Hands above the table! Five charity interview tips

My very first interview for a paid job in the charity sector was 18 years ago. My first successful charity job interview was around 6 months later. And since then, as well as being an interviewee a bunch more times, I've also interviewed around 200 people for charity roles. So here, with thanks also to The Kage Partnership for providing collated feedback from charity employers, are a few tips for your charity job interview: Structure your answer to behavioural questions These are often along the lines of "Describe a time when... what did you do?" and can lead to a bit of brain freeze in my experience as I search for the right example. But it doesn't have to be that way! Over the years I've found the CAR technique (describe the Challenge, describe the Action you took, describe the Result) to be particularly helpful, as it gives a good structure. Your answer shouldn't be too long-winded (often a criticism of interviewees) if you stick to this format. Most importantly, what changed as a result of what you did? Interviewers often yearn for more practical answers. What did you actually do? And answer in the first person singular "I" rather than in the 1st person plural "We". It's only the one person - you - being interviewed! Prepare your answers, but don't script them Many of the charities for whom I've interviewed candidates have built their questions around the job description and person specification. So it's a good idea to look again at the JD as part of your preparation