Interview Workshop with Barclays

On the 18th of February, OxWIB welcomed the lovely Katrina Bentley from Barclays to provide an interview workshop for our members. Katrina had a wealth of knowledge to share with us and set out the different styles of interview and how to tackle each individually. 1. Motivational Interview: - Why do you want to apply to our firm? - Why have you selected this role? Essentially, you need to justify your keenness for their company. Put yourself in their shoes and think about what you want to be hearing. This is your place to flag up any events you have been and any representatives you have encountered. 2. Competency Interview - Can you tell me about a time you have demonstrated teamwork/problem-solving/leadership? When answering these questions, try to relate your answer to the skills and profile that they are looking for. They want you to present past behaviours and performance to predict the potential for future development. Try and think how you have learnt from your previous experiences, what you are proud of and how this reflects you as a person. Then, pair up these experiences with competencies (resilience/relationship-building/leadership etc.) Structure your response to their question very clearly: 1. Set the scene. 2. Explain what you did and the skills that were required. 3. Talk through the outcome. 4. Highlight anything that you would do differently if faced with the same situation again. 3. Strength Interview - Tell us about a time you have to deal with an unethical case?- You are set a large amount of work with a very tight deadline, how to you feel about this?This is a relatively new method of interviewing, but since evidence suggests that it provides an accurate indicator to how you will do later on, they have become much more popular. The style of the questions is short and succinct. They require more spontaneous thinking on your part. The questions are generally used to determine as to whether you are able to adapt yourself for different situations.4. Role Specific Interview- What do you expect to achieve in 3 – 5 years?These questions try to gauge whether you do genuinely want to do the role you have selected. Here, they are looking at how well you know the role, if you have actual passion for it and if you clearly want to develop. A lot of these questions depend heavily on justification. This is also your chance to ask them questions and this is really crucial. It may be an interview, but it also is another chance for research - some people even end up having their interviewers as their mentors and stay in touch. - How has the industry changed in the past 10 years?- What is the development process? - Can ask about specific cases or deals you have researched before. Always remember that this is an interview. It may turn into a more chatty conversation, but do not let your guard down and maintain a certain level of professionalism. Thank you again to Katrina and we hope to see lots of our members during these last few weeks of term! Keep updated by following our Facebook page, Twitter and Instagram (@oxwib).Georgina LesterSt Hilda's College