How to Get Interviewed For a Job Overseas (Part 2)

Posted on Oct 28, 2015 | 0 comments

How to Get Interviewed For a Job Overseas (Part 2)

Welcome back, Passport Career visitors. This is Marielys again with part two of “How to Get Interviewed For a Job Overseas.” In this new post, I’ll go into the last three techniques global employers are using to interview candidates abroad.

 

3. Written Interviews

Written interviews aren’t as common as any of the other typical interview techniques that I shared with you in part one of this blog post, but they’re becoming more popular among employers trying to hire the most qualified candidates for their vacant positions regardless of their geographic location. Some agencies, especially those with positions that require their employees to have excellent writing skills, will rely on this technique to assess the writing abilities of their job candidates. Using this interview technique helps the hiring authority to identify those candidates that have the strongest writing abilities, and by doing so, they save time and resources when it is time to call the candidates in for a formal interview. It’s important to mention that written interviews not only focus on the writing abilities of the candidate. Interviewers also take in consideration the content on the written piece when making his/her decision on who they want to bring in for the asctual interview.

 

How do you prepare for a written interview?

  • Study the job description carefully so that you have all the job requirements fresh in your mind before you start writing. Your potential employer already know what they want from an employee, so this is your chance to make sure your written material demonstrates that you’re who they’re looking for.
  • Always comply with deadlines. A written interview, especially if you’ve been asked to submit the written piece via email, needs to be treated as seriously as an in-person job interview. Not complying with established deadlines could be seen as you not being 100% interested in the job opportunity and may jeopardize your chances of receiving an invitation for a follow-up interview.
  • As mentioned in part one of this blog post, always remember to send a thank you note couple of days after completing any part of the interview process. Doing so shows how important the interview process is for you and, at the same time, gives the hiring authority a chance to remember who you are and why your job application should be considered for the next step in the interview process.

 

4. Job Proposal Interviews

A job proposal interview is also considered as an unconventional way of interviewing job candidates, but nowadays, some agencies–especially business related agencies–use this interview technique to see if the job candidate has what it takes to be part of their team and also to see if the candidate is worth their time, effort, and of course, their money. I am pretty sure that you have seen the show “Shark Tank.” If you haven’t, I invite you to take a look at it and you will see what a proposal interview looks like.

During a job proposal interview, the candidate will be invited to present a proposal based on the expressed needs of the company. Companies request a proposal from job candidates in order for them to easily identify which candidate will be a better fit for the company and help them achieve whatever goal they are trying to achieve faster than any other candidate. Unlike the written interview, this particular interview technique relies heavily on how you present yourself and the content you provide for review. Of course, a writing component will always be an important factor during the review of the proposal, but the hiring authority will concentrate more on the actual content of the proposal when making a final decision. Remember, they have goals to meet and the content of the proposal will tell them if you’re the person who will help get them there.

 

How do you prepare for a job proposal interview?

  • The first thing you need to do before preparing for the proposal interview is to identify the needs of the company. In this step, you will need to identify the 5 W’s and 1 H (who, what, when where, why, and how) of the company to which you will be submitting the proposal. Identifying this information before starting to write the proposal will help you gather necessary information about the company for you to be able to craft an informative, complete, and customized proposal based on that information.
  • Once you’ve written the proposal, it’s important for you to prepare yourself to be able to successfully present that proposal to them. During the presentation, make a point of showing the interviewer what you can do for the company using your proposal as a guide. The hiring authority wants to know what you can do for the company – make sure you give that to him.
  • And again, after presenting the proposal, make sure you stay in touch with the interviewers by sending them a quick thank you note. This thank you note is your way of telling them that you appreciate their time and consideration, but also to let them know that after meeting with them, you are still interested in becoming part of their team.

 

5. Hands-on Interviews

A hands-on interview occurs after an initial meeting, at which point you’ll be invited to become part of the company/agency for a short period of time (by bringing you on board on a short employment contract) so that you can be evaluated while performing the tasks associated with the position. By doing this, companies will have a better idea on how the your skills and abilities match with the position that they need you to fill.

In most cases, if you demonstrate that you’re a good fit for the position companies will consider offering a full-time position to the candidate after the initial contract period has expired. Using this technique helps companies in hiring individuals based on their actual job performance and not by just using whatever information they’ve included on a resume. This technique has proven to be cost effective for the companies and/or agencies.

 

How do you prepare for a hands-on interview?

  • Preparing for a hands-on interview is simple. It requires you to get ready to successfully perform the job that has been assigned to you by using your skills, abilities, education, and prior working experiences as main resources during the process. The bottom line here is to know who you are, what you have to offer, and to treat this opportunity with the respect and importance that it deserves. Your job performance during this hands-on interview will predict if you get a follow-up job offer or if you go home empty handed at the end of your temporary contract.

 

I hope the information that I just shared with you in this blog post can help you understand the different ways and techniques some companies are using when interviewing candidates abroad. I would encourage you to start practicing some of these techniques and see which one you feel most comfortable with and which you need to work on.

 

As always, I want to thank you guys for visiting our blog. It is always a pleasure for me to bring you useful information on global career topics. In my next week’s post, I will be sharing with you a very interesting Q&A interview with a current expat working abroad. You don’t want to miss it.

 

For now, I will say, “Ciao, my Passport Career friends.”

 


 

WANT TO KNOW MORE ABOUT INTERVIEWING FOR A JOB OVERSEAS?

Passport Career provides more detailed career information and extensive resources about networking, finding a job, internship, alternative career opportunities as well as information on writing CVs, cover letters and interviews. If your organization, embassy, university/college, library, or other institution would like access to our country portfolios (15,000+ pages of expert content for 80+ countries and 250+ cities) to share with your students, employees, spouses/partners, and others managing a national or international career transition, please contact us (or send email to: info@passportcareer.com) regarding a free, live, online demo and details on how to obtain a license to access Passport Career.

Marielys Camacho Reyes, Expert Global Career Consultant

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Share This

Share This

Share this post with your friends!