Career Support

Looking for a new job? We are here to help

Before you start searching for a new role, you must first know your strengths and practice recalling situations where you have demonstrated them. This is the first step to preparing to move roles.

'If you don’t know where you are going, how can you get there?’

This question is appropriate for anyone mapping out a career path. Idly walking into the job market and applying for any role which you can do often results in a long and protracted search or a job that you don’t like or want.

When planning the next steps in your career, it’s important to identify the skills and competencies you have. This will help you to:

• Decide what other types of role you might like to do in banking

• Decide what areas you need to focus your study or training on in future

• Write your CV, complete an application or create a cover letter

For a company to successfully launch a new product, they have to research the market and tailor their launch appropriately. The same principle applies here. By extension, your CV is your key sales tool, your advert in to why a company should hire you for that role.  A CV should be written with the key question in your mind: what is the reader looking for?  This is very different to simply ‘what have I done’. 

Simple tricks you can use is to mirror the terminology in the Job Description that you are applying to. Look at the key criteria they are looking for, do you spell out in your Executive Summary / Cover Letter that you have this experience?  You should look to make the hiring managers job as easy as possible, the first half of the first page of your CV should leave the reader in no doubt, you have the skills and experiences they are looking for and should be offered an interview.

So with the easy bit done, you have their attention, now to the harder bit, the interview!

Interview Tips

• Research the organisation – this is vital and will inform your questions at interview, write down key facts, use LinkedIn to review your interviewer’s profile and look for recent news items.

• Arrive 10 minutes before – not earlier as this can be awkward and builds stress, no later as you may need time to sign in and travel to the right floor of the building

• If on video call, test the link works 10mins before

• Psychological preparation – be calm and stay positive

• Answer the question you are asked, not another 3 questions you were not, especially for those who find themselves talking too much

Typical interview questions to prepare for:

“Tell me/us about yourself”

• Keep your answer to one or two minutes; don’t ramble, you are not on ‘this is your life’

• Just give a brief outline of how you got to where you are now and where you want to be going, mention some of the key skills they are looking for in the role too

“What do you know about our company?”

• Show that you have done your research, know what their products are, how big the company is, roughly what their annual revenue is, what reputation it has, look at company reviews if you can

• Know the company’s history, image, goal, and philosophy – look at their website and Google the company for news

• Project an informed interest and let the interviewer tell you some more detailed aspects about the company

Why do you want to work for us?”

• Don’t talk about what you want; first talk about their needs, values and company brand, what you can do for them and that you wish to be part of their company/project

• You would like to be part of change and improvements, and that you relish the challenge

• You can make a definite contribution to specific company goals: identify the importance of management talent, etc, whatever is relevant to the role you are going for.

"What do you look for in a job role/career?”

• Focus on joining a company, not just a job, important values are aligned etc., you are looking for long term etc.

• The opportunity to develop further skills.

• Relate your answers to the job spec

Competency Based Interviewing

This is likely the main form of questioning that you will have, so important that you master it as it is a learned skill. Practice, practice, practice!  The main structure to your answers should follow the STAR technique.  This is also sometimes known as SOAR, where “Task” is replaced by “Objective.”

Nearly all answers should begin: “When I was working at X, in the position of X, I had a scenario where...”

• Always answer the question you are asked, not the one you have learned

• Think of behaviours required for the job. How/when have you demonstrated these in the past

• Be specific with your examples, thinking of what you personally have done

• Listen to the question, and then tailor your memorised examples around it, don’t try and manufacture an answer that does not fit the question

• Be positive about your actions throughout your response and do not make up an example as you will NOT come across as believable.

• If you cannot think of good examples instantly, ask the interviewer for a moment or two to think about the question and then give your answer.

Typical competencies assessed:

• Customer Service – both internally and externally, going ‘above and beyond’

• Problem solving – looking at problems from different points of view and exploring possible solutions, evidence of improving processes / ways of working

• Influencing – selling, persuading, encouraging

• Teamwork – achieving goals with others

• Decision making – weighing up options and making a choice

• Budgeting – managing money, budgets or finances

• Planning – predicting, scheduling, preparing for tasks, events, projects

• Training – helping and guiding others to learn and develop new skills

• Leadership – leading, directing, guiding others, both formally and informally incl. managing upwards

• Time management – meeting deadlines, setting priorities, being on time

• Creating – inventing, originating, designing or composing