The Apprentice: how to turn high pressure interviews your way

As The Apprentice 2009 nears its end, the penultimate episode saw Deborah, James and Lorraine eliminated in the interview round.

Monster.co.ukís Apprentice watcher observes:

Interviews can be stressful at the best of times, and last nightís episode of The Apprentice saw the candidates tested by some hard questions, aggression and intimidation techniques. The interviewers also revealed some ìcreativeî CVs, making crystal clear the need to be upfront about your job experience. As we saw last night, lie on your CV and you will always be found out.

Last nightís episode saw the remaining contestants facing some gruelling rounds of questioning. However, the show also proved that even the most challenging interview can end positively, with Yasmina and Kate making it through to the final.

High pressure interviews can be stressful but with the right techniques you can make a success of them. Jenny Ungless, Monster Career Coach and author of career handbook Career Ahead, comments, ìOf course, not every interview will follow a smooth pattern. You might find yourself faced with an interviewer who is aggressive, distracted or who wonít let you get a word in edgeways. Here are some tips on how to handle some of the more common tricky situations that can arise:

- An aggressive interviewer: keep cool, donít rise to the bait, whether it is intentional or not. Stay calm and courteous and donít let yourself get flustered

- An interviewer who talks too much: sometimes, an interviewer will use this technique deliberately to see how assertive you are, so donít just sit there passively while they prattle on. Listen carefully, nodding agreement with what they are saying, and find an opportunity to come in on the back of a comment they have made

- Being asked an inappropriate question: say that you are happy to answer the question, although you are still not sure that it is very relevant. On no account should you respond in a way that makes the interviewer look awkward or feel embarrassed

- Being asked to give a presentation that you werenít forewarned about: maintain your composure. Every other candidate is likely to be subjected to the same experience, and one of the key things that the interviewer will be looking for is your ability to handle pressure and a situation you werenít expecting.î