How do I pass UK graduate job interviews?

How do I pass UK graduate job interviews? I've probably taken part in about 30 processes for internships and graduate roles since 2013 and failed all of them (though I have passed individual phone interviews).

Almost all questions are basic questions about the company or competency questions. I know about the STAR format for the latter. I think the only reason I may fail these is due to not being a normie. I've interviewed with companies in many industries (investment banks, public sector, engineering, and more) and it seems that every recruitment process desires glib normies who are above a low intelligence threshold and who were President of the Anything Society at university.

Do you have any advice for giving off the normie vibe? You may say stuff like "Be concise, structure your answers and so on" but I know literally all of that.

 
Best Response

I'm going to approach this from the idea that you're applying for IB/financial services/consulting, I don't know anything about engineering and public sector recruiting.

What do you mean by normie? If you have face studs, face tattoos, brightly dyed hair, etc. then obviously that makes a big impact on your first impression and it's extremely unlikely you'll be recruited, especially for front office and client facing positions.

Interviews tend to have 2 objectives from my experience: Is the candidate technically qualified? Would I want to work with the candidate everyday?

What can you do to satisfy the first objective? Know the ins and outs of the job, firm and industry (research online, contact people in the industry, read the news..). If it's a technically demanding job make sure you know the financial models commonly used, excel at Excel.. Just look online at the expectations, they tend to be easy to find.

The second is harder to learn. Standard ways of making the interviewer like you is to be outgoing, be polite, smile, dress well and be confident (not arrogant). I'm not sure how easy it is to be more likeable once you're an adult, it's something you learn whilst growing up.

Not sure if that helps at all, not really much information to go off..

P.S. Normie doesn't mean talking about the Kardashians, that won't help you get employed unless you're being interviewed by a moron

 

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