Managers use these interview presentations to assess candidate’s ability to do the intended job role – looking at your communication skills, organisational skills, as well as it being an indication as to how committed and enthusiastic you are about the role.

XCL Group have outlined below a few pointers on how you can make sure you deliver a great interview presentation.

Understand the task

The first step to preparing and delivering a successful presentation is to make sure you fully understand the task you’ve been set.

Read – and read again – the brief carefully

This ensures you don’t miss anything required, and if there are any aspects of the brief that you’re not sure of and would like clarifying, make sure you double check this with your recruitment consultant.

Refer to the job description. 

Remember that the presentation is an important part of the interview, and you will be assessed against the same criteria as you are when answering standard interview questions. The interviewer will be looking for the skills they have asked for in the job description, so ensure to re-read and familiarise yourself with the job specification and incorporate aspects into your presentation.

Making sure your presentation is structured correctly, is a key aspect when preparing your presentation. There will be certain ways you decide to break up the content, depending on the subject matter, however there are still a few rules that apply to any presentation.

-        Include a content slide - This should be the beginning and then followed by an introduction, giving a brief overview of what you’re going to cover throughout the rest of the presentation.

Each main content slide should include a clear headline and a few sub bullet points of key information – you can also include visual elements wherever appropriate.

Imagine your slides are a bit like road signs - write enough to communicate the important points, but not so much that it can become distracting.

-        Consider preparing handouts – You can give these to each member on the interview panel and just like your presentation slides, these should include only the key information you’d want them to remember.

-        Verbal communication - The interview presentation is the perfect opportunity to demonstrate your verbal communication skills and you should aim to spend up to a couple of minutes, talking about each slide. Just be mindful of the length of time you have been asked to deliver, e.g. for a 10-minute presentation, you’d look to prepare between 5 to 10 slides.

Make sure to avoid reading off a script, or straight off the slides, as this can make you sound robotic, so just re-iterate key points from your slides (with a bit more detail) but use a more conversational tone. You can use cue cards or notes if you wish but use them as exactly that, prompts, not a script.

-        Make eye contact - Making eye contact with the interviewer is key for maintaining their attention and will help you appear more confident, making the presentation more comfortable and feel more like an exchange of ideas, rather than a monologue.

-        Practice - One of the most beneficial things you can do ahead of your interview, is to practice delivering your presentation. It may be an idea to present it to friends or family members who can assume the role of the interviewer and give feedback. Or alternatively, you could record yourself and watch it back, to make sure you sound confident, you’re discussing each point in the right amount of detail and you’re speaking at a suitable pace – don’t rush!