How to Handle Client Interviews

October 31, 2016
by Jason Dulay 
Jason is the founder and CEO of Work from Home Roadmap and VA Bootcamp. Aside from teaching Filipinos how to succeed working from home, he likes traveling, playing board games, and drinking coffee.

Links to Common Interview questions and answers:

  • http://www.rappler.com/life-and-style/career/88402-common-job-interview-questions-answers
  • https://www.upwork.com/hiring/for-clients/9-interview-questions-to-find-the-perfect-freelancer-online/
  • http://theinterviewguys.com/top-10-job-interview-questions/

Acing Client Interviews

Today we're going to be talking about handling interviews. So as someone who's gone through over 100 interviews and has conducted hundreds hundreds of interviews himself, that's me, as I've also hired freelancers I have a lot of experience in this area as both the interviewer and the interviewee.  So I feel that I am pretty qualified to talk about interviews. The main concern for most people when it comes to interviews are the questions that clients ask. There are common questions at almost every single job interviewer or client asks but if you understand the reason why clients ask such questions rather than thinking of how to respond to the questions themselves, you'll be able to answer any question that's asked of you. Even if it isn't one that you specifically prepared for.

In fact if you want to find answers to the most common interview questions I won't tell you what to say in this lesson but I'll include some links to good articles on common interview questions and how to respond to, below this lesson.

Now one thing you have to remember is that when you have a client or when you have a client has interviewed you or chosen to interview you, it means that they've already gone through your cover letter. They've gone through your profile and have chosen to interview you among all the people who apply to the job so that means that they already like you. And an interview is usually just for them to make sure that you're the best fit for what they're looking for compared to the other candidates. And you most likely already have the skills they're looking for. Interviews are usually to measure your attitude more than your skills okay that's very important. Your attitude is more important than your skills in most cases. And in most cases they'll be interviewing three to five candidates and are just looking for the best fit which one of those 3 to 5 bets best fits their needs.

So as i was doing several interviews while writings lesson I also realized that interview questions usually fall into two different categories. Yeah the first one which are skilled questions and second the attitude questions. Skill questions are usually there to validate that you have the right skills for the job and as I mentioned earlier your client has already reviewed your skills and chosen to interview you among other participants. So they already think that you have the right skills but they just need to make sure by, just by doing the interview. They're just making sure that you actually have the skills that you put in your profile and cover letter.

So skill questions are questions such as;

  • What are your strengths?
  • How can you contribute to the company?
  • Share previous experience where you did X and  X is usually the task so share a previous experience where you use let's say Microsoft Excel or where you managed a client email.

Attitude questions are usually the more important kinds of questions that clients ask. In fact for most admin jobs like virtual assistant, data entry jobs and transcription jobs clients always say that skills can always be taught and that they hire based on attitude. They can always teach you how to handle their own email and, you know, what what goes where if you're managing files but what matters is attitude.

An attitude questions are questions such as;

  • Why did you apply to this job?
  • What are your goals?
  • What are your strengths?
  • What are your weaknesses?
  • What sets you apart from others?
  •  Why should we hire you?
  •  Share a previous example of one you did X and what can you contribute to the company?

As you may notice all of the skill questions are also attitude questions in the list. This is because whenever a client asks you a question they will always be looking out for your attitude even when they're asking about your skills.

Lastly, here are some tips for you to improve your interview skills. First i'll make sure your internet your mic and your camera work. It's a major turnoff an applicant's don't have their equipment ready for an interview. Try making a Skype all with a friend or group go through the Skype called testing service to make sure that your equipment works.

Second, read common interview questions. Not really necessary but if you're nervous about the question that will be asked, go through the common interview questions in the sites I've listed below this lesson.

And lastly, practice, practice, practice. This is the most important tip I can give you. Practice makes perfect. And the best way to practice is with a real interview. So go through as many interviews as you can just for practice and if you actually get the jobs if you get hired then that's just an added plus. If you don't get higher than at least you were able to practice your interview skills and the next time you go through an interview then you will do better all the way until you get hired. Or if you could practice with a friend, you will pretend, who will pretend to be your interviewer. Lastly, you can also record your responses to interview questions and listen to yourself and find out where you can improve.

Also, relax interviewers can always tell when the person they're interviewing isn't relaxed when you're nervous you usually a ramble on and talk too much. So just relax take a few deep breaths before starting the interview. You can meditate and pray so that you'll be able to relax and just answer the interview like a normal conversation. If you don't pass interview there will be others and you will keep getting better and better until you get the job that you want.

 Now go out there and nail those interviews before we end, I just want to make a comment about a lot of people saying that they're not confident in their English when their had, when They're going through interviews honestly speaking most clients don't care so much that your English is not perfect because if you're applying to jobs that don't require you to communicate with their customers it does not matter as long as you can do the job well and you can tell the client that you can do the job well. So go out there and good luck.

By the way this was an excerpt of the more detailed lesson I have in the Virtual Assistant Boot Camp and the how to get up work success courses so if you're a student in one of those courses be sure to check out the more detailed and longer lesson there. By the way if you like this video please thumbs up this video and subscribe in YouTube so that you're going to get more great content about becoming a freelancer and succeeding online.

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by Jason Dulay 
Jason is the founder and CEO of Work from Home Roadmap and VA Bootcamp. Aside from teaching Filipinos how to succeed working from home, he likes traveling, playing board games, and drinking coffee.

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2 comments on “How to Handle Client Interviews”

  1. Very soon I will be one of your student. I am already rendering my 60 days in Accenture. I am an Operations Admin Associate for UK accounts. Handling UK clients on logistics, extension of Stay in the Philippines via Immigration. Handles Road Show Event, doing Ingress and Egress such as iPhone, Blackberry, Sony, Samsung, LG, Nokia and the likes. Does TP Tele Presence and E-Procurement. Hoping to be successful in doing work from home. I am very tired commuting that is the reason why I decided to resign and leave Accenture.

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