Interview preparation for Ghanaian employers

An interview is not a test of how much you like the company. It is a hiring manager trying to answer one question: will this person do the job without creating more work for me? Everything you prepare should serve that.

Know the organisation, specifically

Spend thirty minutes before the interview learning what the organisation actually does, who its customers are, and something it has done recently. Not the mission statement. the work.

Then find the one sentence that connects it to you: the branch they opened in your region, the service you have used, the sector your project was about. That sentence is the difference between a candidate who applied everywhere and one who applied here.

Prepare six stories, not twenty answers

Almost every question is a request for evidence, and six well-chosen stories will cover most of them. Pick moments where you:

• fixed something that was going wrong,
• worked with somebody difficult,
• took responsibility without being asked,
• learned something quickly under pressure,
• handled a customer or member of the public,
• made a mistake and dealt with it.

Tell each one in the same shape: what the situation was, what you did, what happened as a result. Keep it under ninety seconds. If you cannot say what happened as a result, choose a different story.

The questions that come up

"Tell me about yourself." Not your life story. Three sentences: what you trained in, what you have done that is relevant, what you want to do next.

"Why do you want this job?" Answer about the work, not about needing employment. Everyone in the room knows you need employment.

"What are your weaknesses?" Name a real one and what you are doing about it. "I am a perfectionist" is heard as an evasion.

"Why should we hire you rather than the others?" Two specific things you bring and one sentence of evidence for each.

"What are your salary expectations?" Ask what range the role is budgeted for. If pressed, give a range you have thought about rather than a single figure, and be ready to explain it calmly. Find out beforehand what the role pays in your sector, so the number you say is not a guess.

"Where do you see yourself in five years?" Somewhere that plausibly involves them.

"Do you have any questions for us?" Always have two. Ask what success in the role looks like after six months, and who you would be working with day to day. Never open with leave days.

Sort out the practical things first

• Know exactly where you are going. Get the GhanaPost GPS address or a landmark, and know which route and how long it takes at that time of day. Aim to arrive twenty minutes early.
• Dress a step above the office. Ironed, plain, comfortable. Nothing that will distract you in the heat.
• Carry printed copies of your CV, certificates and ID, in a folder, even when everything was submitted online.
• Charge your phone and know the interviewer's number in case you are delayed.
• For an online interview, test the link, sit where the light is on your face, use earphones, and have mobile data ready in case the WiFi drops. Say so plainly if it does; interviewers are used to it.

During, and after

Greet everyone, including the person at the front desk. Sit up, speak slowly enough to be understood, and let yourself pause before answering. a considered three-second silence sounds better than a rushed sentence.

When you do not know something, say so and say what you would do to find out. That answer scores far better than a bluff.

Afterwards, send a short thank-you message the same day, mentioning one specific thing you discussed. Then note down the questions you were asked, because the next interview will reuse half of them.

If you are rejected, ask once, politely, what would have made the difference. Perhaps one employer in four will tell you, and that answer is worth more than another ten applications.