How to Give a Good Interview Presentation: 12 Tips
Giving a presentation at an interview is a great way to show how well you know the industry and how well you can do a job. You can also show how professional you are and how good you are at talking in front of people. During an interview presentation, you need to do research and plan ahead if you want to make a good impression on a potential employer.
This article talks about the many benefits of giving a presentation at an interview and gives 12 tips for giving a confident and successful presentation.
What is a presentation in a job interview?
An interview presentation is a formal talk you give to a human resources team, a management team, or another group of people to show them why you are the best person for the job.
Employers may ask you to give a presentation to test your public speaking and communication skills, see if you fit in with the company’s culture, or see how much you know about the field. Interviews are most often seen in:
- Sales
- Marketing
- Technology
- Academia
Why giving an interview presentation is a good idea
When you give a presentation as part of the interview process, you can show potential employers how you think and how creative you are. You can also talk about what you like to do and how good you are at it. Other good things about a presentation for an interview are:
- Getting hired by showing that you can do the job
- Getting a chance to talk to people and speak in public and show how good you are at it
- Putting the focus on how good a writer you are
- Work hard and have a good attitude.
12 ways to make a good impression at an interview
Here are 12 tips that will help you feel more comfortable at your interview and give a good presentation.
1. Ask many questions.
Before you start working on your presentation, you should ask the employer what they want to see. Here are some questions you should ask:
- How long should the talk go on for?
- What do you think the number of people will be?
- Will my presentation let me use slides?
- Do you want me to show you how to do something or talk about something in particular?
- How does IT work?
2. Do what people tell you.
Once you know what an employer or hiring manager wants from a presentation, give them exactly what they want. This means making a presentation that stays on time or talks about the skills or topics that the potential employer wants to see. Stick to the rules that have already been set.
3. Find out more.
Learn about the company and its competitors. Do all the professional work you would do if you were already a part of the group. You might even want to stray from your presentation and show the potential employer specific things they could do to help the organization that are related to your presentation.
Even if they don’t hire you, you could show them specific ways to save money. If you know a lot about your topic and can give real-world examples of how it could help their business, you will show that you are dedicated, skilled, and focused.
4. Stay with your plan.
Your presentation should be well-organized, with a strong beginning, middle, and end. It should also have a clear message and be backed up by facts and evidence. Your introduction should be short and clear about what your main point is.
There should only be three main parts to the main body. This will help you stick to your main point and make sure that people remember the three most important points. The end should be easy to remember and get back to your main point.
5. Make yourself stand out.
An interview presentation is a great way to show off your personality while still being professional. Try to show off your skills in ways that people may not expect. For example, if you show off your skills, sense of humor, and creativity, the hiring manager is much more likely to remember you.
6. Use the 80/20 rule to decide what to do.
Your presentation should be strong and hold the audience’s attention, but it should also have something to say. A good rule of thumb is that 20% of your speech should make people think and be challenging, and 80% should be insightful and full of information. This will keep your audience interested from the beginning to the end and teach them more about the topic.
7. Talk about things you know about
Try to learn your presentation so that you can talk more naturally and seem professional and sure of yourself. If you need help during the presentation, you can make small cards with short bullet points or headings that will remind you what to do. You could also write bullet points on the slides and refer to them during your presentation.
8. Pay close attention to what other people don’t say.
When you give your presentation at an interview, you want to look as comfortable and sure of yourself as possible. Show your presentation to family or friends before the interview to find out what your body language might be saying.
9. Use words that are easy to understand and enough volume
When you stand, it’s easier to take deep breaths and speak loudly enough to be heard. Talk slowly and in a steady rhythm to make sure people can understand you. This will give people time to think about what you are saying.
10. Learn about your audience.
Say hello to everyone in the room, smile, and tell them who you are before you start talking. To make them laugh, you could ask them a question or tell them a funny story.
11. Create impactful slides
Use your imagination to make slides and choose pictures that show what you want to say. Also, make sure that your writing is clear. You want people to quickly look at the slide, get interested, and then look to you, the speaker, for more information and explanation.
Only put one message on each slide, even if that means you have to move through your slide deck more quickly. A pattern interrupt is when the picture on the screen changes more often. People will be more interested in what you have to say if you do this. Also, keep in mind that you don’t have to use a slide to support every point you make.
12. At the end, ask for questions.
Tell the people in the room at the start of your presentation that they can ask questions at the end. How well you answer questions about a subject shows how much you know about it.
Take your time answering questions, and if you and someone else have different ideas, try to find a good middle ground. When things start to get tense, asking the audience for more questions can help.
You can give yourself time to think about the answer by repeating each question as you get it. This is also a great way to answer a hard question in a different way. You can also tell them to change the way they ask.
