Presentation interviews are becoming a regular stage in the recruitment process, particularly when employers are hiring for a role that requires strong communication skills.
A presentation is a great way of showcasing your knowledge, experience, interaction skills, as well as your ability to follow a brief.
Here are our tips on how you can prepare and deliver the best interview presentation possible.
Presentation preparation
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Firstly, you need to confirm the following information:
You may not be the most creative person but adding the prospective company logo and using similar branding colours in your presentation is extremely affective and demonstrates the brand research you’ve done.
If you are struggling to find the company logo, ask your contact to send a copy to you.
Keep your content short but affective and aim for no more than 10 slides. Add bullet points to highlight key pieces of information and use these as discussion points to expand on.
Use imagery, stats, graphs, and outbound links - visuals keep your audience engaged.
Begin with a warm welcome, then give a quick but strong overview of what you will cover in your presentation.
Separate your areas of discussion and back up your statements with evidence. In your conclusion, summarise your arguments and provide recommendations.
Rehearsing is key to a successful presentation, especially when you need to stick to set timings. Practice your presentation with a family member or friend or even, in front of the mirror, and make sure you time it.
Doing this, will help you to deliver your presentation confidently and be prepared for any further discussion.
Presentation Content
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A common mistake for many is not answering the question they have posed to you. You may feel the company needs to know more information, however, do not go off on a tangent and ensure you have 100% answered the question.
Get someone else to read the presentation and double check it.
Don’t put everything you want to say word for word in the slides, otherwise your audience will spend more time looking at the screen and reading, rather than hearing and watching you present.
Use graphics, smart art etc to highlight the key points or stages you are then discussing. You can even add video were relevant.
A simple point you may think, however so many presentations are delivered with very small silly mistakes and this highlights to the employer your lack of attention to detail. Get a 3rd party to read your presentation, a 2nd pair of eyes never hurts.
Don’t use too many slides, if you have been asked to present for 10 minutes and you have prepared 10 slides, think this is only 1 minute per slide – you typically cannot deliver any slide in 1 minute that is actually content worthy – if so, how relevant is that slide.
Also, if you have been given a more vague topic rather than a specific task, consider what you have learned so far from your interactions, know your audience and the role you are applying and use all this information to steer your presentation into key requirements – rather than what you want to tell them, think about what they want to know.
How to deliver your presentation affectively
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Speak clearly, make eye contact, smile, hold a good posture, and don’t read from the slides. Show the passion you have for your career, the company and the presentation topic through your tone of voice and body language.
Print out handouts of your presentation and CV, and make sure you have a copy on a USB or in your email inbox, ready to access as a backup.
Stay within the allocated time for your presentation. Make sure you have a watch on hand or there’s a clock in sight to keep you on track.
Although you may mention at the beginning, that questions will be taken after the presentation, expect to adapt to discussion as you go through the slides.
Ultimately, employers are looking for candidates that can do the job affectively, make a positive contribution to the company and fit the company culture. Demonstrate that in your presentation - sell yourself in the best possible way.