interview advice for Temporary Secretarial & Support jobs
During the interview for your temp secretarial job, you’ll be quizzed on what you can bring to the position, your skills and personal qualities and also your previous experiences, gained in other organisations.
You need to be able to sell all of these qualities to your potential employer, along with your enthusiasm for wanting the position. Whilst remaining calm and confident. We understand that this is extremely difficult and the best way to tackle your nerves and get the most from your interview is to prepare.
Here at Randstad Financial & Professional, we’ve helped hundreds of candidates secure positions, and we can help you to prepare for your interview with some examples of questions that you may be asked.
about yourself
• How would you develop yourself? Both professionally and personally.
• What is your greatest attribute?
• How would your last boss/team describe you?
• How would your friends describe you?
• Where you do you see yourself in 3/5 years?
• How do you differ in work outside of work?
• What do you like doing away from work?
• What was the last film that you saw/book that you read?
• What are your motivators? Try to give detailed answers – good experience, exposure, career progression
• Describe your key strengths?
• Detail a task that you have undertaken that went wrong and explain the reasons why.
• What is your key area for development?
your experience
• Give me an overview of your previous role. Highlight aspects that are relevant to the one you’re interviewing for.
• Describe the working environment in your current/previous position.
• What was your last boss like? Be positive – your new boss may be similar.
• Why did you leave your last position? Turn any negatives into a positive.
• Why have you been out of work for so long?
• Why do you have a particular gap in your CV?
• How would you prioritise your work if you have a number of jobs to do, all with the same deadline?
• How would you prioritise your work, without offending the most senior person that you work for?
• When have you worked as part of a team?
• When have you previously managed one or more diaries?
• Give an example of a time when you’ve used your initiative.
• Describe a new procedure that you’ve introduced to work.
• Give an example of when you’ve gone the extra mile/had to work outside of your remit.
• Give an example of when you’ve had to work with confidential information.
about the position and the company
Read the job spec and understand it. Be aware of the responsibilities you’ll hold if you’re successful. Be able to demonstrate the skills needed for the position, with examples of when you’ve previously performed these duties. You’ll need to be familiar enough with the job specification to recite it back to the person interviewing you.
Research the company - be aware of their services, reputation, business principles, mission statement, competitors, culture and history. You may be asked about the company and what you already know about them - the more you know, the greater your interest and enthusiasm for working there will seem. You may be asked:
• Why do you want to work for this company?
• What can you bring to this organisation?
• Are there any aspects of the job that concern you?
• What do you find most attractive/least attractive about this position?
• How long do you intend to stay? Show commitment, especially if you’ve worked in various short term roles prior to the interview.
• What would you do on your first day at work here?
• Why should we hire you?
after your interview
Make sure to ring your consultant as soon as possible to let them know how you found the interview, if you’re interested in the position and if you’d like to work at the company. Your interviewer will often call your recruitment consultant after the interview to find out your feedback. With your feedback, your consultant will be able to reinforce your interest in the position and keenness to start. Your consultant will also be able to answer any queries that your interviewer might have that were possibly not addressed fully during the interview.
Try to tell your consultant your feedback as soon as possible – any delay might be looked upon negatively by your potential employer.
Good Luck!
