HOW TO PREPARE FOR INTERVIEW PRESENTATIONS?
For some they are a necessary evil, for others they are an exciting opportunity to showcase skills and abilities. Either way, if you are interviewing for a senior role it’s likely you’ll be asked to make a presentation during the process.
Before you delve into research and designing the perfect PowerPoint, I urge to first consider exactly why a presentation request has been made; and more importantly, what you will be judged on. Typically interviewers are assessing 5 core areas:
Your communication skills
Your confidence levels and ability to conquer nerves
Your skills at engaging with an audience and influencing them
Your organisational talents, such as the quality of presentation materials and your time management planning
Your knowledge of the company
The subject of the pitch, in the most part is irrelevant. What matters is how you approach and master these five points, as if you get these right your presentation will be successful. To help you dominate this process we’ve put together 10 best practices below. Just remember:
“By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail” - Benjamin Franklin
Research
I can’t stress this enough, do your research before the interview. There are few things that turn off an interviewer more than a candidate who’s failed to research the company, or the subject being presented. It’s the quickest way to guarantee you won’t be receiving a future call back.
As a bare minimum you should have knowledge of: the company you’ve applied to, what they do, how they do it, who their competitors are, what competitors are doing in the market, the structure of the business and which senior staff members you’re likely to interact with. Beyond this, take your research to another level by demonstrating evidential job role / market specific knowledge and key trends.
In terms of the presentation itself it’s vital you know the subject material inside-and-out. This will develop your credibility, impress the interview panel and build your authority on the chosen subject. Don’t put yourself at risk of being unable to answer detailed questions.
Be structured
The best presentations follow a clear, direct path from beginning to end. This is beneficial to both you the presenter, and the interview panel, as it sets expectations and naturally guides conversation. Presentations should follow three steps;
Introduction: Outline the purpose of the presentation and what’s to be discussed. This can be brief, but should set the tone for what’s to come. Use this step to assess the attitudes in the room and be prepared to modify your approach to engage with these personalities.
Argument(s): Be interesting. Be logical in how different themes are discussed, and deliver a clear message throughout. This is where you’re most at risk of overrunning or losing the attention of the interview panel, so careful preparation at this stage is a must.
Conclusion: If you’ve completed the above to a high standard the final conclusion should be obvious, containing suitable recommendations and leading into manageable, predicted questioning.
Manage your time efficiently
In most cases you’ll be provided with a time limit pre-interview. How you plan your time will be of particular importance to interviewers assessing your organisational skills, so ensure you practice presenting with this in mind. Normally you’d look to spend 10-15% of time on the introduction, same again for the conclusion with the remaining going on the main argument.
Finishing too early? It could be a case you’re speaking too fast and rushing through, so work on slowing down and be aware of your breathing and natural pauses.
Being cut off mid presentation? It’s likely you’ve overstuffed the content making you look disorganised. Go back and adjust the message so it’s concise and refined, then practice again with a stopwatch.
Know who you’re presenting to
This could easily be the most important stage of preparation. Inevitably the interview panel will determine how you approach presenting, so information on how many people you’ll be speaking with, their individual responsibilities, priorities, relationships and statuses in the business will be vital.
Knowing your audience will ensure you can craft a well-received presentation that pitches at the right level of experience and seniority. Considerations include how technical you should make content, whether language used should be formal or colloquial and what supporting materials you may require. Much of this information will be available online or can be provided by your recruitment consultant, who’ll usually have more accurate insights and knowledge on who you’ll be meeting.
Avoid information overload
Quite simply, less is more. Whilst it’s tempting to force additional content into your presentation, doing this likely to lose the attention of the panel and make you sound more like Wikipedia than a credible candidate.
Instead write presentation copy that keeps the discussion moving forward, avoid outlining key points in visual text and leave room for controlled follow up questions. Additionally, design presentation slides that work as visual aids to prompt and enhance the themes you are pitching, rather than having slides attempt to make points for you.
Consider which technologies to use
You may not always have a choice in this matter, but it’s important to understand which technologies may be used during your presentation. The last thing you want is to arrive with your presentation on an SD card, but find no computers are available to use.
You should be made aware of presentation expectations pre-interview, however if this information is not freely supplied speak with the hiring manager or your recruiter to find out more. As a safe bet plan for your presentation to be displayed on a Windows device and keep fonts and styles used in a standard format that will work on all systems. For example, text in an ‘Arial’ font.
Test, Test, Test
Need I say more? The only way to accurately plan your presentation is to rehearse multiple times. By doing this you’ll gain insights into what works, what looks right on paper but is to wordy when spoken, what slides you are missing or can be removed, the list goes on. Missing this step puts you at risk of being unprepared. This opens the door to going ‘off script’, allowing for unexpected and unplanned-for moments in a presentation which take away your control of the situation.
Control nervous energy
Public speaking is considered the number one fear among society [1], so it’s understandable that your nervous energy levels will peak when presenting. One core area interviewers will be assessing is your confidence and ability to control nerves, so it’s hugely important not to let nervous energy dominate.
Before the presentation take time to understand how your nerves present themselves and what you can do to limit their impact. For example, if you talk faster then work on breathing techniques [2], or if you suffer nervous shaking try harnessing that energy by moving around the room whilst talking.
Just remember nerves are as much a positive trait for excitement as they are a negative so maintaining a focused, opportunity driven mindset will help you overcome your fears.
Have a plan 'B'
“The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry” - To a Mouse, by Robert Burns
No matter how meticulously you plan your presentation, in a real world scenario something may still go wrong or catch you off guard. It is therefore always worth ensuring you have a plan B in-mind and have thought about potential risks. What if the projector is unavailable? What if you can’t access the presentation email? What if there’s no clock? What if the company CEO unexpectedly joins the interview?
The better prepared you are the easier it will be to navigate the unexpected. Having a USB drive copy of your presentation and printed off copies of the slides could be real lifesavers, and demonstrate to interviewers your ability to think ahead.
Predict interviewer questions
At this point your presentation preparation should be virtually complete. You’ve written and designed the perfect pitch, timed it, planned your approach and learnt to control your nerves. Now’s the time to go back through your presentation and attempt to predict what questions you can likely expect from each interviewer.
Referring to point 4 above, if you’ve completed thorough research on who’s attending you should have no problems accurately anticipating questions - based on each individual’s business role and priorities. Commonly interviewers will attempt to breakdown recommendations made or explore the practical side of your presentation’s outcome such as costs and timeframes, so knowing this in advance will be advantageous.
Summary
Above all, remember that presentations are a chance for businesses to learn about you, so try to enjoy the experience. Knowing who you want to most appeal to, maintaining eye contact and managing your time efficiently will significantly improve your chances of making a good impression and securing the job.
For our candidates Caspian One offers personalised support throughout the interview process, and advice from an experienced team of recruiters focused on roles within the FinTech and Broadcast, Entertainment and Media markets.
References
http://brandongaille.com/14-fear-public-speaking-statistics/
http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/stress-anxiety-depression/pages/ways-relieve-stress.aspx
