8 Ways To Secure Your Ideal

Position And Avoid Common

Interview Mistakes
8 Ways To Secure Your Ideal Position And
Avoid Common Interview Mistakes

Finding, applying, interviewing, and landing a job role might sometimes feel like
navigating a minefield. There are seemingly endless hurdles to overcome – and
applicants to outperform. But as the sector faces new challenges, we want to
prepare candidates to level up their careers with the best tools and advice.

Recruitment in the energy sector is rapidly changing. Only recently, the EU passed
a bill to fast track permits for renewables projects in a bid to reach net-zero targets
and provide energy security. Accordingly, we’ll likely see more demand for skills
throughout the sector.

But where is the talent to fill new roles? The energy and marine industries face
a skills shortage, giving candidates the upper hand. That said, it’s not all plain
sailing. Preparing and researching the role and company is vital for the longevity
and success of your career after receiving the initial job offer.

WRS supports candidates across the energy sector, including marine, oil and
gas, renewables, and technology recruitment. In this guide, we’ve provided eight
useful ways to help you find and secure a position that suits your needs, skills, and
career prospects.

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8 Ways To Secure Your Ideal Position And Avoid Common Interview Mistakes

1. Create an impactful CV
No matter your enthusiasm or relevant experience – first impressions count. You’d
be surprised how many hiring managers choose not to take a candidate forward if
there are errors on their CV.

So, before you even put pen to paper, you should consider your CV’s format. Here
are a few tips to catch the recruiter’s attention (in a good way):

• Ensure your CV is in one font

• Check the structure is easy to follow, and has sections to break it up
• Use bold text whenever you introduce a new section – e.g., experience,
education, qualifications, and so on

Whilst you want to include as much relevant information as possible, you don’t
want to go overboard. It’s best to make sure it’s no more than two pages. Stick to
the following:

• Name, contact details, and personal information

• Concise career summary
• Achievements
• Work experience
• Education
• References (although you can send these later if necessary)

Finally, it’s vital that you study your completed CV thoroughly. Does it read well? Is
it clear and accurate? Are there any typos or mistakes?

Even though you might think the odd typo will be forgiven, recruiters see them far
too much and far too often – in fact, over 60% of CVs contain one mistake. 32.4%
have five or more slip-ups.

In particular, the top errors to look out for are ‘organisation’, ‘modelling’, and
‘behaviour’. So, double-check that you’re using the UK spelling (not the US
‘organization’ or ‘behavior’) if applying for a UK-based job – and watch out for the
difference between ‘analyse’ and ‘analyze’. The last thing any candidate wants is to
miss out on a job opportunity because of one small error.

Take a look at our downloadable CV templates to help you get started:

• Energy template
• Marine template

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8 Ways To Secure Your Ideal Position And Avoid Common Interview Mistakes

2. Make LinkedIn your ally

Gone are the days of circling job ads in newspapers. Now, professionals turn to
LinkedIn to help them locate a new role. In fact, each week 52 million LinkedIn
users search the platform for the next step in their careers. With more than 875
million active users, there are indefinite opportunities and job ads uploaded daily.

The site tailors job – or applicant – search results using your profile and search
history. Employers use social platforms like LinkedIn to cross-reference candidates’
CVs and discover more about your suitability for a role. So, it’s worth updating your
profile and including relevant keywords, experience, and skills.

Keywords are particularly crucial to your LinkedIn profile, as they’re used by

potential employers to find people who are likely to have the relevant skills and
experience for a job. If you don’t include keywords, there’s a chance your profile
and/or CV will be overlooked, even if you have the relevant qualifications.

Candidates should also use LinkedIn (and other social channels) to discover more
about the culture of their potential new employer. Ask yourself, do they align with
your values? Is this the kind of organisation you’d like to be a part of?

3. Do your research

Curating the perfect CV and getting your application submitted are just the first
steps. Making it to the interview stage is certainly worth celebrating – but the
grind doesn’t stop there. Don’t fall short because you haven’t done your research.

No matter where you are in your career, you need to find out everything you can
about your prospective employer to get ahead of the competition. So, what should
you be looking into?

• Core skills and qualifications: Make sure you know the desired and essential
skills in the job description, and be prepared to demonstrate these skills.
• Company information: Find out about the background and culture of the
company. Even if your interviewer doesn’t specifically ask you about your
research, you’ll be better able to tailor other answers to the organisation’s
values.
• How can you benefit the role/company? If you combine researching the
company and the job description, you can devise a way to showcase what you’ll
bring to the table. Provide examples of your experience in the interview to
double down on this.

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8 Ways To Secure Your Ideal Position And Avoid Common Interview Mistakes

Plus, you can determine whether you really want to work with the business. Do
their goals and values align with yours? It’s as much about your expectations as
the hiring manager’s.

4. Be prepared
Research will go a long way to help you succeed at your interview. Yet, you’ll
need to prepare in other ways too. This is the time to start thinking like a hiring
manager. What do they want to know? How should you come across? The
internet is full of good examples and practice interview questions, which can easily
give you a strong head start.

Not only that, it pays to know whether you’re going for an informal chat or a
second-stage interview. If in doubt, ask the hiring manager about their
interview process.

What’s more, recruiters and recruitment agencies can provide pointers to improve
your chances of success. Recruiters have more insights, experience, and familiarity
with the specific business and interviews in general to help you get ahead of
the game.

5. Benchmark your salary

Salary might not be everything, but it is a deciding factor. Whether you’re salaried
or paid by the hour, it’s time to benchmark your wage.

Research the broad salary on offer for your desired role. Take a look at competitors’
job descriptions or ask a recruiter how much you can expect for your experience.
Recruiters can save you time and advise you on how to go about potential
negotiations.

It’s also worth seeing what further benefits are available, like company cars or
health insurance. With the current skills shortage, perks are far more common, as
employers do their utmost to snap up – and retain – top talent.

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 8 Ways To Secure Your Ideal Position And Avoid Common Interview Mistakes

6. Ask the right questions

When you reach the end of an interview, the hiring manager will typically ask if
you have any questions. This is your chance to show your interest in the business
and find out crucial details. Failing to prepare questions can signify a lack of
preparation or enthusiasm – and it’s a wasted opportunity to learn as much as
possible about the company and job role.

With that in mind, we’ve listed a few questions to consider asking at the interview:

• Where do you think the organisation is headed over the next five years?
• Are there opportunities for further training and development at this company?
• What’s the working environment and culture like?
• How many people would be in my team, and what’s their dynamic like?
• Do you have any reservations about hiring me?

But try to avoid asking about job perks, salary, or holiday allowance at this stage.

7. Channel confidence, not arrogance

Interviews inevitably strike up nerves, but it’s important to try and show
confidence in your ability. That said, there’s a fine line between confidence
and arrogance. A staggering 84.9% of interviewers cited overconfidence and
arrogance as a turn-off.

So, how do you perfect this balancing act? When answering questions, use
statistics and supporting evidence or experience to back up your claims. You can
also display confidence through your body language – but don’t walk into the
room acting like you’ve already got the job. Humility is a virtue.

Here are our tips to channel confidence:

• Respond to questions calmly and clearly – avoid rambling

• Maintain a strong body position, and don’t fidget
• Display a positive attitude and smile where appropriate
• Be prepared so you’ll feel more comfortable – remember, fail to plan, plan to fail
• Make eye contact when asking and answering questions

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8 Ways To Secure Your Ideal Position And Avoid Common Interview Mistakes

8. Engage in post-interview feedback

Don’t get too down if you don’t land the role. There are still many golden
opportunities, provided you’re willing to ask for post-interview feedback. Reach
out to your interviewer and see if they have any pointers to do better next time.

If you’re working with a recruiter, they’ll help you take on board post-interview
advice. They’ll likely conduct a full debrief, covering:

• What went well, and what could have gone better?

• What could you confidently answer? And how did you deal with tougher
questions?
• Would you do anything differently if given the opportunity to do so?
• The tone of the interview
• Comparing the experience with others

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8 Ways To Secure Your Ideal Position And Avoid Common Interview Mistakes

How WRS can enhance your job prospects

Here at WRS, working with candidates to secure a new role is what we do best. We
understand how crucial preparation is to success, and the challenges you’ll need
to overcome throughout the recruitment process.

Our global award-winning service has supported job applicants for years. We
take care of everything, whether you’re looking for permanent or temporary
employment. We’ll help you craft a CV, prepare you for your interview, and provide
advice. Plus, our team will continue to work with you after you’ve landed your new
role, so you don’t need to worry about visas, travel and accommodation, payroll,
local compliance, or anything else.

To find out more about WRS, or to make your next career move, contact us today.