【求职秘籍】外企HR现身说法面试经验(四)

Hello! My name is Tony and I'm the HR manager for a large international hotel and resort group.

你好，我叫汤尼。我是一个大型国际酒店及度假集团的人资经理。

1 Q:能否告诉我们哪位应聘者给您留下深刻的印象？为什么？

Erm ... yeah... there was one person I interviewed quite recently who I think did a very good job. Basically he gave very short, concise answers. He was very well-organised in what he was saying. Now I think the thing about the interview situation is that people are often nervous and a result of being nervous is often to speak too much. And this particular candidate didn't do that - actually he came across as being very confident. He wasn't... well... he didn't appear to be nervous at all.

最近我面试了一个人，他表现挺好。他给出的答案大多短小精悍，逻辑清晰。我觉得面试的关键问题是应聘者大多很紧张，后果是话唠。但这个人并没有，他显得非常有自信，至少显得不太紧张。

The interview itself actually was a competency-based interview which is a rather unusual interview style, but it... it's possibly one that you might face at some point. But basically what it is - you don't have traditional questions like "why would you like to work for this company" or something like that. It's based around the competencies such as something like teamworking. And then what we ask the interview candidate to do is to give an example of... er... for example how they've worked in a team, or how they've built a team or something like that. For the... err.. because it's a rather unusual interview style, actually on our website, we give guidance to interview candidates. And it was clear from this interview that that candidate had been on the website and he had read up on our advice about how to answer questions. What we actually tell candidates to do on the website is to use a STAR format in the way that they answer. So STAR is an acronym actually and it stands for... S is situation, which means "Tell us about the actual situation that you were in." Then T is target, which means "Tell us about what you're trying to achieve." A means action, which is "What did you actually do?" And then the last one is R and that's the result - "What was the result of your actions?"

面试本身是基于能力的，是一种比较少见的形式，不过也许是你将来就有机会碰上的一种。这种面试不会问普通的问题，例如“为什么你愿意来这间公司工作”，它更注重能力的体现，比如团队协作能力。我们会要求应聘者给出他们在团队里工作，或者他们是如何建立起一个团队之类的例子。因为形式较为少见，所以我们会在网站上给出指引。因此，应聘者有没有登陆过网站、详细解读过我们的答题建议就非常显而易见了。在网站上，我们指导应聘者可以利用STAR模式来回答问题。S是环境，意思就是“告诉我们你曾经身处的真实环境”，T是目标，意思是“告诉我们你究竟想达到什么目的”，A是行动，意思是“你实际上做了什么？”最后的R是结果，意思是“你行动的结果是什么？”

So this candidate actually used this format for all of his answers and he'd obviously prepared in advance. And it came across very well. Some of the other candidates didn't answer in this way. They tended to waffle a little bit - maybe give a little too much information. Now bearing in mind that for this particular post, we were interviewing over two days and I think we interviewed nine... nine or ten different people. So actually, from a personal point of view, I was quite tired of listening to people talk, and it was quite a relieve actually to have somebody that kept things very concise and very to-the-point! So yeah, he did a very good job.

所以这个应聘者使用了STAR模式回答了他所有的问题，显然他事先有所准备，因此面试十分顺利。一些其他的应聘者并没有运用此模型，他们多少会离题胡扯一点，有点信息过量。一定要记住这个特别的方式，我们两三天来面试了9个人左右，所以个人来讲，我已经不太再想听人说话，因此有人能够精简准确地讲话真是让我松了口气。他表现的非常好。

2 Q: 您能否给我们举一个应聘者搞砸了面试的例子？他应该怎么做？

Yes... erm... I must say actually that there're ... you know, not many people really mess up an interview. I think some people, you know, are nervous and come across as nervous. Some people don't answer questions particularly well. But I think very few people actually really mess up an interview. I interviewed somebody recently who kind of... didn't interview particularly well and there was a particular reason for that.

我的确遇到过。能搞砸一个面试他也是能手。我觉得有些人在面试过程中特别紧张，问题就回答的不太好。不过我觉得很少人能够真的搞砸一场面试。我最近面过的一些人，表现不太好，但是是有原因的。

So the... erm... the post we work.... were advertising for was... err... hotel front of house receptionist that kind of post. The young lady that we interviewed had... actually had a background in graphic design - she studied that in university and I think the previous job had been in a... an advertising company. So she came to the interview armed with her portfolio. And as we proceeded through the interview and asked her questions, she constantly referenced her portfolio, pulling out pieces to show us and it was all great stuff. However it was not relevant at all to the post that we were interviewing for. Obviously, a front of house at a hotel doesn't need graphic design skills. It was obviously something she was proud of and in some ways, it got in the way of her answering the questions properly. We didn't really find out anything about her apart from her graphic design background since every question we asked, she somehow managed to pull something out of her portfolio to tell us about. So I think the key thing really is to understand the job, I mean, she obviously really didn't quite understand the job and didn't understand that her... some of her previous skills weren't really relevant.

我们主要设计那些贴在前台做宣传的海报。那位年轻的女士在大学的专业是图形设计，以前也是在广告公司工作的，所以她来面试的时候还带着自己的设计。面试中我们问她问题的时候，她老是看那本东西，不停地拿出设计让我们看，的确很不错。但是那些设计本身与我们想要的不太一样。显然，前台贴出的海报并不需要运用到图形设计。她拿得出手的必是得意之作，但她挑错场合了，这对面试无利，反而妨碍她回答问题。结果最后除了她有图形设计的背景之外，我们对她毫无其他的了解，因为她的回答就是从图册里面抽出以前的设计并展示给我们看而已。所以我觉得清楚地知道这份工作到底是干什么的很重要，即是，她显然并没有特别来哦接这份工作，她也不太清楚她的技能其实和这个工作不大沾的上边儿。

So I think the thing to take away from this is maybe make sure you do understand the job - what the requirements are. And in an interview situation, think about that and tailor your answers towards the skills that are required for that particular job.

因此我觉得最好就是确保你自己明白这份工作的要求是什么。面试的时候仔细思考答案再说出口，最好说些相关性较强的东西。

3 Q: 除了前面提到的，你最看重应聘者所展现出来的什么部分？

I think there's one thing that we're always looking for, that you can't really get across in an application... on an application form or in a covering letter, and that... that's your genuine interests in a job or your enthusiasm for a job. I think that's something really you can only get across at an interview. I think when we interview people, we're never really expecting to get the finished article, to get a fully qualified person with loads of experience. In fact, if we did interview somebody for a post who'd already been doing something similar or was very experienced in that post for several years, I think we might actually question why they were continuing and perhaps not looking to improve themselves or get a better post.

我觉得我们通常都会看中一种从申请表或求职信上看不出来的东西，那就是对这份工作真正的兴趣以及由衷的热忱，这真的只能从面试中看出来。当我们面试别人的时候，我们从不期望会得到一件成品，找到一个完完全全符合要求、经验老道的人。事实上，如果有个人在这行做了很久，我觉得我们会问他们为什么还继续、为什么不寻求更高的职位或自我提升呢。

So what we're actually looking for is perhaps somebody who doesn't have all the skills, who doesn't have a huge amount of experience but what they do have is a willingness to learn and enthusiasm for the job and generally just somebody who shows real interest. And I think you can do that in an interview. You can really get across to the people who are interviewing you that you'd loved to do the job and that you'd liked to learn and you'd liked to improve yourself.

所以我们真正所求的人才是待琢的璞玉，这样的人稍欠经验，但有的是热忱与动力，总之就是要对工作有兴趣。我觉得如果你能展现出这一面会很好。你可以告诉面试官你真的会喜爱这份工作、你会为之不断学习、不断进步。

4 Q: 在面试中有哪些忌讳

OK, there're some very obvious things but I think one thing that, from my own experience, is not to get too friendly or too personal with the people interviewing you. I mean I've had examples of people who've come into the interview room giving me a kind of drink or a piece of cake. I can understand why they're doing that but it's not really right in an interview situation. I've even had somebody who told me I had nice eyes. Can you believe that? I have a friend actually who was telling me about a job he applied for and he... the interview panel was made up of two ladies - it was actually a women's university. And the panel was made up of two ladies and he... at the end of the interview he kissed the interviewers on both cheeks as was his habit. But I think that probably didn't go down particularly well. So don't be too familiar with your interviewers. Don't be too personal.

有几点需要注意的，但是从我的经验看来，不要随随便便与面试官称兄道弟比较重要。我见过几个人，一进面试的房间就给我一杯饮料或一块蛋糕。我能明白他们为什么这么做，但在面试的场合下，这种行为真是大错特错。以前甚至有人和我说我的眼睛很好看。你能相信吗？我一个朋友告诉我他以前申请一份工作，面他的是两位女士——因为是一所女子大学。在面试结束的时候他亲吻了两位面试官的脸颊，这是他的习惯。我个人认为这一点不太好，一定要和你面试官保持好距离。

From personal experience actually I... the very first job I interviewed for I can remember I was... I think I was 20 or 21 at the time. First interview. Brand new suit. Very very nervous. And when I arrived for interview, they offered me a cup of tea and I accepted it. Actually a hot drink wasn't exactly I wanted because I was probably sweating so much anyway from being nervous. It wasn't a good idea but I can just remember them giving me this hot cup of tea in a cup and a saucer, and then nowhere to put it so I was sat in front of the interviewers and trying to hold onto this cup of tea and my hands were shaking so much that I remember the cup rattling in the saucer. So things like that... I wouldn't... yeah... maybe I wouldn't accept the hot drink at interview. A glass of water might be good coz often if you are talking a lot you tend to lose your voice. But yes, hot ... definitely recommend that you leave those alone.

说说我自己的经验吧，我记得我应聘的第一份工作。那时候我20、21岁的样子。第一次面试，穿了全新的套装，非常非常紧张。到达面试地点之后，他们给了我一杯茶，我喝了。实际上我并不太需要热饮，因为那时候我紧张到出汗。其实要了那杯热饮不是什么太好的注意，我记得茶杯下面还有个碟状杯托，而且没地方能给我放这些东西，所以我坐在面试官面前，拿着杯子和杯托，双手抖的不像话，结果有些茶都洒到杯托里了。也许接受那杯东西就是个错误。不过一杯水还是可以接受的，因为如果你一直讲话，到最后会失声。不过热饮还是算了吧。

5 Q: 通常应聘者都会被问到自己的强项与弱项，谈论自己弱点的最好方式是什么？

I think this is a question I am not sure how often this gets asked actually but if you did get asked this question, I think you have to be honest. Well maybe not too honest I mean I think you don't want to say something that's going to jeopardise your chance of getting the job so I mean don't say that you're lazy or that you're a bad time keeper and you turn up late every morning. You know that wouldn't be a good thing. I think also, don't try to say something that would be a cliche - "I'm too hardworking" or something like that. It's just not believable. I think you have to be honest. I think maybe... I think what...  the point of this question is I think what they want to do is see how you look at yourself. So can you evaluate your own performance in a way and also can you... if you can evaluate your own performance can you think about how you would change or go about improving. So maybe try to give a past example of a weakness that you had in the past but then also show how you might have changed. So for example, time management is often a difficult thing for people in a job and it's something that you can learn, I mean there are certain things that you can do to improve your time management. So maybe you could use an example like that say a couple of years ago I had problems meeting deadlines and so on, but I realise that this is a problem and these are the steps that I took to change and now I... you know I'm much better at time management - I meet all my deadlines. So try to put a positive spin on it if you can by giving example of maybe how you've changed.

我不确定这个问题出现的频率到底高不高，但如果一旦被问到，我觉得最好的方法是如实回答。但我的意思不是坦诚到要毁了你所有的机会——比如说回答什么你很懒，你不太守时，你每天早上迟到之类的。你应该清楚地知道以上的答案并不怎么样。而且不要说些无用的话，比如“我过于勤奋”。也许他们问这个问题的意义在于想发现你如何审视自身。他们想知道你能否为自己的表现作出恰当的评估；如果可以，你能否作出改进。例如，对于很多人来说时间管理非常困难，这就是你可以学习的东西，你总可以做一些事来改进自身时间管理的技巧。你可以用一些例子，比如说几年前我总是无法按时完成任务，但我意识到这是个问题，以下是我改进的方法，而现在我已经如何如何，我现在非常擅长管理自己的时间——所有工作都可以在截止日期之前完成。所以你要做的是找出积极的方面，如果有例子的话，用例子说明你是如何改变的。

Related to that actually is an interview I did recently, I was quite impressed by somebody who, when asked about experience for a particular job, he was very honest and said that he didn't have any experience in that area at all. But what he did do is that he told us about the skills that he has that would suit that job. And I was very impressed with that answer. It was very candid, very honest. And I think you... often in interview situation people tend to try and cover up gaps in their skills or experience and don't do that particularly well but I think this particular person... I was very impressed with the way that he dealt with that question with honesty. If you can't... if you don't have the skills or experience, maybe that doesn't really matter do you actually have other skills that would... that you can offer up that would meet the needs of the job. So I was really impressed with that particular person.

举个例子吧，最近我面了一个人，他给我留下很深的印象。问他有没有做某个工作的经验时，他非常坦诚地说他在那个领域一点经验都没有。但是他又告诉我们，他有其他的技能，完全适合这份工作。我对那个答案的印象很深刻，非常坦诚。在面试中，面试者都竭力表现出自己严丝合缝地契合该职位的要求，但其中一些表现的并不如意。可是这个人真的回答的特别好，而且特别坦诚。如果你没有一份工作所要求的经验或技能，不要怕，但你必须能够告诉面试官你本身具有的技能也符合这份工作的要求。所以这个人给我留下了深刻的印象。

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