like - processes your implemented; challenges you've came up against and how you overcame them; events you managed end to end; situations where you came up against challenging personalities and how you dealt with them; and any other general successes that you've had - really just list out anything that you would want them to hear about. This will form the basis for all the answers to their questions. The questions you get asked for EA/PA roles are always standard and easily pre-empted, so you generally can adapt your list of successes to fit the answers to them. I previously wrote another blog that you can find here around the interview process in general and all the factors you should take into consideration when interviewing, but quite specifically it covers off some of the questions you will get asked. All of these questions can be answered using your list of successes just by adapting them to fit. It's a really easy formula, the key is just to remember what you've got on your list!
2. Don't be fluffy, be specific
So as the questions start being fired at you, regardless of whether they ask you to provide an example or they don't, be specific and provide examples anyway. As I said earlier, its all too easy to answer questions by telling the interviewer what they want to hear on how organised you are and all the attributes that you carry that are important to the EA/PA role. So rather than telling them that you're organised and that you have no problem managing conflicting priorities, tell them specifically what you do and how you do it. And to be quite frank, saying that you 'make lists /keep a to-do list' just doesn't cut it. Anyone can keep lists, or say that 'communication is the key' when it comes to managing another person, but it doesn't mean they do it well or that they are in fact well organised. Instead tell them what you do as soon as you come into work to organise yourself for the day, tell them how you engage your manager and assess their priorities (and your own) and how you deal with the urgent things that come up that require your immediate attention. Have a particular challenging day in mind that you can describe which details each step you took and be prepared to talk about it at length. When asked the question (or similar), "tell me about a time when you had both your manager's asking you to complete something urgently, what did you do and how did you manage their expectations" - don't talk generally by saying "I would do this..." or "I would do that...", your responses should always be prefaced with "I DID do this...or "I DID do that....". Be concise with your answers, slow down on your delivery and make sure what you're saying all makes sense. If you ramble off things too quickly, you're not only hard to follow, it just demonstrates that you get flustered under pressure - which may very well be inconsistent with what you are telling them!
3. Prep for the 'tricky' questions
If you find yourself heading into murky waters, or down a difficult path (perhaps it might be a question around why you left your last job after such a short time, for example) - first of all be prepared to answer it and not skirt around your answer. If there is anything on your CV that looks questionable, i.e short stints in a role; big gaps between jobs; or maybe a contract that didn't get extended - have your answer prepared, practised and ready to roll off the tongue. Stumbling over answers because the answer is awkward, never looks good to anyone. Now I don't suggest bending the truth as you must remember recruiters these days can stalk the hell out of you on line and more than likely work out what may have happened themselves, but you can twist the delivery of the answer a little to give it a positive outlook rather than a negative one. Over and above all of this though, its important that you be genuine. As an interviewer myself, I can always tell when a candidate is embellishing the truth, is uncomfortable with what they're being asked, or is just outright making stuff up on the spot, which will never play in your favour. Essentially though, the more prepared you are, the more genuine you can be and you can comfortably answer anything that is thrown at you, all whilst showing your true character. This leads onto the next point around creating a connection.
4. Create a connection
As soon as your interview commences it's time to move into 'multitasking' mode. So whilst concentrating on what they are saying as they set up the interview, its important that you quickly asses the interviewer's approach - their tone, body language, and level of friendliness/seriousness. So whatever stance they have you will quickly need to match them. So if you sense the tone as being serious then get serious, regardless of whether you're a bubbly and over the top personality type. Similarly if you sense the interview is going to be light hearted and casual, then lighten up. Like engaging with anyone you want to impress, you want to make a connection with them, so they genuinely like you.
5. Prepare your questions
When doing your interview prep make a list of at least 10 questions you want to ask, and something a little more in depth and intelligent than "how many people are in the company", for example. Chances are, most of the questions you may have prepared are probably going to get answered through the interview process anyway. So if you get the end of the interview and the interviewer says to you, "now do you have any questions?" and you say, "no, I think you've answered them all", it shows how little interest and under prepared you are. Of course they will always undoubtedly end up answering your most basic questions (those around how many people in the team/company, how many direct reports does they have, and what's the team structure like etc etc), so it's important you have a couple of questions up your sleeve that you know they won't cover off through the conversation. Now it's essential you do some research on the company your interviewing with and if you know the potential manager's name, then research on them too. And whilst you're doing your research you hopefully will stumble across some detail on the company or potential employer that you could use to draft some questions around. This will actually show you up as being an EA that isn't just about the job they perform, but also an EA that actually has an interest in the industry/market/company they work for or in. So try to ask a question around the company's priorities, and that too of the potential Manager you would be supporting. This is your opportunity to ask them as many questions as they have asked you, as you are interviewing them to see if they would be a 'right fit' for you too, so the more questions the better. A full list of good questions to prepare can be found here in my previous blog, "Searching for perpetual happiness, the interview questions every EA must ask the Exec".
Prepping for an interview is no different to preparing for an oral exam. Do your research on the company/manager/team/role, have your pre-empted questions ready with answers well drafted (write them out and practise them), and finally your list of questions that you will in turn then ask them. If you're truly passionate about what you do as an EA, and are proud of your achievements, spending 45 minutes gloating and talking about yourself really isn't that hard, especially when you actually know what questions will be asked of you. Really the whole interview process is a piece of cake, and you've really got no reason to do anything other than kill it!
