I, too, have got quite a bit of interview experience, though as a candidate. What I found is that interviews with recruitment agencies are in most cases a complete waste of time - quite often they don't understand the job description, nor what candidates' experiences are. The funniest interview question I've ever been asked was, "If you were a cheese, what cheese would you be?" (this one really took the mickey). My advice to candidates? See the interview as a business meeting. You are "offering" your skills and experience to an employer who may "buy" them. Show respect, but demand it in turn, too. I've come across too many interviewers who behaved as if I was asking them a favour - not so, as I might just as easily turn them down if I don't like their behaviour!

Paula Smid, London, UK

I've gotten every job I have ever gone for in my career (in a total of more than 10 interviews) by utilising a very simple method: make them like you. You don't have to have the best experience - I once got a job with absolutely zero requisite experience versus four other candidates with appropriate experience, nor do you have to have the longest experience - I recently beat out a candidate for highly paid, prestigious City job with only 9 months experience to the other candidate's more than 9 years experience by being confident, outgoing and friendly.
I have been told on more than one occasion that I interview extremely well. I use nothing more as a trick than this - remember that they want to find the candidate they feel they can work with the most - so make them like you and you'll have an easier time convincing them you are also the most qualified candidate!

Champion Interviewee, London,

There were eight of us for a number of posts. I got quite friendly with one chap while we waited for our turn. I went in first and was quite confused by the nature of some of the questions. Because of what we had discussed whilst waiting I realised the board had the other chap's details in front of them. I was then in a quandry. Should I correct them or hope they got it right by themselves? Given how poorly the interview had gone until then - for valid reasons I felt - I wondered if it might be best just to let it go. I In the end I just sort of mentioned it. There was a brief hiatus, one of the board offered his apologies, and the interview started with more relevant questions. The chap who apologised refused to look up for the rest of the time I was in there.

Both I and the chap after me were offered posts.

Derek Smith, Brighton, UK

As a novice to the recruitment practice from either side, I understand how nerveracking it can be to be interviewed but it is even more daunting to be the interviewer. I currently work for a retail company at Heathrow Airport.

The girl who turned up late and got lost trying to find the meeting place not once but thrice was told on the third occasion that we made an appointment that she was unsuitable because we need people who turn up to work on time and with a fairly good sense of following instructions.

I found that people who talk street slang during an interview or have silly or drug-related email addresses on their CV go straight in the bin, and why do people apply for positions in west London when they live in east London which is 1 to 2 hours travelling each way on the underground.

I have to say most people are ok in most cases but the majority are turned down before even getting to an interview situation, simply down to location and CV layout.

HR Supervisor, West London, UK

Seven years ago I was interviewed for a role as a Sales Manager. The interview was around competency questions. One question related to telling the interviewees about a time I had to reprimand someone for being poorly dressed. In my 15 years of working I had never had to do this, so I said that I had no instance to refer to although I could outline the approach I would take. No, they wanted actual examples. I didn't get the job and received feedback that my lack of answer to this question was the main reason. Subsequently I was employed as a Sales Manager for a competitor company. Within 2 years I was promoted to Area Sales Manager. Within another 3 years my team had established itself as the top sales area within the company. Due to a lack of sales, the original company I had interviewed for, closed it's regional office.

Whilst I have no issue with competency interviews, in the hands of inexperienced managers or over zealous HR people, they can fail miserably.

David , Leeds,

In some cases, what we have here is a display of arrogance by interviewers. Interviewer are, in fact, in a position to choose. However, a competent choice should not depend on your simpathy for candidate, on your own fashion tates (except where relevant, in a front-office, ect..) or just because the interviewer finds thecandidate «arrogant».

By paying too much attention to IRRELEVANT details interviewers are ruling out any candidate with a character and thoughts of their own. It is important that people THINK, even thought they might not think the exact same way you do.

Testing one's ideas against other peoples' opinions is only frightening to the intellectually insecure. Denying a candidate the right to disagree (by dismissing him when he disagrees with You) is a sure way hire yesmen.

If those are the hiring standarts or our time, small wonder there is a recession around the corner...

Rui, Lisbon,

I've had one candidate turn up for an interview a week early, and another fly down from Scotland on the 5am flight and start to doze off....

Dave Vint, Horsham, UK

I have been actively interviewing for a job after my working holiday in the UK and subsequent volunteering work in the Himalayas. And I must say, the process is a real dilbert experience. Imagine questions like "where do you see yourself 5 years from now" still being asked in today's blink-and-you-miss-the-bus world. [This was at the British Council in India]. Of course there are standard interviewing questions and standard answers to these questions as so many websites (including Monster Jobs) would have you believe. One would have thought that the interviews and interviewers would have got more practical by now without going through this natural world "mating dance" rigmarole.
Sample Question 1: What is your biggest fault? Answer: Sometimes I work too hard! Q2: Why is that a fault? A2: I work so hard that i forget to bathe and eat for days, eventually starving to death at my desk, becoming a bloated corpse.
[He doesn't get the job because the company wants someone hungrier]

Toby, Calcutta, India

How silly is to think,a white suit is not suitable for an interview.
What about religious people who turn up in full burka?
I dont think clothing should be put in the equation when it comes to a job interview.
This is an obsession in this country to wear black suit that make us all look like we were heading to a funeral!
It is not the suit that make the man but the man that make the suit!
I think,you only get the job if the interviewer like you....it is well known,otherwise how come the stupid coworker you have to work with got that job,perhaps her 36 d helped!

Marie, London, UK

Interesting. I was responsible for recruitment in a large multinational. we were looking for bright, hungry young people for fast-track management training. I interviewed more than 30 candidates, but two were particularly interesting.
The first, with a 2.1 in Business Admin, and an MBA , trilingual, came to the interview in a shiny brown suit, slouched in the chair, never looked me in the eye, and mumbled his replies.
A three minute interview.
The second, in a somewhat revealing white top, stared at me and cooed " I AM the person you're looking for...."
Needless to say, neither one got the job.

Clive Britcher, Caracas, Venezuela

I cringe every time I see the word influence in articles such as this. The words toxic management usually spring to mind a second later.

Graeme Blundell, Sevenoaks, Kent.,

What about when the interviewers' questions are so silly it's hard to pretend to take them seriously. I once had an interview for a filing clerk job in which two rather self-important people assessed my 'communication and teamwork skills'. This in spite of the fact that I'd just been told I would be working entirely on my own, and therefore presumably would have no need of these particular skills. My filing skills on the other hand weren't assessed at all. I could have been dyslexic for all they knew.

Jenny, Birmingham,

KG, as David is American his use of the Harvard/Oxford comma is grammatically correct.

KS, London,

Just a quick feedback to Andrew Milner. Muslims dont believe they are sons of God. There are no associations with God in Islam. You were informed wrongly, be it at a mosque.

K Richards, London, UK

I would advise David to take note of his own edict. You should not be using a comma before "or".

KG, London,

One woman arrived for an interview in the wrong office on the wrong floor of the huge building where I worked mispronouncing the name of the person she was to be interviewed by and getting the company name completely wrong. In fact, she ended up in my office. I then took her to where she really wanted to be.
She got the job . We got married fairly soon after and we're still together!

Dave, Slough,

I once interviewed a candidate who claimed the reason he hadn't worked in the banking industry for 4 years was because of the 'Australian conspiracy' . When pressed on this 'conspiracy' he said it was a plot by the convicts to get back at the English by taking all the good jobs for the wrongs of the past - his explaination went for 20 minutes and started to get to the point of being quite scary.
I had introduced myself as Australian at the beggining of the interview. When i reminded him of this after his paranoid rant, he said he didn't mean Australian he meant American. It was also a US bank.
He didn't get the role.

Howard, Tokyo,

Been on both sides of the table. Here in Japan, when I show up for a job interview it's unusual not to be offered the position,. But most positions are well-remunerated entry-level. So with several part-time jobs running concurrently, essentially you are trying to get another ball in play, anticipating an existing job will shortly run its course. Problem is, it takes so long to get a decision, frequently I'm several weeks into another job. One major Japanese corporation recruited on the basis of horoscope. Everyone seemed to have their birthdays within a few days. But in those days when Japanese corporations essentially couldn’t fire Japanese employees, those on the societal periphery were shifted to the corporate periphery. Known as the “Hamlet” principle.
In a discussion with theologians at National Mosque in Kuala Lumpur, was advised that Muslims believe we all sons of God. Would recommend putting this on the resume though, unless you are on benefit and want to blow job interviews.

Andrew Milner, Karuizawa, Japan

Is Fiona looking for a job by writing a personal note on this forum ? Note is not very good either with almost all sentences starting with "I".

John Taylor, London,

I advise Peter to punctuate his sentences, or leave off being a message board grammar cop.

David, Columbia, MO, USA

I once interviewed a woman for the role of Head of Press and Public relations for a large police force. She was, at the time, working for the Labour Party and during her interview she suggested writing fictitious letters to local newspapers, purporting to be local residents, to obtain press cover. need I say more!

Paul, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico

Interviewing candidates for my business in China I had a couple of funny ones. It is actually quite common for a candidates mother to phone up on their behalf but i was even more surprised when at one interview the mother actually turned up instead of the candidate and proceeded to try to bully me into giving her son a job.

One candidate broke down in tears with a tale of sexual harassment at her previous job, she has now worked for me for 4 years it turned out ok for her- sometimes i suppose honesty is the best policy.

Another candidate suggested that I was gay due to my pink shirt, funnily enough she also got the job but more based on a very good come-back and otherwise very impressive skills. I never let her forget it though!

Being late may be annoying- but in China candidates will often turn up an hour early, which i think is even worse.

Chris Stevens, Sydney, Australia

I advise Fiona to learn how to spell excellent

Peter, Doncaster, UK

I really do not like Interviews at all I get very nervous as I know employers look for different things. I have excellant people skills as well as a range of other very good skills. I do not have a degree but I have excellant experience and I am well travelled. I live alone which I enjoy this also makes me very flexible and I can move to where the right job for me is. At the same time I have to pay all my own Bills and my morgage or rent. I am at a stage where I want a career with a good firm where I would like to stay for a long period but also where I can get some promotion or bonuses. I am also willing to do further training.

Fiona McCormick, Limassol, Cyprus