Tips and Interview Questions for Fellow Graduates - My Experience at the EOP Interview

"Interviews are a theatrical performance"... is a sentence I read in a recent article I found when researching interview tips before going to my interview for the EOP graduate programme. And I agree.

Especially in the case of us graduates: You prepare a dialogue by thinking of answers; you could nearly say it's a sales pitch. In some cases you even rehearse your answers with a friend (which is actually a very good idea to lower levels of nervousness, helped me anyways).

This can be seriously stressful, especially when you are doing this for the first time. So this is hopefully of some help to you.

Questions asked in the interview for the EOP Graduate Programme

In my previous post I mentioned that I was interviewing for a couple of Graduate Programmes in Dublin.

The EOP interview with Ibec was not too tricky and very well manageable if you are prepared. Here are some interview questions for you to practice. But before you start I recommend you one thing: Write down 4 or 5 key unique selling point of yourself and make sure to mention these facts, no matter what questions are asked.

There was two people interviewing from Ibec for the EOP Graduate Programme, one person focused on the education part of your CV and the other asked questions about your professional experience.

Questions:

Tell us a bit about yourself.. -The usual start

Why did you chose to study ... (whatever you are studying)?

What was your favourite subject in college?

What was the topic of your thesis? Why did you choose this topic? How did you do your research?

Where do you see yourself in 5 years time?

Tell us a time when you have worked in a team and what role you played.

What makes a good team worker or leader?

How did you prepare for this interview?

Here are some answers to the most difficult questions.

There might be some industry related questions which come up during the conversation.

Do you think business ethics are an important consideration for Marketing?

If you would have the chance to speak to the Head of Tourism Ireland, what would be your suggestion  of improvement for the Irish tourism product?

In the final part the interviewers will give you two job specs and you will have to choose one and explain why you chose it.

Finally three tips from me to you:

1. Use the time when you are brought into the interview room for a casual conversation, for example talk about how you found the interview location.

2. Be confident. Listening to some rock music before the interview helped me or watch this video before you go for the interview.

Be well dressed and know your unique selling points. They will be impressed if they can notice that you are well-prepared. Don't forget the good old strong hand-shake.

3. Believe in your strengths!

The best of Luck to you ;-)