First Job Interview

Having hired people for office based jobs, the things I am looking for:

1. Honesty - did the person actually do all the stuff on their CV or have they copied Buzzwords and paragraphs from books/internet to get to this interview, do they speak honestly about periods of unemployment (doesn't have to be too specific, general reasons are OK)
2. Reliability - if I give this person a job, will they show up when they have a shift
3. Self-awareness - will we be able to work out a good shift pattern compromise between the organisation's needs and your needs
4. Flexibility - is this person willing to do extra if appropriate? e.g. do an extra shift or stay late to cover if a colleague is off sick occasionally (or will they just do the bare minimum)
5. Adaptability - is the person able to work across different departments or locations given suitable training, do they know how they learn to help me train them well
6. Informed - does this person know (or seem interested) in the daily or weekly routine, do they know why this job is important
7. Determination - is this person determined to make this work despite any challenges, do they indicate how long they might want to stay in this job
8. Initiative - do they understand where they can take initiative, and where they will have to ask permission as it is outside their role, or someone else's responsibility

Last thing I want to do is recruit someone with good qualifications/experience and a dubious attitude, or someone who doesn't know what the job really involves and leaves on the first day.

The other thing I would recommend, is that you try to think of what they want to hear from you, and if you feel the question doesn't give them useful information, ask them to clarify... e.g. "You asked XXX, but the only situation I can think of is from a family holiday or YYY, can you rephrase the question / be more specific in what I can tell you, please." A lot of questions tend to have several layers of assumptions, which I can't do when I am being interviewed, but they are going to ask you questions based on the job description/person specification.

I looked up a "Customer Assistant" job advert for my local Morrison's and it says it is looking for this below (I underlined the key points), so I would expect to be asked about flexibility and loyalty (you want the best for your customers to give a great shopping experience to encourage customers to continue shopping there, always gets back to the customer asking), being busy (managing a task list, how you fill the quiet times,  dealing with the unexpected - remember you will not be alone so you can always ask others when you are unsure), notices when a customer drops a glass jar and it smashes (health and safety risk broken glass can cut, contents of jar are a slip hazard - you don't need to know what to do about it as the store will have a policy, but it is a great way to sell an attention to detail skill and that you will learn the process once you join), and equipment may include tills, trolleys, cages, step stools, ladders... so do you put them back after using or do you leave them lying in customer areas to risk accidents happening.... Check the job description for the job, as it tells you what they are looking for, and highlight all those important words, and think of things you have done which show you can do them. 

If you feel the interview went OK but they are not certain, suggest coming in to shadow someone to see what the job involves. There is usually a probation period when you start, you could ask to have it extended if you need extra time to learn complex tasks, and tell them you are still interested in future vacancies if the person they hire doesn't work out.

First of all I’d like to say congratulations, job hunting at the moment is really difficult for everyone. Just showing up to the interview is really valuable experience, if you can approach it from that perspective it will help you relax as well. 

• tell the interviewer it’s your first interview- not sure if you plan on disclosing your diagnosis (you don’t have to if I remember correctly)- but knowing it’s your first time often helps them be a little more lenient and potentially offer tips and advice. 
• Prepare a couple of (‘job friendly’) questions you can ask the interviewer- this shows you’re engaged and interested, and they’ll often ask if you have any questions at the end. “What would a typical day look like?”, “Is there anything that might surprise me about working at Morrisons?”, “How long have you been working at Morrisons?”, “What are the typical challenges of this role?” (You can replace “role” with “being [insert job title]’). I would plan to ask only 1-2, but prepare a few so you can ask a different one if the answer is covered earlier.
• Do some practice - there are a couple of lifeskills websites (I think Barclays has one?) with interview practice, and lots of YouTube videos. 
• Be prepared to discuss the gaps on your CV- they’ll want to know why, and that the reasons for it are not going to affect your ability to perform this role. You don’t have to tell the full truth here, but it is definitely important to think about how you want to respond. If you’re uncomfortable speaking about how your autism affects you, you can just say you have a disability that made school difficult and eventually it made you very unwell- they will expect you to explain how you’re doing better now and why you think you’d be able to cope in a job if you couldn’t cope with school. There may also be a time in the interview to discuss reasonable adjustments (eg wearing ear defenders). I’d recommend looking up some disability-specific interview advice and thinking about how you’d answer questions about what/why you have gaps in your cv, and also the strengths you can bring to the role.

Good luck! Remember everything is valuable experience (even bad experiences).

Dear Poppet, Hugest best wishes for your interview.

I am awful at interviews, but have managed to get by due to practicing the questions I expect to come up before hand. I find that I can't rely on being spontaneous on the day, because I freeze and can't think of anything to say. Those questions which come up that I haven't prepared for are just awful. I also find that by the end of the interview, I am absolutely knackered with talking and don't come out with such good answers.

I got out a book from the library on answering interview questions and also googled youtube videos of what to say in the specific job types in the interview.

I will write out my answers to the questions to try and get something in my brain to say. For me, I just need something, anything to say, that makes me sound like at least I can talk to others.

The common questions I looked at answers for:

Tell us about yourself

What are you strengths

What are your weaknesses - I usually use, a lack on experience in the new role. 

Why do you want this role

What do you bring to this role

At my last interview I also got:

Having met us, what are your thoughts? (this totally threw me)

But basically, what I do is play a role in what I am saying. Saying all the things that I think that they are wanting to hear. For me, it's about playing the game. 

Using key phrases like reliability, safe, enthusiastic, motivated. I don't pretend to be some things I'm not - just omit these things. Like don't say the long list of weaknesses I think I have.

All the best and I hope you get the job. 

I've been thinking about your specific situation and how the questions are likely to be made. The following are tips for you.

Because of the lack of experience or qualifications they will want to know more about you the person so you will be asked "tell me about yourself", "describe yourself" or "What brings you here today?"

This typically is to ease you into the interview and what they want is to know is what things about you are relevant to the job. They don't want to know if you collect Pokemon cards, like cats or sing in the church choir - that want to know stuff like:
You like helping people.
You like exercise and being fit.
You enjoy completing tasks or challenges
You are organised
You get on well with others

Try to keep your answer reasonably short ( a few sentences is about all their attention span will run to) so it could be

"I enjoy keeping fit and running on weekends and am part of a local running club where it is great to work on team events like relay races or cross country team competitions. I helped organise the last race and helped with the refreshments stand when I wasn't competing."

"I have other, less active hobbies like computer gaming but want to spend more time working with others".

You will probably get a "why do you think you will be a good fit here" or "why should we hire you" type question. I would suggest something like:

"I'm not afraid of hard work, long hours or working with the public. My brothers have all worked here in the past and have talked highly of the team spirit and supportive management style here and this is something I believe I could contribute to and be a part of."

A key to this is not to worry about memorising it. It needs to feel natural so try to get someone to role play the interview with and go through it many times until you really feel the answers.

Congratulations, Poppet, and good luck for your interview on Monday. If you can find a willing volunteer, I suggest doing one or two practice interviews beforehand.

Ironically, in one of my previous jobs I did about 700 mock interviews with university students. The S-T-A-R method is really good for structuring an answer:

Situation - i.e. context

Task  - what did you need to do/achieve?

Action - what *specifically' did *you* do to fulfil the task? (If it was a team effort, make sure to bring the focus back to you.)

Result - what was the outcome? (Preferably a positive one!)

In my experience, people are good at talking about a situation but not so good at getting to the end of the story and conveying the impact they had. That's what employers want to know: can you make a positive difference?

They also want to assess whether you'll 'fit in' with the rest of the team, which can be a challenge for autistic people. However, I think you can overcome nerves about this and any other aspect of the interview by reflecting on what you have already done and being prepared to tell stories that highlight your skills.

Despite your lack of work experience, you will have done many things that demonstrate skill, commitment, and resilience. Never say I 'only' did this or I 'just' did that - employers love enthusiasm in an interview.

If you have a job description, I also suggest looking at what the job requires and likely scenarios you would encounter, then thinking what you have done in the past that was similar and involved transferable skills.

TargetJobs is a good website for practice interview questions, and some university websites have a careers section with accessible resources.

Iain has raised some excellent points. You would be entitled to reasonable adjustments under the Equality Act 2010, though perhaps something to raise after the interview.

Let us know if we can help further.

Poppet said:

I am anxious though. I’ve never been to an interview before and I worry going means I will screw it up.

I worked a lot in supermarkets when I was going through university and had some exposure to their hiring practice.

First of all, it will be about you as a person so stop worrying about your skills, qualifications or being anything other than yourself.

If the role is going to be customer facing (tills, customer service, bakery / butchers etc) then you need to be friendly and easy to speak to. If the role is more behind the scenes (warehouse, food prep, canteen etc) then these skills are less relevant and all the skills will be taught.

You basically need to give the impression you are smart enough to learn and follow instructions but not too smart that you will get bored and distracted.

A few minor details like decent personal hygine are good things to have, and not to have much in the way of big hair, piercings etc that can be catch hazzards .

When in the interview do your best to be relaxed. Don't get high to relax beforehand as this will be a fail. If you have a routine or medicine that can help you relax but still be good with interactions then go with this. This will let your personality show and give a decent representation of who you are.

Be open about your lack of qualifications and expect questions on why you dropped out of school. If you have a diagnosis of autism then I think it smart to disclose it as the reason for this but make clear you have developed ways to manage the sensory issues that led to it.

Now comes the tricky bit - a lot of the work in a supermarket will involce working is harshly lit and very noisy environments. Think pushing long chains of trolleys all bashing against each other, squeeling wheels and groaning metal. In the warehouse you have rubbish compactors, cardboard balers, air conditioning units, industrial elevators and platforms, freezer units, electric motors and trucks reversing to loading docks to unload 40+ wheeled pallets of goods.

It is a sensory nightmare if you are not able to cope well and wearing headphones is typically against safety policy (some areas allow ear protection however).

You need to consider how you will answer their (legitimate) questions about how you will manage these environments. They have a duty of care so need to be sure you are not puting yourself in harms way by going into these knowing you may suffer.

This may come across as negative but the point is to prepare for it and have answers to make them think you have it sorted.

If you want help in fleshing out any responses then ask away.